Ethics and purchasing dilemma: A Singaporean view

Emergence of purchasing as a strategic function has not only broadened the scope of purchasing, it has also changed the responsibilities of the purchasing managers by empowering them to spend large sums of money in procuring goods and services. However, this has also presented them with an array of ethical dilemmas involving questionable purchasing practices. This study proposes a framework to examine ethicality of decision making when faced with such dilemmas and presents the results of a survey conducted to assess the ethical inclinations of purchasers operating in Singapore. The results give credence to the notion that ethicality of behavior is culture-specific and reconfirms the existence of ethical relativism.