Deception and defection from ethical norms in market relationships: a general analytic framework William W. Keep and Gary P. Schneider School of Business, Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT, USA Market relationships built on trust and governed by commonly accepted ethical norms are generally viewed as economically positive and beneficial to both parties; however, such relationships are occasionally the situs of a variety of unexpected and ethically questionable behaviours. This study examines the narratives provided by participants who share their experience as an exchange partner in a market relationship or as a close observer of an exchange partner in a market relationship to identify the use of short-term deceptions and ethics defections in managing these relationships. The data demonstrate a number of instances in which one exchange partner is willing to deceive another. Situations identified include deceiving current customers, new customers, current suppliers, governmental bodies, and employees and managers for the purposes of: protecting an existing relationship, pursuing a new relationship, ensuring product or service quality, and exerting control over a relationship. This research develops a general analytic framework for the occurrence of deception and defection from ethical norms in market relationships from elements of the study participants’ narrative reports. This framework can be used by future researchers to design studies that examine the specific antecedents of these behaviours. Introduction The theory of transaction costs in information economics and relationship theory in marketing predict that long-term market relationships that include elements of trust and conformance to generally accepted ethical norms can benefit both parties to such relationships. Trust, non-opportu- nistic behaviour, honest communications, and con- sistent performance stabilize and maximize the benefits of such relationships. At the same time, however, deception is observed in market exchanges (Keep 2003, Gneezy 2005). As firms seek to build and sustain market relationships, their employees (who negotiate and implement the elements of these relationships) are challenged both economically and ethically to meet competing needs and pursue opportunities in an ever-changing environment. The research reported in this paper explores the nature of deceptive behaviour by participants in market relationships by focusing on a single ques- tion: it outlines a general analytic framework for identifying the conditions under which a participant in a market relationship might be tempted to engage in deception or defect from an ethical norm to achieve a market goal. This study documents such behaviours and their underlying causal factors to develop a general framework for understanding how some participants in market relationships exploit information asymmetry to pursue an opportunity or doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8608.2009.01579.x r 2009 The Authors Journal compilation r 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main St, Malden, MA 02148, USA 64 Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 19 Number 1 January 2010