THE PERSONAL SELLING (PS) AND SALES

MANAGEMENT ETHICS (SME) RESEARCH: MANAGERIAL

IMPLICATIONS AND RESEARCH DIRECTIONS FROM A
COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF THE EMPIRICAL
LITERATURE
Article in Journal of Business Ethics October, 2000
Presented by: Moeez Gill
Introduction

■ The 1st review on PS and SME which covered span of 25 years (1973-1998) by
examining 37 empirical studies (McClaren, 2000)

■ Present review is 2nd ever comprehensive studies on PS and SME literature

■ Covers the span of 11 years (1990-2010) and examine 65 empirical sales ethics articles
from 16 journals

■ Present study investigates in, 30% about ethics of retail and B2B practitioners, 8% of
B2C practitioners and the rest investigate “sales professionals”
This Study Aim to Provide:

 An opportunity to identify shifting research trends

 An insight and direction of this knowledge
 Recommends managerial actions
 Discusses areas for future exploration &
 Provide propositions for future research directions
A Framework of Selling and Sales
Management Ethical Decision Making
(Ferrell et al, 2007)
Literature Review & Research
Proposition
■ Organization Culture:
It includes ethical climate, supervisory style, rewards and punishment, norms and
values, codes of conduct and policies, managerial behavior and socialization are part of
every organizational culture (Ferrell et al, 2007)
 Training: Lack of studies investigating training, current review proposed below on it’s relationship with
Ethics.
P1: “Ethics Training communicating sales specific work related norms will have greater effect in
reducing the ethical conflict of sales practitioners.”
 Norms, codes of Ethics, Policies: Current review proposed on these parts of organizational culture by
expanding the previous investigations on these topics.
P2: “Salespeople’s compliance to corporate codes of ethics will be greater when the content of
corporate codes of ethics is more similar across (a) sales roles, (b) companies, (c) industries, and (d)
countries.”
  Organizational factors- Leadership & Supervision: Following is the proposed hypothesis from
previous investigated studies
P3: “The type of sales force leadership is associated with (i) customer perceptions of the
ethics of the selling effort and (ii) customer purchase intentions.”
■ Sales Activity:
Define as “any sales effort used in developing a buyer-seller exchange.” (Ferrell et al, 2007)
P4:“Ethical sales force outcomes are associated with: (i) the structure and content of selling
activities; (ii) customer perceptions of (a) selling activities, (b) a salesperson’s supervisor,
and (c) supplier/buyer ethics policies, and, (iii) supervisor perceptions of (a) selling activities
and (b) the customer.”
■ Ethical Issue Intensity:
The characteristics of a moral issue are described as it’s moral intensity. (Jones 1991)
P5: “Sales practitioners’ perceived moral intensity of ethical issues is related to (i) individual
factors of (a) their level of cognitive moral development, (b) their moral philosophy, (c) gender,
age, and education, and (d) their nationality, and (ii) organizational factors of culture, climate,
and values.”
■ Sales Ethical Climate:
Is a subculture composed, in part of members perceptions, values, behavior and norms that focus on
issues of right and wrong.
P6: “The ethical climate of the sales area influences the perceptions of moral intensity of
ethical issues of sales practitioners.”
“The ethical behavior of sales practitioners is influenced by their professional sales
climate.”
Future Research

■ Most of the research that reviewed, was done in western domain so the
generalizability of the research done is questionable. Future research should
consider in different domain.
■ Future studies must focus on moral intensity. Need to investigate the relationship
between individual characteristics of CMD and organizational control systems, such
as codes of ethics and compliance.
■ Ethics training, there needs to be an even deeper investigation of what companies
do in ethics training.
■ Finally, investigation of salespeople may extend to new research methods, such as
those used in neuro-marketing.
Review Findings
Cont.
Cont.
Cont.
Cont.
Cont.