Ethical Concerns and Neuromarketing

Ing. Lucia Majerikova, BBA

Master's thesis

Abstract:

The aim of this thesis is to research ethical concerns in the field of neuromarketing through the comparison between two countries, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands and furthermore discuss the current challenges and discuss the future of this field. The theoretical part offers deeper explanations on what is neuroscience and neuromarketing and what is ethics from the general view. Later, the topic of ethics in neuromarketing is further explored through the researches of various scholars. The practical part offer the overview of what commercial and academic organisation there are on the Dutch and the Czech market. The interviewees from these organisations helped establishing common ethical ground of ethics in neuromarketing. The ethical concerns are furthermore explored through the existing Code of Ethics of NMSBA and later found out that ethical concerns in practice are not really applied in practice. Ultimately, according to interviewees, the future of neuromarketing will be about the more accurate development, more companies adapting neuromarketing strategies and perhaps neuromarketing becoming natural and stable part of marketing. The ethics were not mentioned in any case of the future development.

Abstract:

The aim of this thesis is to research ethical concerns in the field of neuromarketing through the comparison between two countries, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands and furthermore discuss the current challenges and discuss the future of this field. The theoretical part offers deeper explanations on what is neuroscience and neuromarketing and what is ethics from the general view. Later, the topic of ethics in neuromarketing is further explored through the researches of various scholars. The practical part offer the overview of what commercial and academic organisation there are on the Dutch and the Czech market. The interviewees from these organisations helped establishing common ethical ground of ethics in neuromarketing. The ethical concerns are furthermore explored through the existing Code of Ethics of NMSBA and later found out that ethical concerns in practice are not really applied in practice. Ultimately, according to interviewees, the future of neuromarketing will be about the more accurate development, more companies adapting neuromarketing strategies and perhaps neuromarketing becoming natural and stable part of marketing. The ethics were not mentioned in any case of the future development.

Keywords

ethics, neuromarketing, neuroscience, ethical concerns, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, market overview, commercial organisation, academic organisation, future

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 12. 5. 2017

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 23. 6. 2017
• Supervisor: doc. Ing. Alena Klapalová, Ph.D.
• Reader: Ing. Anida Krajina

Masaryk University

Faculty of Economics and Administration

Master programme / field:
Economy and Management / Business Management (Eng.)