Abstract

Today’s young marketers transition from schools and into the workforce with a variety of career options in sales, advertising, and general marketing after graduation. Beyond their discipline-specific knowledge of market research, consumer behavior, and marketing communications, these individuals bring along their own set of personal values and ideologies that may influence how they engage the people, personalities, and priorities of the business organization. As new generations of young professionals enter the publicly scrutinized fields of sales and marketing, they are expected to make morally grounded decisions that may be informed by these values and ideologies. This study frames this state of affairs by examining the inquiry “Who Shall Lead Us?” whereby young marketers evaluate the fitness of a leadership climate in which they would potentially work. Here, individual cultural values and ethical ideologies are posited to influence evaluations of transformational leadership.