Deception in marketing research: Ethical, methodological, and disciplinary implications

Although marketing researchers often find it necessary to deceive their research participants, little attention has been given within marketing to the ethical issues underlying the use of deception or to the potential consequences of deceptive research practices. This article provides a conceptual starting point for developing a more complete understanding of deception in marketing research, including an ethical analysis from the viewpoint of consequentialist and deontological theories of moral reasoning. A research agenda is outlined that draws on the extensive behavioral science literature on this topic and includes empirical questions relevant to the ethical, methodological, and disciplinary implications of using deceptive practices in marketing research.