Determinants of Ethical Behavior: A Study of Autosalespeople (original) (raw)

A Cross-National Investigation of Industrial Salespeople's Ethical Perceptions

Journal of International Business Studies, 1991

This study examines ethical perceptions of industrial salespeople in the United States, Japan, and South Korea. Marketing ethics, in general, and selling ethics, in particular, have experienced *Alan J. Dubinsky is Professor of Marketing at St. Cloud State University (St. Cloud, Minnesota). His research interests are in the areas of personal selling and sales management.

Ethical perceptions of field sales personnel: An empirical assessment

The Journal of Personal …, 1992

This study examines ethical perceptions of industrial salespeople in the United States, Japan, and South Korea. Marketing ethics, in general, and selling ethics, in particular, have experienced *Alan J. Dubinsky is Professor of Marketing at St. Cloud State University (St. Cloud, Minnesota). His research interests are in the areas of personal selling and sales management.

Marketing Ethics: Mediating Influences on Sales Managers’ Ethical Decision-making

Advances in economics, business and management research/Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, 2024

Ethics plays an vital role and dominant in the company. The ethical problems faced by the buyer and seller in the market leads to negative or positive commercial relations. The seller have to give more emphasis towards this process will lead to a shake-up in trade and commercial communications between buyer and seller. The establishment of an ethical structure like transparency, fair value, proper sales operation and proper communication within the marketing department has positive effects on growth of the company. Sales management coordinating the sales professionals to achieve higher revenue to the company's goals while maintaining ethical standards. The ethics in sales activities ensure the ethical standard with integrity and a focus on customer well-being. Having a good understanding between the consumers' ethical behaviors and the consumption of the products provides more benefits in helping the managers to analyze the behavior of the customer. This practice not only protects the company's reputation but also contributes to long-term business success. This paper focused towards that and collected 395 samples from managers working in FMGC companies located in India.

The relationship between salespersons’ ethical philosophy and their ethical decision-making process

Asian Journal of Business Ethics, 2013

The aim of the present research is studying the relationship between the salespersons' ethical philosophy and their ethical decision-making process and seeks to answer two fundamental questions: first, what is the ethical philosophy of salespersons? And second, how does the salespersons' ethical philosophy affect their ethical decisionmaking process? Statistical population of this research is salespersons who have passed the sales training course at the Department of Commerce Research Centre. One hundred thirty-seven questionnaires of total 300 accessible populations were analyzed through path analysis method. The findings indicate that most salespersons are idealists. Although this idealism affects the ethical judgment directly, but the effect of relativism on ethical intention is more considerable.

Differences in business ethical perceptions between salespeople and business students

2012

Ethic and personality are two important things for a business organization. In terms of work place, it is important to know that someone who workid' at personal selling (salespeople) sometimes violates the moral and ethical dimensions of their profession. This is the reason why the study aimed to examine the differences in business ethi~al"~erce~tions between salespeople and the prospective personal selling people(e.g. business students) and to compare their perceptions based on gender differences. 200 samples participated in this study, and a number of hypotheses have been tested empirically. Results of the study indicate that gender differences differ in the four dimensions of ethics, namely: moral development, ethical value system, sensitivity to ethical issues, and ethical behavior. However, in general, empirical results showed no differences in gender for the examination of ethical behavior. Interesting finding showed that there are significant differences in perceptions of business ethics and personality between business students and people who have already work personal selling.

Perceptual differences of sales practitioners and students concerning ethical behavior

Journal of Business Ethics, 1989

This study investigates specific behavioral perceptual differences of ethics between practitioners and students enrolled in sales classes. Respondents were asked to indicate their beliefs to issues related to ethics in sales. A highly significant difference was found between mean responses of students and sales personnel. Managers indicated a greater concern for ethical behavior and less attention to sales than did the students. Students indicated a strong desire for success regardless of ethical constraints violated.

Relationship outcomes of perceived ethical sales behavior: the customer's perspective

Journal of Business Research, 2005

This research analyzes the role of ethical salesperson behavior as perceived by the customer in developing a better quality relationship between the salesperson and the customer. The results show that perceived ethical sales behavior plays a major role in affecting the quality of the buyer–seller relationship as it has a positive effect on customer satisfaction, trust and commitment to the salesperson. In addition, satisfaction with and trust in the salesperson positively influence customer commitment to the salesperson. Finally, perceived ethical sales behavior has a stronger effect on customer satisfaction with the salesperson when the customer's attitude toward the industry in which the salesperson works is more negative than when it is more positive. Implications and future research issues are discussed.

The Influence of Moral Philosophy on Retail Salespeople's Ethical Perceptions

Journal of Consumer Affairs, 2004

The relatively minimal literature on ethics in a retail selling context indicates that retail sales personnel perceive that their job creates ethical dilemmas. However, what drives those beliefs is virtually unknown. Investigations in non‐retailing venues have found that employees’ moral philosophy (or ideology) influences whether they view a particular situation, action, or behavior as unacceptable (ethically inappropriate). The present study extends previous retail sales ethics research by examining the impact of retail salespersons’ moral philosophy on their perceptions of situations that are potentially ethically troublesome. Findings reveal some evidence that moral philosophy does indeed have an effect on retail salespeople's ethical beliefs. The impact of these results on the consumer is brought out through a discussion of the various implications from the vantage point of consumer welfare.

Moral Intensity, Issue Characteristics, and Ethical Issue Recognition in Sales Situations

Journal of Business Ethics, 2018

Researchers have considered individual and organizational factors of ethical decision making. However, they have little interest in situational factors (McClaren, Journal of Business Ethics 112(1):101-125, 2013) which is surprising given the many situations sales persons face. We address this issue using two pilot qualitative studies successively and a 2 by 2 withinsubject experiment with sales scenarios. Qualitative and quantitative data are obtained from front-line employees of the main French retail banks that serve low-income customers. We show that the recognition of an ethical issue differs depending on the role behavior salespersons are engaged in and the nature of the conflict of interest they face. Moreover, the combined effect of these two situational characteristics is mediated by moral intensity. This study not only adds evidence on situational factors affecting ethical decision but also extends empirical research on sales ethics by revealing sales situations that are not considered in the empirical literature. The research implications of the findings are discussed along with the study's limitations and suggestions for future research.

The Impact of Ethical Considerations in Purchase Behavior: a propaedeutic to further research

Many organizations assume that having a good ethical reputation often has an impact on consumers' responses to a service or product. The research reported in this paper sought to confirm this intuition by investigating: 1) consumers' attitudes about the ethics of corporate behavior in relation to stockholders, customers (middlemen and ultimate consumers), suppliers, employees, and host communities; 2) consumer willingness to reward ethical firms through purchase decisions; and 3) the impact of the consumers' attitudes towards corporate ethical behavior on company behavior. The results indicate that the consumers do care about corporate ethical behavior towards all groups of people and they will reward the firms that behave ethically via their purchase decision. This suggests that corporate ethics is important to the consumers and provides ethical firms with a marketplace advantage.