Background: Considering the problems that sports marketers face with internal brands, attention to ethics in social marketing can be effective in improving consumer buying status. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the role of ethics in social marketing in encouraging sports elites to internal brands.
Method: This is a descriptive-correlational study. The statistical population consisted of all sport elites. 206 individuals were selected as the sample based on the principles of sample size determination and available method. Ethical questionnaire for social marketing and consumer buying ethics questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation test and path analysis with SPSS and Amos software.
Results: The results of Pearson correlation test showed that there is a significant relationship between ethics in social marketing and its dimensions with the induction of sporting elites to buy in-house brands. Sport has a significant positive effect on buying in-house brands that customer orientation (β = 0.858) has a greater impact on persuading sporting elites to buy in-house brands than adhering to ethical principles and values in sales (β = 0.345).
Conclusion: Based on the results of ethical principles in social marketing by executives of sports brand businesses can have an impact on shaping behavior and encouraging purchase of consumers and sport elites