Üniversite Öğrencilerinin Etiksel Perakendecilik Uygulamalarına İlişkin Algılamaları: Karşılaştırmalı Bir Araştırma

Etik, son yıllarda hemen hemen her alanda üzerinde sıklıkla durulan konularından biri olmuştur. Günümüzde Türkiye’de hızla gelişen perakendecilik sektörü de, sık sık etik tartışmaların yaşandığıalanlardan biri olmaya başlamıştır. Perakendecilikte karşılaşılan etiksel tartışmalar farklıkesimler tarafından farklı şekilde algılanabilmektedir. Bu noktada, bugünün tüketicileri, geleceğin muhtemel perakende yönetici adaylarıolan, İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi öğrencilerinin algılamalarının tespit edilmesi önem taşımaktadır. Bu çalışmada, senaryolar şeklinde belirtilen, etiksel perakendecilik uygulamalarına ilişkin, üniversite öğrencilerinin algılamalarıölçülmektedir. Araştırmanın amacı, etiksel perakendecilik uygulamalarına ilişkin üniversite öğrencilerinin algılamalarınıve bu algılamaların Erciyes, Bozok ve Nevşehir Üniversiteleri öğrencileri itibarıyla farklıolup olmadığınıtespit etmektir. Araştırma, Erciyes, Bozok ve Nevşehir Üniversiteleri, İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültelerinde okuyan öğrenciler üzerinde gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırmada sistematik örnekleme yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Verilerin analizinde ortalamalar ve Tek Yönlü Varyans Analizi One Way ANOVA analizi, T testi ve Ki-kare analizi kullanılmıştır. Elde edilen sonuçlar, öğrencilerin etik problemleri algılama düzeylerinde ve öğrencilerin demografik özellikleri itibarıile algılama düzeylerinde farklar olduğunu ortaya koymuştur.

In recent years, ethics has become one of the frequently emphasized issues in almost every field. Today, the retailing sector that is rapidly developing in Turkey has also started to become a field where ethical arguments are frequently made. It is possible that ethical arguments encountered in retailing sector may be perceived differently by different segments. At this juncture, establishing the perception of students of business management who are today’s consumers but possible candidates of future to become retailing managers is of high importance. In the research, by means of the devised scenarios, it was targeted to determine the perceptions of university students about ethical retailing practices and whether these practices differ with respect to demographical characteristics. The results obtained revealed that differences existed in perception levels of the students about ethical problems, some of which were correlated with their demographical characteristics. The rapid developments going on in retailing sector are bringing along some ethical problems as well. The ethical problems in retailing directly affect consumers and reactions of the consumers directly canalize towards the retailing business. Therefore, establishment and solution of the ethical problems arising in retailing are issues that should be emphasized with importance in respect to both retailing businesses and consumers. The aim and importance of the research: In this study, the perceptions of the university students about ethical retailing practices and the levels of these perceptions were discussed. We aimed to determine the perceptions of the university students about ethical retailing practices during the purchasing process and the levels of these perceptions. In addition, the establishment of the ethical perception levels of the university students and whether the perception levels of the students differ with respect to their demographical characteristics were aimed. The fact that the students included in the research are studying business management and have taken retailing courses in various levels during their undergraduate education is also making their sensitivity towards the topic and their level of perceptions about ethical issues more important. University students will be able to have a career in retailing sector as a manager etc. after completing their education. Accordingly, knowing the sensitivity that the students will display towards ethical issues in retailing and their perception levels, and the evaluation of the obtained results will provide gains for the consumers and retailers and constitute a perspective for the practices in the sector. Model of the research: In this research, by grounding on the theoretical models, the research model was also developed by taking the characteristics of the students into account that are effective in ethical judgment and getting based on Jones’ “Synthesis Model” 1991 Jones, 1991 .Methodology of the research: In the collection of the data, face-to-face survey method was chosen. The main population of the research was constituted by the students from the School of Economics and Administrative Sciences SEAS at Erciyes University, Bozok University and Nevşehir University. The survey was conducted on the students from the departments of business administration in the three universities in question. In the research, utilization of judgmental sampling method, which is one of the non-random non-probability sampling methods, was seen appropriate. In this method, whoever will be chosen for the sampling is decided by either a specialist or the researcher himself as the person with the best knowledge of the issue Nakip, 2006 . In judgmental sampling, mostly called goal-oriented sampling, the sample units are chosen among the units thought to be suitable for the aim of the research. It is generally believed that the chosen sample units represent the main population of interest Churchill, 1999 . In the research, a survey form comprised of two sections was employed: In the first section, scenarios that were comprised of the ethical events frequently encountered in retailing and that were organized in 1-to-5 Likert scale took place. The scenarios were picked among the scenarios devised by Dornoff and Tankersley Dornoff and Tankersley, 1975 and were adapted to the conditions in Turkey. In the second section, there were questions oriented at determining the characteristics of the students. The devised survey form was tested on a small sample space of 20 students with the characteristics of the sample population before moving on with the application. Findings of the research and suggestions: It can be said that in general, the students did not approve of unethical actions but approved of ethical actions. As a matter of fact, when the averages were looked at, it was seen that the average score in the scenarios where unethical actions were taking place always exceeded three, which meant they did not approve of the actions by the retailers; and in the scenarios that ethical actions were taking place, the average score was below three, which meant they approved of the actions by the retailers. The subject that was examined in this research is associated with the ethical evaluations of the individuals. Due to the concept of ethics which is an abstract and difficult topic to specifically evaluate, the foremost limitation of the research is that the evaluations derived as a result of the research are subjective assessments. Another significant limitation of the research is that the sample population of the research is comprised of the university students only from Kayseri, Yozgat and Nevşehir. For this reason, it is not possible to generalize the results of the research to the entire population of university students in Turkey. The results of the research only reflect the thoughts of the students that were included within the sample scope. In other studies, this subject can be researched by considering these aspects as well and the results could be compared. In the research, the subject of ethics in retailing was analyzed from the perspective of ethical problems that might arise between the retailers and the consumers university students . In future research, the subject may be analyzed from the context of ethical problems that can arise between retailers and other shareholders. A great variety of factors can be effective in individuals making ethical decisions. In this research, the subject was investigated by employing a model that takes personal characteristics into account. In other studies that will be conducted, the subject can be explored with its different aspects by employing different models ,which take factors like personal characteristics, life styles etc. into consideration