International Marketing Ethics: Problems Encountered by Australian Firms

The international marketing ethics problems encountered by a representative sample of Australian firms engaged in international business are examined. The executive in charge of international marketing in 38 firms (a 25 per cent response rate) provided information on the types of ethical problems they have most commonly confronted. Bribery was overwhelmingly the most common ethical problem. In addition, a comparison is made between the Australian results and the results of a similar study conducted in the United States. This comparison reveals many striking similarities

Cross-cultural adjustment of expatriates: Theory and research findings on American and Japanese expatriates

Theory and research findings of expatriate adjustment were examined to gain a better understanding of the adjustment process. Empirical studies have been focused on the failure rates of expatriates rather than on their adjustment capacity in foreign societies. Few studies have attempted to assess the level of adjustment for both American and Japanese expatriates in the same cultural environment. Future studies need to investigate how one group of expatriates can be better-adjusted than another in different cultures, the differences in their adjustment to the different facets of cross-cultural adjustment and the factors that enable one group to outperform the other group.

An investigation into the cross-cultural equivalence of the personal wellbeing index

The Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) is being developed for the cross-cultural measurement of subjective wellbeing (SWB). This paper reports the findings of its utility with the Hong Kong Chinese and Australian populations. An item on affect, &lsquo;satisfaction with own happiness&rsquo; was also investigated to determine whether it should be added to the index. Three-hundred and sixty participants (180 per country), with equal representation from groups aged 18&ndash;35, 35&ndash;64 and 65 years and above, were recruited from each country. The PWI demonstrated good psychometric performance in terms of its reliability, validity and sensitivity, which are comparable in both countries. The item &lsquo;satisfaction with own happiness&rsquo; was found to contribute significantly to the scale&rsquo;s psychometric performance in Australia but not in Hong Kong. Cultural differences in the perception of the concepts &lsquo;satisfaction&rsquo; and &lsquo;happiness&rsquo; were suggested as an explanation for this finding. The PWI data are also consistent with homeostasis theory, which proposes that each person&rsquo;s SWB level is maintained within a limited positive range. For the Australian population, their mean SWB level fell within the established Western range of 70&ndash;80, on a scale from 0 to 100. The Hong Kong population, however, fell below this range. Cultural response bias was identified as a plausible explanation for the differences between the Hong Kong and Australian samples.<br /