The Inductive Realist Model of Theory Generation: Explaining the Development of the Hunt-Vitell Theory of Ethics 1 by Shelby D. Hunt The Jerry S. Rawls and P.W. Horn Professor of Marketing Texas Tech University shelby.hunt@ttu.edu 2 The Discovery/Justification Distinction In philosophy: The philosopher of science is not much interested in the thought processes which lead to scientific discoveries That is, he is interested not in the context of discovery but in the context of justification. Reichenbach (1938, p. 7) In marketing: Many, if not most, scientific discoveries are flashes of perceptual insight and are not the result of following some rigorously prescribed procedure. Hunt (1976, p. 18) Figure 1.1 Discovery Versus Justification 3 Eureka! Dreams Metaphor recognition Observation Speculation Metaphoric transfer Record data Assumptions Context of discovery Classification Hypothetical model Induce generalizations Deduce generalizations Empirical generalizations Laws Theories Context of justification Explanation Predictions Understanding Control Empirical testing Formalization Research hypotheses Source: Hunt (1991a). Reprinted by permission of the author. 1
4 The Friends of Discovery Hanson (1958). Patterns of Discovery: An Inquiry Into the Conceptual Foundations of Science. New York: Cambridge University Press. Schaffner (1974). Logic of Discovery and Justification in Regulatory Genetics. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 4(4), 349-85. Nickles (1980a). Scientific Discovery, Logic, and Rationality. The Netherlands: D. Reidel Publishing Company. Nickles (1980b). Scientific Discovery: Case Studies. The Netherlands: D. Reidel Publishing Company. Lugg (1985). The Process of Discovery. Philosophy of Science, 52(2), 207-20. Nickles (1985). Beyond Divorce: Current Status of the Discovery Debate. Philosophy of Science, 52(2), 177-206. Zytow and Simon (1988). Normative Systems of Discovery and Logic of Search. Synthese, 74, Kluwer Academic Publishers 65-90. Savary (1995). Discovery and its Logic: Popper and the Friends of Discovery. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 25(3), 318-44. Schickore and Steinle (eds.). (2006). Revisiting Discovery and Justification: Historical and Philosphical Perspectives on the Context Distinction. Dordrecht: Springer. Meheus and Nickles (eds.) (2009). Models of Discovery and Creativity. Dordrecht: Springer. Gibbons (2012). Reassessing Discovery: Rosalind Franklin, Scientific Visualization and the Structure of DNA. Philosophy of Science, 79(1), 63-80. 5 The Discovery Continuum Irrational Process Algorithmic Process e.g. Popper (1959) e.g. Zytow and Simon (1988) Figure 1 The Inductive Realist Model of Theory Status. 6 5 Empirical Success Factors I 7 Conceptual Epistemic Factors G E K Theory 1 2 3 4 Proposals Theory Status Theory Uses External World Entities Attributes Relationships Acceptance Explanations A B C Working Predictions acceptance Interventions Rejection Entities Attributes Relationships J 8 L Nonepistemic Factors H F D 6 Empirical Failure Factors Source: Adapted from Hunt (2011). Box 8 and Path L are dashed to indicate that, though nonepistemic factors sometimes influence theory status (a positive claim), scientific realism maintains that it is inappropriate for them to do so (a normative claim). 2
7 The Inductive Realist Model of Theory Generation 9. Empirical successes 7. Constraints F D H H I K M O 1. Current disciplinary knowledge -Entities 2. 3. 4. Problem Creative New theory recognition cognitive acts proposals O P Q -Unexplained phenomena -New entities -Entities 5. Theory uses A -Explanations 6. External world B -Entities -Attributes -Empirical -New attributes -Attributes -Predictions -Attributes -Relationships -Conceptual -New relationships -Relationships -Interventions -Relationships J L N P C 8. Reasoning processes G E 10. Empirical failures Figure 1. The Inductive Realist Model of Theory Generation. Source: Hunt (2012a). Reprinted by permission. 8 The Hunt-Vitell Theory of Ethics Cultural environment b. Legal system c. Political system ethical problem Professional environment alternatives norms Action control Industry environment Organizational environment Probabilities of Ethical judgments Intentions Behavior Personal characteristics b. Value system c. Belief system d. Strength of moral character e. Cognitive moral development f. Ethical sensitivity Desirability of Importance of stakeholders Teleological Actual Current Disciplinary Knowledge (Box 1) Marketing Ethics in the 1970s and 1980s 9 Common research design: Develop scenarios of specific marketing practices Ask different groups (e.g. students, workers, and marketing practitioners) to evaluate the ethicality of each marketing practice Show that the various groups differ as to the ethicality of the marketing practices Common research conclusion: Marketing practitioners ethical frameworks are different from those of other groups (e.g. students and workers). 3
10 Problem Recognition (Box 2) What is the meaning of the concept, ethical framework? If people have different ethical judgments, does this imply that people have different ethical frameworks? What kind of research design could test whether marketing practitioners ethical frameworks are different from others? What is required to guide the research design is a positive ethical theory, but most ethical theories are normative 11 Constraints (Box 7) If a positive ethical theory is to be developed, it should be related to existing ethics concepts Major existing concepts include deontological ethics and teleological ethics A positive ethical theory should be capable of being expressed in boxes and arrows 12 Reasoning Processes (Box 8) If people actually made ethical judgments consistent with normative ethical theories, what ought to be the key components of the ethical decision-making process? ethical reasoning should be a major part of the positive theory of marketing ethics Teleological ethical reasoning should be a major part of the positive theory of marketing ethics 4
13 Creative Cognitive Acts (Box 3) The theory should focus on explaining ethical judgments. ethical problem should start the process of ethics reasoning For most people, both deontological and teleological factors influence ethical judgments Ethical judgments, intentions, and behaviors are positively related Guilt comes about when teleological influences intentions directly People learn how to reason ethically by experience New Theory Proposal (Box 4) Theory Development Process 14 Identify major constructs Iteration after iteration after iteration of the model s constructs and paths 15 The Hunt-Vitell Theory of Ethics Cultural environment b. Legal System c. Political System ethical problem Professional environment alternatives norms Action control Industry environment Organizational environment Probabilities of Ethical judgments Intentions Behavior Personal characteristics b. Value system c. Belief system d. Strength of moral character e. Cognitive moral development f. Ethical sensitivity Desirability of Importance of stakeholders Teleological Actual 5
New Theory Proposal (Box 4) Article Development Process 16 Develop the theory as an article Submit to JMR Rejection by JMR Submit to Journal of Macromarketing Revisions requested by the Journal of Macromarketing 17 Outside the Box Constraints Reviewer C: strongly advocates examining marketing ethics from a positive perspective. Reviewer A: Developing a positive theory of ethics is impossible in the sense that it would be no different than describing decision making in general. Thus, ethical theory, at least as espoused by the vast majority of moral philosophers, seeks to understand actions in light of some standard or concept of what behavior ought to be. In this sense, theories of ethics are uniquely normative (emphasis added). Reviewer B: Unfortunately, the author(s) avoid a central point adhered to by most moral philosophers that ethics is distinctly different from positive (descriptive) social science by definition. Ethics deals with normative judgments about moral situations. Therefore, a model of ethical decision-making should either postulate a morally consistent normative system or provide a mechanism to evaluate the ethical appropriateness of decisions already made according to some standard or standards (underlining in original). 18 Outcomes Acceptance by editor in 1985 with offer to reviewers A and B to write comments Publication in Journal of Macromarketing in 1986 Since 1986, over 1500 Google Scholar citations 6