Empowering marketing students via ethical reflection: a genai-driven assignment design

This research elucidates students’ perceptions of ethical issues related to GenAI use within marketing, gained from an experiential learning approach that is adaptable to other modules and programs. Marketing ethics education is essential for preparing students for responsible practice. As the rise of AI has brought new challenges to both educators and marketing practitioners, we designed a new assignment approach within the “Responsible Marketing” module on an MSc Marketing program. Students were mandated to use GenAI (e.g. ChatGPT) in their assignment, reflect on its ethical implications, and draw parallels to its use in marketing practice. This article details the foundations and design of this action research experience, analyses 35 student self-reflections, and discusses findings that affirm how this exercise fostered transformative learning through consciousness raising.