PRICE GOUGING AND HOARDING OF PRODUCTS IN NIGERIA DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A BUSINESS ETHICIST'S PERSPECTIVE
Lasisi, Wasilat Opeoluwa
Abstract
Whether a seller is right or wrong in manipulating the quality, quantity and price of goods is complicated since the sole aim of engaging in business is profit making. Since the outbreak of the novel corona virus in Nigeria, attention has been drawn to the rate at which manufacturers and retailers treat the consumers in questionable ways by lying about the quantity of products and manipulating the prices of common commodities. Many commodity prices have soared unbearably in Nigeria because ethical business practices have been jettisoned by many sellers. In this paper, I shall show that hoarding of goods and price gouging are unethical because the perpetrators derailed from acting from a sense of duty in respecting the dignity of the consumers and only treat them as means to a greedy end. I proceed by exposing, analysing and examining the ethical issues embedded in the actions of sellers during COVID-19 by citing examples and In conclusion, I show, from a business ethicist's perspective, how businesses can build a normative understanding of ethical market practices in ways that benefit both sellers and consumers by advancing an argument centered on both the consumers and the sellers.
Key words:
consumers, hoarding, inflation, Kantian ethics, pandemic, price gouging
