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Ethics in Personal Selling and Sales

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J Bus Ethics (2013) 112:101125
DOI 10.1007/s10551-012-1235-4
The Personal Selling and Sales Management Ethics Research:
Managerial Implications and Research Directions
from a Comprehensive Review of the Empirical Literature
Nicholas McClaren
Received: 23 November 2010 / Accepted: 23 January 2012 / Published online: 1 February 2012
Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012
Abstract Research into ethics in personal selling and
sales management has increased substantially over the
preceding decade by investigating complex dimensions of
ethical decision-making in greater depth and with more
analytical sophistication. This review of the recent con-
ceptual and empirical literature provides insight into the
extent and the direction of this knowledge, recommends
managerial action, and discusses areas for future explora-
tion. Future direction is also provided through research
propositions. The type of sales practitioner investigated,
the main variables examined, and the key findings are
summarized in an Appendix.
Keywords Empirical
Ethics
Literature
Sales

Management
Marketing
Personal Selling
Review
Introduction
It has been a decade since the first comprehensive review
of the personal selling and sales management ethics liter-
aturea review which examined 37 empirical sales ethics
studies spanning approximately 25 years (see McClaren
2000). The present review identifies 65 empirical studies of
sales practitioners and sales organizations continuing from
the period covered previously (i.e., 19731998; see
Appendix Table 1), nearly doubling the number included
in the previous review. The increasing interest in sales
ethics is clearly apparent when considering that the present
review covers 11 years, compared to the 25 covered by the
N. McClaren (&)
School of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Business and
Law, Deakin University, Geelong 3217, Australia
e-mail: nicmac@deakin.edu.au
preceding review. The substantial increase in research
creates the need for a review of current knowledge, pro-
vides an opportunity to identify shifting research trends,
makes it necessary to inform practitioners about key
managerial implications, and makes it worthwhile to pro-
vide suggestions about future research directions. This
article continues the previous review by providing insight
into the extent and the direction of the current knowledge,
by synthesizing managerial implications and recommen-
dations, and by suggesting areas for further exploration.
Since McClaren 2000, there have been four relevant
reviews of the literature. Loe et al. (2000) summarized the
empirical, business decision-making ethics research noting
the need to integrate ethical issues into other areas of
research and the need to consider methodological issues,
such as longitudinal studies and face validity, and high-
lighted the need to investigate moral intensity. Reid and
Plank (2000) reviewed more than 2,000 business-to-busi-
ness marketing articles of which only 18 covered ethics.
OFallon and Butterfield (2005) followed the period cov-
ered by Loe et al. (2000) concluding that although the
amount of empirical ethics research had increased vastly
over the preceding 7 years, improvement was needed in the
theoretical grounding of the research, in the operational-
ization and measurement of (un)ethical behavior, and in
the examination of interaction effects. The purpose of the
present review is to provide implications relevant to
practitioners in diverse selling, sales management, and
organizational contexts and to suggest areas for future
investigation.
The literature search identified studies that advance our
understanding of decision-making under ethical conditions
gained from empirical investigation, the bedrock of sci-
entific knowledge (Hunt 1991). The EBSCO Host platform
electronically searched the 1,300 scholarly business
123
102
journals in the Business Source Complete and the 6,000
multi-disciplinary journals in the Academic Search Com-
plete databases. The search was limited to publications
occurring from 1998 in peer-reviewed journals with the
search terms including variants of sale (e.g., sale and
sales), ethic (e.g., ethics and ethical), market (e.g., 2007, p. 294), shown in Fig. 1, was used to group the
marketing and marketers), and selling in the Subject and
Abstract search fields. More than 150 conceptual and
empirical publications were identified, of which 65 dealt
with ethics and personal selling, sales practitioners, and
sales management as the objects of empirical attention. For
completeness, some articles not available or not included in
the preceding review are also included in this review.
Although studies surveying customers provide an impor-
tant contribution to our understanding of sales ethics (see,
for example, Chen and Mau 2009; Hansen and Riggle
2009; Kennedy, Ferrell and LeClair 2001; Ramsey et al.
2007; Roman 2003; Roman and Ruiz 2005), they were not
included in the present review.
This review examines 65 empirical sales ethics articles
from 16 journals, compared to the 37 sourced from 12
publications by McClaren (2000). Although the number of
outlets was higher in the second review period, the Journal
of Business Ethics and the Journal of Personal Selling &
Sales Management remain the main vehicles for dissemi-
nation of research findings in terms of the number of
publications, with approximately two-thirds of the articles
published in both review periods. While it may appear that
the Journal of Business Ethics has increased in importance
as an outlet for sales ethics publications and the Journal of
Personal Selling & Sales Management declined, it is
important to remember that the review periods spanned a
different number of years and that electronic searching of
publications became widely available during the interven-
ing period. The present review highlights significant
advances in our understanding from studies of salespeople
(45%), sales managers (23%), and combined samples of
salespeople and managers (9%). Approximately 30% of the
studies investigate the ethics of retail and business-to-
business practitioners, 8% business-to-consumer, and the
balance investigate sales professionals.
Fig. 1 A framework of selling
and sales management ethical
decision-making. Source Ferrell
et al. (2007, p. 294)
123
N. McClaren
A detailed organizing structure is needed because the
present review revealed a greater number of studies and
wider range of topics focusing on specific aspects of
decision-making. A Framework of Selling and Sales
Management Ethical Decision Making (Ferrell et al.
material into seven main sections. This will allow readers
to appreciate the status of current knowledge about indi-
vidual and environmental factors and their influence on the
various aspects and stages of decision-making. Because
some studies cover multiple topics their inclusion in certain
components of the framework is necessarily arbitrary and
not mutually exclusive. Important conceptual advances are
incorporated throughout the review, rather than being a
main focus of it.
Organizational Culture
An organizations ethical climate, supervisory style,
rewards and punishment, norms and values, codes of
conduct and policies, expectations, managerial behavior,
and socialization are part of an organizations culture
(Ferrell et al. 2007). Importantly, Ferrell et al. (2007)
conceptualize that a sales organization has not only its own
subculture or ethical climate but also that the ethical sales
climate influences perceptions of the intensity of ethical
issues and ethical decisions. McClaren (2000) reports 18
empirical studies covering organizational factors of
supervision, rewards and punishment, codes of ethics, and
climate and culture. The present review includes 37
empirical studies in this section. This is not only a sub-
stantial increase in the amount of research but also the
range of topics has broadened. Eight of the studies included
by McClaren (2000) investigated supervision and perfor-
mance, focusing on the characteristics of the subordinate
and supervisor, and perceptions of the nature of the act
(i.e., its inherent ethicalness and outcomes from the
infraction). The recent research now extends to a much
wider range of factors, including organizational commit-
ment, intention to quit, ethical climate, the attractiveness of
The Personal Selling and Sales Management Ethics Research
the market, self-efficacy, organizational behavioral control
systems, perceptions of quota, the nature of the offering,
socialization, the ideological beliefs of supervisors, the
style and outcomes of leadership, and interactions between
various factors.
Training
McClaren identified nine studies dealing with education
and one with training, noting that the distinction between
levels and types of education and training is frequently not
made clearly in the literature (2000, p. 289). The main
issues from the previous review were a lack of studies
investigating training, the need to determine the relation-
ship between ethics training and ethical behavior, and the
need to better understand the role that training has in
reducing ethical conflict through the articulation and the
internalization of corporate rules and norms.
Ten studies are included in the present review with four
focusing directly on training and ethics (Honeycutt et al.
2004; Schwepker and Good 2004a, 2007b; Valentine
2009). Collectively, these studies addressed the research
needs indentified in the preceding review by exploring
relationships between ethics training and aspects of ethical
decision-making and by investigating the role of training in
communicating and enforcing corporate rules and norms.
Although research in this area suggests that ethics training
sensitizes the sales force to their own gender biases and to
the situational, contingent factors that may bias ethical
judgments, alleviates the moderating effect of age and
education on salespeoples ability to perceive ethical situ-
ations, and influences ethical perceptions (Boyle 2000;
Honeycutt et al. 2004; Valentine 2009), the amount of
ethics training may not influence ethical/unethical behavior
(Schwepker and Good 2007b). Managerial consideration of
corporate ethics training and ethics education is necessary
because the amount of training is positively related to sales
practitioners perceptions of the institutionalizing of orga-
nizational ethics and perceptions of ethical culture and to
satisfaction with supervisors and co-workers (Valentine
2009). Senior managers should encourage a greater
appreciation among their sales managers of what constitute
ethical standards and ethical violations because this will
lead to the likelihood of their providing ethical coaching,
will provide a greater understanding of how to coach eth-
ics, and will be reflected in differences in the customer-
orientation of salespeople (Schwepker and Good 2004a).
The increased importance of ethics training is now reflec-
ted in frequent calls for ethics training programs and the
effective implementation of codes of ethics from the
authors mentioned previously and from Dubinsky et al.
(2004), Roman and Munuera (2005), Schwepker (2003),
Valentine and Barnett (2007), among others.
103
Differences between education and training may be
important in distinguishing between and understanding the
professional and organizational socialization that influ-
ences the work-norms that shape ethical perceptions, yet
the influence of education and training on such socializa-
tion appears to be unknown (McClaren et al. 2010). Here,
some work has been done by Fan et al. (2006; Fan and
Cheng 2006) who identify seven necessary competencies
for the professional development of Taiwanese life insur-
ance sales representatives.
Managing ethics across countries presents special
problems for organizations operating globally. Honeycutt
et al. (2004) suggest the emphasis on ethics training may
reflect either the importance attached to that aspect of
training in the home country or the lack of need to rein-
force already strict regulatory and legal environments felt
by local retailers. They suggest an international standard of
ethical norms should be established in training programs to
ensure local firms are competitive, especially given the
greater importance placed on ethical issues in sales force
training by international compared to local retailers
(Honeycutt et al. 2004). Further research using different
types of personal selling is needed so that managerial
recommendations will be provided from a wider variety of
selling contexts. Studies might also examine the content of
ethics training, an area that has not been researched.
Proposition Ethics training communicating sales specific
work-related norms will have a greater effect in reducing
the ethical conflict of sales practitioners compared to
general ethics training.
Norms and Values, Codes of Ethics, Policies
Of the nine studies dealing with codes of ethics identified by
McClaren (2000), five described the nature, severity, and
ranking of ethical issues. Four examined the effect of the
perceptions of the severity of the act, the internalization of
values, and the structure of ethical decision-making. The
treatment of codes of ethics in the previous review was
summarized as being primarily about their existence in
companies, the issued covered, their regulatory effect, and
their contribution to reducing ethical conflict. Research into
corporate codes of ethics and related areas is now more
prominent in the sales ethics literature, with 21 articles
examining codes, norms, and policies. Compared to the
studies in the preceding review period which mainly
described the frequency, content, and regulatory effect of
codes, the studies in the present period focus on how codes
achieve their objective. They substantially extend and
broaden the previous investigations about codes and per-
ceptions of problems, internalization, and ethical evaluations
by examining managerial attitudes, control mechanisms,
123
104
awareness of codes, commitment to organizational values,
corporate social responsibility, and the implementation of
codes.
There have been numerous calls for the development,
communication, and enforcement of codes of ethics (Bel-
lizzi and Hasty 2001; Cadogan et al. 2009; DeConinck
2003; Jaramillo et al. 2006; Roman and Munuera 2005;
Schwepker 2001, as examples). This is, in part, because our
current understanding is that codes of ethics indirectly
influence the ethics of the sales force through their impact
on the attitudes of sales managers, because they provide
clear ethical expectations, and because they may contribute
to the consistent treatment of staff in contexts that are
potentially discriminatory (Bellizzi and Hasty 2001; De-
Coninck 2003; Schwepker and Good 2007b). For these
reasons, managers should not only include ethics training
as part of implementing codes of ethics (as mentioned
previously) and consider the extent to which their organi-
zation adopts standards that are widely accepted but also
monitor the implementation of their policies (Bellizzi and
Hasty 2001, 2002; Valentine and Barnett 2007). Current
knowledge suggests the awareness of codes of ethics is
associated with both perceptions of higher ethical values
and higher levels of organizational commitment, although
this latter association is mediated by the perception of
corporate ethical values (Valentine and Barnett 2002,
2003). Sales professionals employed in organizations with
codes of ethics, compared to organizations without, per-
ceive their work environments to have more positive eth-
ical values, irrespective of their years of tenure in an
organization, their hours of ethics training, their global job
satisfaction with the organization, and their level of orga-
nizational commitment (Valentine and Barnett 2002,
2003).
Managerial leadership is required in the development of
and training in codes because it sends the message that
corporations are institutionalizing ethics. Because percep-
tions of corporate social responsibility partially or fully
mediate relationships among (i) job satisfaction, (ii) ethics
programs (i.e., the presence and communication of codes of
ethics, the presence of ethics training, and the hours of
ethics training), (iii) professional ethical standards, and (iv)
the subordination of ethics, managers should exercise their
own personal beliefs in alignment with organizational
ethics goals. The profession, therefore, is called upon to
develop social responsibility to encourage ethical standards
(Valentine and Fleischman 2008a, b). It is not only that
companies gain from establishing codes of ethics but also
enforcing codes beyond what is required by law means that
organizations can benefit from not sacrificing principles for
profit (Grisaffe and Jaramillo 2007).
A feature of the research has been calls for universal
codes and universal standards to be created through
123
N. McClaren
professional associations and training programs (Hawes
et al. 2004; Honeycutt et al. 2004; Tengilimoglu et al.
2004), and for this to occur more widely across firms and
industries (Chonko et al. 2002; Pettijohn et al. 2008). The
enforcement of a universal code for all sales practitioners
would help to remove violators from sales areas, to over-
come the lack of homogeneity in sales positions, contribute
to sales achieving professional status, and provide
benchmarks for industry and cross-industry comparisons.
Areas in which there are differences and where bench-
marks are needed include the frequency of unethical
behavior, the likelihood of punishment for breaches,
awareness levels of codes, and the external communication
of the code to other stakeholders, such as customers in the
direct selling industry (Chonko et al. 2002, 2003; Hawes
et al. 2004).
Company executives should turn to their professional
associations for the development and implementation of
codes at company and industry levels. Ferrell et al. (2000)
also note the increasing emphasis and importance of ethical
regulation in global selling at company, industry, national,
and cross-national levels and the need for initiatives that
guide global ethical conduct. Focusing on the establish-
ment of standards, incorporating sales managers as com-
pliance officers, addressing ethical propensity in the hiring
process, providing ethics training, monitoring behavior,
enforcing ethical standards, and developing ethical cultures
are seven structural areas likely to support ethical conduct
in global sales organizations (Ferrell et al. 2000).
Proposition Salespeoples compliance to corporate
codes of ethics will be greater when the content of cor-
porate codes of ethics is more similar across (a) sales roles,
(b) companies, (c) industries, and (d) countries.
Proposition Company and industry-wide communication
to sales practitioners of the number and nature of breaches
of professional and corporate codes of ethics is associated
with: (i) their perceptions of ethical issues, (ii) the fre-
quency of unethical behavior, and (iii) the nature and
severity of unethical behavior.
Organizational FactorsDiscipline, Rewards
and Punishment, Supervision, Leadership
The amount of research in this area has increased from the
eight empirical studies reported by McClaren (2000) which
investigated ethical issues and the fairness of the supervi-
sor, supervision, and performance, and the inherent nature
of the decision-making process (i.e., deontological and
teleological frameworks). Two main streams of research
emerge from the 17 studies included in this section. The
first stream extended research about rewards and punish-
ment and the equitable treatment of employees. Here, the
The Personal Selling and Sales Management Ethics Research
research considered aspects such as communication and
awareness of rules and policies. Research in the current
period also extended and broadened previous research
about rules and policies by looking more widely at orga-
nizational climate. Investigations into compensation
method, incentive schemes, and control processes were a
feature of this research. The second stream is about sales
force leadership and were not topics included in the pre-
ceding review period. Compared to the preceding review
period, there were fewer studies dealing with supervision
and individual ethical frameworks (i.e., deontology and
teleology).
Bellizzi and his colleagues investigated disciplinary
aspects of supervision, demonstrating that management
still needs to address various aspects of inequitable
supervision and Schwepker and others researched aspects
to do with supervision and rewards. Ingram et al. (2007)
advance the area conceptually with a framework describing
how salespeoples moral judgments are affected by the
influence of sales leadership (i.e., transformational style,
socialization, and trust) and sales management control
strategy (i.e., activity- and capability-based control) on
individual cognitive moral development (CMD) and orga-
nizational ethical climate. Much of the recent research
investigates sales managers, as Schwepker and Good note:
As the appreciation of ethics has grown, the inclusion of
the sales manager as a key differential within the ethics
mix is a logical transition (2010, p. 309).
Collectively, the studies in this section have substan-
tially expanded our understanding of supervisory behavior.
Managers should be cognizant of the managerial implica-
tions arising from the extensive research into ethics,
salesperson performance, supervisory behavior, and man-
agement of salespeople that has been conducted over the
preceding decade. Managers should give consideration
only to those issues relevant to the ethical circumstance and
not allow extraneous factors to influence their ethical
decisions. They should not over-react to legal, social jus-
tice, or equity issues by treating genders differently, and
should be consistent in the application of discipline across
individual characteristics and other factors (such as gender,
weight, level of performance, work history, and the
severity of both the act and the consequences) (Bellizzi and
Hasty 2001, 2002).
Management also needs to be consistent in both their
words and actions. Senior management, however, has a
significant problem to address in that company policy,
repetition of the unethical behavior, the communication of
ethical standards through ethics training, and stronger
corporate policies do not necessarily lead to consistency in
discipline (Bellizzi and Hasty 2003; Bellizzi and Bristol
2005; Bellizzi 2006). Senior management has an important
role in not only creating awareness of the issue of the
105
inconsistency of sales managers supervisory behavior but
also in addressing it (Bellizzi 2006).
Because the moral judgments of salespeople are posi-
tively related to their sales performance (Schwepker and
Ingram 1996), the management of conflict requires that
managers address not only issues that create inter-role
conflict but also consider the ethical climate of the orga-
nization (e.g., the existence and enforcement of policies
and codes and a lack of tolerance of unethical behavior).
This climate is already known to affect salespeoples per-
ceptions of the role conflict between different groups of
salespeople and managers (Schwepker et al. 1997). Man-
agers should focus particularly on the way market attrac-
tiveness, control systems, self-efficacy, and the difficulty of
achieving quota impact sales performance and take action
on the factors over which they have some control
(Schwepker and Good 1999). For example, managers need
to improve their levels of scrutiny and monitoring of the
sales force, alter perceptions, and send signals about the
difficulty of achieving quotas to increase the selling ability
of their salespeople so that salespeople are better equipped
to accept challenging quotas. Communicating and imple-
menting the outcomes that salespeople can expect when
they make or fail to make quotas are performance factors
on which managers need to focus (Schwepker and Good
1999).
Collectively, current research (Cadogan et al. 2009; Hsu
et al. 2009; Roman and Munuera 2005; Schwepker 2003;
Schwepker and Good 2004b, 2007a) suggests practitioners
need to manage their organizations ethical climate and
their own actions that may contribute to ethical conflict
because conflict negatively affects sales performance. This
is particularly necessary for salespeople who are compen-
sated by a combination of salary, commission and bonuses,
who are older, and who have less business experience.
Other managerial requirements include having an appro-
priate formal reward and control process (quotas), and
understanding that the pressure on sales managers to
achieve quota is outweighed by the pressure to behave
ethically, which means that quotas need to be fair and
equitable. Here, the impact of unethical behavior on short-
and long-term gain needs to be articulated.
Managers need to adopt an appropriate ethical climate
(rules and regulations), to develop strong ideologies and
norms as part of their sales strategies, and to assess the
behavior of their salespeople in their own performance
evaluations because these influence the likelihood of sales
managers allowing salespeople to act unethically (Cadogan
et al. 2009). Such actions also contribute to sales managers
making greater effort to develop beliefs about appropriate
ethical behavior in their sales teams and make them less
likely to sanction unethical behavior. Although ethical
behavior reduces inter-sender role conflict, and ethical
123
106
behavior and low levels of inter-sender role conflict con-
tribute to job satisfaction, ethical behavior does not con-
tribute to short-term sales success (Roman and Munuera
2005). Formal evaluation and incentive schemes should
also explicitly reward sales managers for ethical behavior,
ensure sales managers are appropriate role models, help
reduce the isolation of salespeople, and provide team and
job structures that include task inter-dependence to
increase information sharing, and to internalize appropriate
ethical standards and behaviors (Cadogan et al. 2009).
Training employees and minimizing the negative impact of
commission structures on the decision-making process of
salespeople need to be implemented while maintaining a
balance between the strictness of behavioral control and the
individualistic nature of selling and salespeople. The
standardization of selling activities discourages ethically
questionable behavior and widens marketing ethics norms
through policies that define ethical standards and penalize
offenders (Hsu et al. 2009).
Recent research has also explored leadership (Jaramillo
et al. 2009; Mulki et al. 2009; Schwepker and Good 2010).
Senior management is now advised to consider the lead-
ership style of their sales managers because different styles
contribute in various ways to differences in ethical out-
comes. The type of leadership style (i.e., instrumental or
directive leadership) influences the ethical climate, satis-
faction with supervisor, job satisfaction, and employee
effort. Ethical climates should be created by directive
leadership which defines clear boundaries of ethical
behavior for those salespeople who face complex ethical
dilemmas. Such climates also provide less conflict, lower
stress, positive customer reactions, and greater job satis-
faction. Managers should address any skepticism of sales-
people about the effectiveness of rules, climates, and the
intentions of supervisors because such skepticism leads to a
negative relationship between work experience and ethical
climates. Servant leadership places the good of those being
led above the self-interests of the leader and differs fun-
damentally from employee-oriented leadership styles, such
as transformational or considerate leadership. The percep-
tions of salespeople about the ethical level of the company
are influenced by servant leadership. Under such leader-
ship, salespeople are more likely to perceive that their
company has a higher level of ethics, to report that the
company is willing to place principles over sales, and to act
above the expected ethical standards. It is important to
maintain a high ethical climate in the company because it
moderates the relationship between servant leadership and
the fit of the salesperson to the organization. Servant
leadership is also more important when salespeople per-
ceive the organizations ethical climate is less than desir-
able. Supervisors who enhance the skills of salespeople,
who explain what is effective performance and who
123
N. McClaren
monitor and provide feedback to salespeople are the type of
transformational leaders who can create salesperson trust in
the sales manager and who can indirectly affect the moral
judgments of their salespeople through this trust.
Although leadership studies provide a new insight partic-
ularly into factors internal to organizations, examples here are
ethical climate, supervision, and employee satisfaction, future
research might investigate other types of leadership, such as
virtue leadership, and the relationships among ethical
behavior, motivation, and performance. Exploring the inter-
action between leadership type and the structure of the selling
effort may prove worthwhile. Research could also compare
the effect of leadership types and ethical outcomes across
cultures. Future research might investigate other factors
external to the organization. While the type of leadership may
affect internal factors (ethical climate, job satisfaction, etc.)
that may ultimately be reflected in positive stakeholder
evaluations of a company, research might establish if there are
more direct effects from leadership. Stakeholder perceptions
of the ethics of the sales force under different leadership types
may be a fruitful area to explore.
Proposition The influence from the type of leadership on
ethical outcomes is associated with the structure of the
selling effort.
Proposition The type of sales force leadership is asso-
ciated with (i) customer perceptions of the ethics of the
selling effort and (ii) customer purchase intentions.
Sales Activity
Ferrell et al. (2007, p. 294) defines sales activity as any
sales effort used in developing a buyer-seller exchange.
McClaren (2000) included 13 studies in his section on
selling role and organizational offering, and four empirical
studies supporting the Selling Activity component of his
conceptual framework. He noted that [T]he extent to
which the ethical perceptions and behaviors of sales per-
sons and their managers differ as a consequence of the
activities in which they are engaged, has not been ade-
quately established (McClaren 2000, pp. 297298). By
contrast, Ferrell et al.s (2007) Sales Activity component
includes selling activities such as aggressive selling and
deceptive sales tactics, and the influence of stakeholders
ethical values and norms. The 11 studies included in this
section represent a significant increase in research effort
given the difference in time span.
The research in the preceding review period provided
some of the foundation necessary to advance future inves-
tigations of sales ethics by describing and categorizing eth-
ical problems in selling. Primarily, these studies reported on
the nature, frequency, and intensity of ethical issues in sales.
The Personal Selling and Sales Management Ethics Research
Only a small number of studies explored the relationships
among various types of selling activity, such as trust, com-
petition, and the nature of the company offering. Substantial
progress has been made during the present review period in
establishing the extent to which the ethical perceptions and
behaviors of sales practitioners differ as a consequence of
their selling activities. Most of the studies included in the
present review extend our understanding of these differences
by investigating a wide array of factors. These included
environmental and situational influences, group selling
behavior, information sharing, the structure of the selling
effort, and various aspects of salespersoncustomer dyads
(Abratt et al. 1999; Boyle 2000; Bush et al. 2007; Cadogan
et al. 2009; Huang et al. 2006; Inks and Loe 2005; Koehn
2001; Mooradian 2004; Roman 2003; Ross and Robertson
2003; Schwepker 2003; Tengilimoglu et al. 2004).
Mooradian (2004) argues that current theories lack
adequate descriptions of the conditions that characterize
complex sales situations, and provides a model of ethical
sales theory that guides sales agents where there are dif-
ferences in selling situations and job roles that contribute to
ethical problems. Managers should be aware that sources of
ethical conflict include the lack of ethical rules at the level
of the profession, inadequate customer operational proce-
dures, and unethical aspects of customer dyads (Tengil-
imoglu et al. 2004). Salespeople, compared to retail
managers and executives, are more vulnerable to work- and
customer-related unethical behavior. The adoption and
communication of clear policies and codes of practice,
leading by example, and training sales staff are clearly
requirements of management, especially given that sales-
people and managers potentially have different sets of
values, possibly arising from diversity in retailers and
professional and occupational subcultures. The manage-
ment of sales ethics requires a more contingent approach
and recognition that not only situational influences (such as
customer gender, income, and propensity to buy) but also
the moderating effects of gender and ethical position (i.e.,
ethical idealism and ethical relativism) influence the for-
mation of ethical judgments (Boyle 2000).
Managers should also recognize the implications of
team selling and the effect of group behavior on individual
salespeople because the ethical standards of sales teams are
negatively associated with the likelihood of their behaving
unethically (Cadogan et al. 2009). Managers should also
appreciate that having lower ethical standards is associated
with the job insecurity of their sales teams, that internal-
izing organizational ethical norms and supporting ethical
standards is less likely in volatile environments, and that
information sharing within sales teams contributes to
higher ethical standards, probably by reducing the effects
of isolation by fostering esprit de corps, and by indicating
that their actions are visible (Cadogan et al. 2009). Ethical
107
outcomes from sales teams will be higher when sales
managers foster ethical values and standards, follow
company rules rather than being ethically flexible, shape
the ethical climate of the organization and internalize
ethical attitudes, and reduce job insecurity by communi-
cating to sales teams. Sales managers should also be
evaluated on the ethical behavior of their sales teams and
rewarded or disciplined accordingly.
Being aware that the structure of the selling effort itself
may contribute to ethical issues is important to manage-
ment. For example, the ethical problems inherent in multi-
level marketing schemes are not easily resolved and the
structure of such selling contributes to multi-level mar-
keting schemes moving towards being illegal, unethical,
recruitment-centred pyramid schemes (Koehn 2001). All
managers, but especially those using such structures,
should monitor the performance of independent agents and
should avoid ethical conflict by having appropriate ethical
compliance policies in place. Managers need to be aware
that the influence of ethical conflict on the job performance
of salespeople differs according to the nature of the
offering. For instance, ethical conflict negatively influences
the job performance of salespeople who sell products, but
does not influence the job performance of salespeople who
sell either services or a combination of products and ser-
vices (Schwepker 2003).
Management also needs to consider the ethical implica-
tions arising from the introduction of new technology and
from new ways of conducting and managing personal sell-
ing. Advances in electronic information storage and com-
munication systems are examples of new technologies in
sales force automation that bring the whole company and the
sales force to the customer on a one-to-one basis. Such tools
provide information about the sales force, customers, com-
petitors, selling activity, products, and inventory in a way not
experienced previously. The ethical issues arising from sales
force automation have been categorized by Bush et al.
(2007) into exploitation (i.e., deception, inappropriateness,
spying, manipulation, and poaching) and control (i.e., sur-
veillance, accountability, and loss of empowerment).
Research suggests it is the way in which technology is
implemented that contributes to ethical issues. For example,
sales managers and salespeople perceive the use of global
positioning systems to be ethically acceptable only if the
salesperson is made aware of its use (Inks and Loe 2005).
Investigations of the role of customers in ethics are a
feature of the recent research (Huang et al. 2006; Roman
2003). Here, the message is that managers should look
beyond their salespeople and companys actions to the
behavior of customers. Retail salespeople and consumers
perceive ethically questionable behavior that is related
to their own cohort as being more ethically acceptable.
Ethical sales behavior in salespersoncustomer dyads
123
108
influences customer loyalty, customer satisfaction with the
core service, and customer trust in the company, but not
satisfaction with the company, although a salespersons
ethical behavior and satisfaction with the company are
positively correlated.
Ross and Robertson (2003) categorized situational factors
as: (i) universal compared to particular and (ii) tions of ethical problems and mixed support that perceived
direct compared to indirect. Universal factors are those moral intensity was a predictor of a sales managers
that have a constant, on-going effect on the decision that the
decision-maker faces, for example, features of an organi-
zations structure and culture (Ross and Robertson 2003,
p. 216). Particular factors are specifically related to the
decision under consideration, including the risks and likely
outcomes of the decision. For example, part of an employ-
ees bonus may be tied to a specific decision (Ross and
Robertson 2003, p. 216). Direct factors, such as ethical
policy and climate, are those that cause one or more alter-
natives to be considered whereas indirect factors, organi-
zational strategy as an example, do not elicit consideration of
ethical alternatives. Managers should monitor the effects and
interaction among these types of factors and should not focus
on universal factors (e.g., ethics programs and codes of
ethics) at the expense of paying attention to particular factors
(such as, who is harmed) because universal programs may
not even enter into the ethical decision-making of sales-
people (Ross and Robertson 2003). In other words, managers
should use the full range of tools available to them when
managing ethics because combinations of these factors may
influence the un/ethical behavior of salespeople.
As part of a selling exchange, salespeople are required
to consider their selling behavior, the customer, and their
compliance to corporate ethical policies. Although we now
have a better understanding of many of the separate factors
underlying unethical behavior and selling activity, sales-
personcustomer dyads, and salespersonsales manager
relationships, future research should investigate the inter-
action between selling activities, customers, and sales
supervision. Such research might simultaneously investi-
gate the interactions among ethical outcomes and selling
activity, customer perceptions, and sales management.
Proposition Ethical sales force outcomes are associated
with: (i) the structure and content of selling activities; (ii)
customer perceptions of (a) selling activities, (b) a sales-
persons supervisor, and (c) supplier/buyer ethics policies,
and, (iii) supervisor perceptions of (a) selling activities and
(b) the customer.
Ethical Issue Intensity
Collectively, the characteristics of a moral issue are
described as its moral intensity (Jones 1991). Some of the
123
N. McClaren
research in the previous review period examined percep-
tions of the intensity of ethical issues although McClaren
(2000) did not include a section on this. Researchers appear
not to have investigated moral intensity, except DeConinck
(2005) who found supporting evidence that perceived
moral intensity is a predictor of sales managers percep-
intention to act in alignment to their subordinates. Man-
agers are advised to implement both compliance- and
values-oriented ethics programs with the view that
increasing perceived moral intensity of managers will
contribute to lower levels of unethical behavior in their
sales staff (DeConinck 2005).
The studies reviewed in the preceding sections also
partly address the importance or intensity of issues and
perceptions in selling. As well as those mentioned previ-
ously, other studies deal explicitly with salespersons per-
ceptions (Honeycutt et al. 2001; Inks et al. 2004; Pettijohn
et al. 2008). Collectively, this research directs managers to
areas where differences exist between buyers and sellers in
ethical sensitivity and in the perceived impact of ethical
behavior, including confidential information, gift-giving,
deceit, and the use of power. Buyers, compared to sellers,
are more ethically sensitive and see the impact of ethically
questionable behavior on the dyad as more negative.
Salespeople and their managers should be aware that
salespeople are likely to underestimate the detrimental
effect that certain unethical behaviors have on the dyad and
those salespersons perceptions of the ethics of all busi-
nesses influence their perceptions of the specific employ-
ers ethical levels. It is not only that retail salespersons
general attitudes towards business ethics are positively
related to their attitude and to their employers ethics but
also there is a positive relationship between retail sales-
persons perceptions of business ethics, their employers
ethical situation, consumer attitudes, the salespersons job
satisfaction, and their turnover intentions. Compared to legal
perceptions, the method of remuneration, age, level of
education, and the perception of the existence of an ethical
problem are more influential in determining ethical behav-
ior. Ethics training is recommended because age and edu-
cation may have a moderating effect on an individuals
ability to perceive ethical situations. In particular, those
companies remunerating employees only by commission
should clearly articulate the ethical behavior that is required.
The paucity of studies investigating moral intensity and
sales practitioners is surprising given the attention it has
received elsewhere. Moral intensity is an important influ-
ence in decision-making (Barnett 2001; Dukerich et al.
2000; Frey 2000; Paolillo and Vitell 2002) and has been
researched in marketing (Barnett and Valentine 2004; Nill
and Schibrowsky 2005; Singhapakdi et al. 1996, 1999;
The Personal Selling and Sales Management Ethics Research
Vitell et al. 2003) and in contexts such as whistleblowing,
software piracy, social responsibility, and auditing. Future
research might investigate whether previous findings about
moral intensity from other populations are applicable to
sales practitioners and selling.
Proposition Sales practitioners perceived moral inten-
sity 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 cul-
ture, climate, and values.
Proposition The nature and frequency of unethical
behavior is related to the similarity of customer and
salespersons perceived moral intensity of ethical issues.
Sales Ethical Climate
The sales ethical climate is a subculture composed, in part,
of members perceptions, values, and behavior, and codes
and norms that focus on issues of right and wrong. [T]he
ethical climate actually determines whether or not certain
dilemmas are perceived as having an ethical intensity level
that requires a decision (Ferrell et al. 2007, p. 294, fol-
lowing Ferrell 2005). The sales organization subculture
within the Sales Activity component is, essentially, a
microcosm of the overall organizations culture, but
importantly, Ferrell et al. (2007) distinguish culture aspects
relevant to the sales area, rather than the whole organiza-
tion. For them, sales activity or sales organization sub-
culture includes relationships between ethics and hiring,
codes, compliance, policy, and supervision.
The 19 studies in this section represent a substantial
increase of knowledge in the field. Studies in the previous
review examined the climate more broadly and primarily in
terms of the existence and content of policies, the
enforcement of codes and moral philosophy, the environ-
ment created by supervisors, professionalism and profes-
sional values, and the level of industry competition.
Several of the studies included in the following sections
extend previous research, those into role conflict, compe-
tition, and professionalism, as examples. The studies in the
present review also focus on the sales area in much greater
depth by both extending previous research and by covering
a much wider range of factors. Job-related factors, sales
performance, commitment, trust, and control mechanisms
are examples of this new depth and breadth. Compared to
the preceding period, fewer studies examined decision-
making and moral perspectives, such as deontology and
teleology.
We now have a greater understanding of the influence
of the organizations ethics. Sales and marketing
109
professionals perceptions of organizational ethics are
related to their ethical judgments and behavioral intentions,
but not to their recognition that a situation contains an
ethical problem (Valentine and Barnett 2007). The recog-
nition of ethical issues directly influences behavioral
intentions, suggesting that: (i) this relationship is not
mediated fully by ethical judgments, (ii) recognizing an
issue might be enough to independently affect behavioral
intentions, and (iii) the recognition of an ethical issue may
be part of the ethical judgment construct and not a separate
stage in the decision-making process. Managers should
develop an ethical context relevant to the issues confront-
ing sales professionals. The creation of an ethical climate
will provide benefits such as greater trust in ones super-
visor, more job satisfaction, and organizational commit-
ment (Mulki et al. 2006).
Factors identified by Ferrell et al. (2007) as part of an
ethical climate include codes, customer networks, and
socialization. Four studies advance our conceptual under-
standing of managing ethics (Brinkmann 2002, 2009;
Piercy and Lane 2007; Seevers et al. 2007). By integrating
our understanding of moral conflict, professional codes,
professional role morality, and moral climate approaches to
ethics, we can better understand how professional codes
and professional roles potentially mediate and regulate the
relationship between moral conflict and morally relevant
behavior. This mediation and integration occurs within
socio-economic, socio-cultural, natural, and individual-
psychological environments. Because individual and
organizational factors do not adequately tap into the
complex web of relationships that arise from the unique
boundary-spanning role of salespeople, researchers and
managers are urged to consider the types and structure of
relationships that characterize the social networks of
salespeople to understand ethical decision-making in sales
contexts. For example, theorists and practitioners also need
to integrate corporate governance and other managerial
actions into models of strategic account management
because current models shift business behavior in direc-
tions that are incommensurate with ethical behavior.
Several studies investigated ethical climate and related
factors, such as job satisfaction, organizational citizenship
behavior, and organizational commitment (Amyx et al.
2008; Fournier et al. 2010; Jaramillo Mulki and Solomon
2006; Mulki et al. 2006; Murphy 2004; Schwepker 1999,
2001; Weeks et al. 2004). Fostering fairness, job satisfac-
tion, organizational citizenship behavior, organizational
commitment, and sales performance among employees is
important because these factors are positively associated
with a salespersons perceptions of corporate ethical values.
Maintaining an ethical climate is also important because it
reduces negative influences on job performance and inten-
tion to quit, reduces job stress, increases job performance,
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110
lowers the turnover intention of retail salespeople, and
contributes to lower levels of role conflict and role ambi-
guity and to higher satisfaction, which lead to lower turn-
over intentions and higher organizational commitment.
However, an ethical climate moderates rather than
causes the relationship between salesperson perfor- 2004a, 2007b).
mance and propensity to quit, such that higher performers
are more likely to quit in low ethical climates. Managers
should recognize that despite the physical, psychological,
and social separation of salespeople from their company,
the ethical climate of their organization directly influences
their job satisfaction and organizational commitment, but
not their turnover intention (Schwepker 2001). Managers
should create an ethical climate because it contributes to
the quitting of undesirable salespeople and fosters long-
term customer orientation through organizational commit-
ment (Weeks et al. 2004). Higher levels of ethical climate
also contribute to individual commitment to quality,
increased organizational commitment, high performance
levels of business-to-business salespeople (Weeks et al.
2004), and predicts trust in the supervisor, job satisfaction,
and organizational commitment (Mulki et al. 2006).
Importantly, although ethical climate directly influences
job satisfaction and supervisor trust is the conduit through
which an ethical climate leads to job satisfaction, ethical
climate also clarifies organizational expectations about
ethical behavior. Managers can reduce the inclination of
salespeople to engage in highly or even moderately prob-
lematic behaviors by encouraging organizational commit-
ment and close supervisory relationships. A corporate
social responsibility stance that includes corporate reputa-
tion, codes, and other ethical safeguards that encourage
ethical behavior, reduces highly problematic behavior,
compared to moderately problematic or less-problematic
behaviors. Higher levels of ethical conflict are associated
with lower organizational commitment, and incongruent
ethical values are positively associated with the intention to
quit (Schwepker 1999).
Managers should socialize salespeople into the corpo-
rate environment with appropriate safeguards to reduce
problematic behavior, particularly focusing on competi-
tiveness because this is associated with all levels of prob-
lematic behavior and while noting that lower levels of
problematic behavior are associated with those salespeople
who aspire to a higher status (Murphy 2004). Because
organizational socialization, professional socialization, and
work-related norms are different constructs reflecting
socialization experiences from different environments,
managers should consider undertaking formal and informal
organizational and professional socialization of their
employees (McClaren et al. 2010). Such socialization
positively influences those work-related norms which
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N. McClaren
contribute to a greater likelihood of perceiving the severity
of an ethical problem. Ethics evaluations should be built
into the hiring and training of sales managers, with special
consideration given to the long-term impact of hiring eth-
ically appropriate sales managers (Schwepker and Good
The sales ethical climate should include organizational
control mechanisms, such as codes of ethics and evaluation
processes, because they positively influence the ethics of
the sales force. Their effect is on the attitudes of sales
managers who become more likely to evaluate the ethics of
salespeople as part of the hiring process, and are likely to
spend more time providing ethics training to their sales
staff (DeConinck 2005; Schwepker and Good 2007b). It is
problematic that the amount of ethics training received
appears not to influence whether behavior will be ethical or
unethical (Schwepker and Good 2007b).
Senior managers need to provide and communicate
policies and hire ethical sales managers to improve sales
force ethics. Many researchers call explicitly or implicitly
for the use of ethics tests as part of the selection process
(see Honeycutt et al. 2001; Pettijohn et al. 2008;
Schwepker 2003, as examples) and, more widely, sales
ethics researchers have made recommendations based on
individual traits and characteristics of sales practitioners
(such as locus of control and ethical perspective). They
should also build an ethics evaluation into the hiring of
sales managers, train sales managers to respond promptly
to unethical sales force behavior using formal and informal
communication channels, and consider the long-term
impact of hiring ethically appropriate sales managers
(Schwepker and Good 2007b). Both compliance- and val-
ues-based ethical orientations are necessary in companies.
The behavior of senior managers is important in influenc-
ing subordinates, particularly since compliance-based eth-
ical orientations affect the perceptions of sales managers
about the ethical behavior of subordinates. The ethical
perceptions of sales managers are also influenced by
a values-based orientation (such as those including
trust, confidence, and shared values) within companies
(DeConinck 2005).
Proposition The ethical climate of the sales area influ-
ences the perceptions of moral intensity of ethical issues of
sales practitioners.
Proposition The ethical behavior of sales practitioners is
influenced by their professional sales climate.
Proposition The use of individual ethics evaluations as
part of the selection process of sales practitioners is asso-
ciated with higher ethical sales climates and less frequent
unethical behavior.
The Personal Selling and Sales Management Ethics Research
Individual Factors
McClaren (2000) identified 22 studies dealing with indi-
vidual factors, seven of which dealt with personal values
and ethical perspective, compared to the 16 identified in the
present review. Compared to the period covered by
McClaren (2000), there appears to be a decline in the
number of studies where the main objective of the research
is to understand ethics and single, individual characteris-
tics, such as gender, age, and education. When reported,
these characteristics have usually been investigated with
other factors.
Gender, Age, Education
The previous review (McClaren 2000) included research
into gender and ethical perceptions, managerial behavior,
and moral philosophy. Only one or two studies were
included for each of these topics, except moral philosophy
where four studies were identified. The preceding review
period also included a small number of studies into age and
ethical perceptions, career tenure, and the existence of
company policiestypically one or two studies for each.
No studies into training and four studies investigating
education and ethical conflict, company policy, organiza-
tion climate, and students were included in the previous
review.
The research identified in the current period provides a
greater number of studies into gender and ethical percep-
tions and a similar number of studies into age that extends
the coverage to managerial behavior. The present review
also includes a similar number of studies into education,
extending the topics covered to include CMD. The asser-
tion that the distinction between levels and types of
education and training is frequently not made clearly in the
literature (McClaren 2000, p. 289) appears to remain
unaddressed in the current review period.
The findings for gender and age are sometimes incon-
sistent suggesting that researchers are investigating
increasingly complex relationships between variables and
ethical decision-making, a feature of the ethics literature
noted previously (OFallon and Butterfield 2005). Five
studies remind managers that individual characteristics
may affect the ethical perceptions of salespeople (Abratt
and Penman 2002; Ergeneli and Arikan 2002; Izzo 2000;
Murphy 2004; Roman and Munuera 2005). Female sales-
people are more ethical than their male counterparts and
older salespeople assess issues to be less ethical (Abratt
and Penman 2002). However, managers also need to rec-
ognize that while salespeoples ethical perceptions may not
differ overall between genders, there may be gender dif-
ferences in the ethical level for certain ethical issues and
differences between job positions, such as managerial
111
compared to non-managerial roles (Ergeneli and Arikan
2002). For instance, female, compared to male sales
managers, are more ethical and their ethical perceptions are
moderated by age, income, and industry sector.
Similar to Abratt and Penman (2002) and Roman and
Munuera (2005) find that age, unlike level of education,
influences the ethical behavior of the sales force. Abratt
and Penmans (2002) note that their finding about age and
ethical perception was not statistically significant appears
to be consistent with Murphys (2004) finding that age is
not a predictor of problematic behavior. Higher educated
sales people are more prone to lesser problematic behavior
and rather than being less prone to engage in problematic
behaviors, [they] may simply be more adept at engaging in
only those problematic behaviors where risk of discovery is
low and where few consequences result if discovery
occurs (Murphy 2004, pp. 12723).
The value and efficacy of compulsory ethics education
was questioned by Izzo (2000) because such education
does not contribute to differences in the level of CMD,
industry-specific moral reasoning, ethical judgments, or to
the ethical intentions of salespeople. This form of man-
dated intervention does not contribute to the maintenance
of legal controls or to professionally ethical conduct and
may detract from focusing attention on the effortful and
interactive inputs that are needed to motivate sales peoples
attitudes toward a commitment to higher CMD. Although
Abratt and Penman (2002) appear to have investigated the
effect of ethics workshops rather than the teaching of
courses, they also arrive at a similar conclusionthat
this form of ethics sensitizing does not contribute to more
negative evaluations of ethical issues. Managers should,
therefore, consider the extent to which policies address all
levels of ethical behavior.
Proposition The (i) the level and type of formal educa-
tion and (ii) the content, amount, and frequency of com-
pany ethics training are related to the ethical behavior of
sales practitioners.
Personal Values and Ethical Perspective
Early research identified that personal characteristics, such
as age, are associated with differences in the level of eth-
ical idealism and ethical relativism of sales managers, and
that the personal moral philosophies (idealism and rela-
tivism) of sales managers do not differ from other types of
marketers (Bass et al. 1998). The management of ethics
necessitates consideration of individual characteristics
(such as being an ethical absolutist or ethical situationist)
and all stages of decision-making, because the ethical
judgments of sales managers, unlike their behavioral
intentions, differ according to their personal moral
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112
philosophy (Bass et al. 1998). This compares to the seven
studies over the last decade that have focused on increas-
ingly specific aspects of personal values, ethical perspec-
tive and decision-making, and which now provide
managers with a much deeper understanding of their staff
and the situations in which employees find themselves
(Abratt and Penman 2002; Cadogan et al. 2009; Cherry and
Fraedrich 2000, 2002; Dubinsky et al. 2004; Mantel 2005;
Sivadas et al. 2003). This understanding has been gained
by further investigations of the personal moral philosophies
of sales practitioners.
We now know more about the influences that different
ethical positions may have on decision-making. An
example is ethical relativism which, unlike ethical ideal-
ism, influences sales managers judgments and intentions,
such as when hiring salespeople, and also that there is some
influence from ethical judgments on intentions (Sivadas
et al. 2003). We also know now that managers need to
focus on factors such as risk, the type of evaluation, cul-
ture, and locus of control because these create issues for
management and for managers to be aware of the influence
of their own ethical position on sales peoples perceptions
(Cadogan et al. 2009). Ethically relativistic sales managers,
for example, foster a situational perspective of right and
wrong which potentially leads to sales teams perceiving
that anything is acceptable. Managers can manage ethics
better by appreciating that not only the underlying structure
(i.e., psychological pressure from the retail salesperson;
salesperson deception; poor customer service; price-related
issues; and salesperson excuses) but also the moral phi-
losophies of salespeople are associated with their percep-
tions of these situations. For instance, ethical relativism is
unrelated to retail salespeoples perceptions of selling
practices, although ethical idealism is negatively related.
However, retail managers are warned against inculcating
moral absolutes in their salespeople because salespeople
may not utilize such tenets when determining the ethicality
of situations (Dubinsky et al. 2004).
Ethical perceptions are also affected by external factors
such as financial considerations (direct monetary conse-
quences) and may differ across industries (Abratt and
Penman 2002). Managers should not assume any sales
force is immune to problematic ethical behavior arising
from the perception of risk in an ethical dilemma (Cherry
and Fraedrich 2002). Managers should understand that
managing salespersons perceptions of the risk inherent in
an ethical dilemma can improve the ethics of organizations
only under certain circumstances. Sales managers who
perceive greater risk in an ethical dilemma will have higher
perceptions that the dilemma is an ethical issue, will be
more severe in their ethical judgments of the unethical
behavior, and will have lower intentions to engage in the
123
N. McClaren
unethical behavior (Cherry and Fraedrich 2002). Although
lowering the perceptions of risk in decision-making makes
employees more likely to have ethical lapses, especially in
routine tactical and implementation matters, non-conse-
quential evaluations are outweighed by consequential
evaluations in the formation of ethical judgments, irre-
spective of the perception of risk (Cherry and Fraedrich
2002). Higher perceptions of risk, however, increase the
impact of non-consequential evaluations when forming
ethical judgments; lower perceptions of risk cause conse-
quential evaluations to have greater importance in the
formation of ethical judgments and behavioral intentions.
Cherry and Fraedrich (2002, p. 959) note that it is plau-
sible to speculate that consideration of outcomes may
actually overtake a sales managers beliefs about the
intrinsic rightness or wrongness of paying a bribe.
Managers should consider the way in which corporate
codes of ethics addresses the sources of risk in ethical
dilemmas, particularly the extent to which the risk in a
dilemma arises from ambiguity, and the extent to which the
element of risk remains uncertain (Cherry and Fraedrich
2002). Sales practitioners may follow the corporations
ethical principles not only because of personal conviction
but also because they may feel uneasy about the risks in a
dilemma, because of doubts about anticipating the out-
comes from their decisions, because codes may provide
valuable decision-rules that are not based on salespeople
having to consider consequences as part of decision-mak-
ing, and because codes can provide imperatives con-
cerning the intrinsic properties of certain behaviours
(Cherry and Fraedrich 2002, p. 959).
Senior management should consider the relationship
between the locus of control (internal or external) of sales
managers and their moral reasoning. Sales managers who
are high in external locus of control attach greater impor-
tance to teleological and act-oriented reasoning, compared
their locus internal counterparts. Locus internal managers
rely more on deontological evaluations than locus externals
in forming ethical judgments, although locus external
managers rely more on teleological evaluations than locus
internals when forming behavioral intentions (Cherry and
Fraedrich 2000). Locus internal managers also make
harsher judgments of bribery, are less inclined to pay a
bribe, and place greater emphasis on rule-based decision-
making. Possibly, improvements in the ethical climate of
organizations can be achieved by senior managers under-
standing the preference of internally oriented managers for
deontological reasoning and by appreciating that because
behavior-based control systems are linked to ethical orga-
nizational culture, implementing such control systems will
be more successful when working with internally directed
sales managers (Cherry and Fraedrich 2000). Managers
The Personal Selling and Sales Management Ethics Research
should be cognizant that the effective use of behavior- or
outcomes-based controls will depend on the managerial
understanding of their staffs locus of control (Cherry and
Fraedrich 2000).
Managers may also be able to develop the ability of
salespeople to see past strong biases and choose ethical
alternatives through an understanding of positive flexible
states (i.e., a pleasant-feeling state or good mood) and
cognitive flexibility (i.e., how cognitive information is
stored, organized, and retrieved). Because managers may
influence the positive affective states of individuals
through morale, job satisfaction, and in other ways, and
because this state contributes to cognitive flexibility,
managers may increases the likelihood of salespeople
seeing beyond situational factors and increase salespeo-
ples likelihood of making higher ethical judgments
(Mantel 2005). Managers should be also aware that the
choice of an ethical alternative is likely to be moderated by
other factors, such as monetary outcomes (Mantel 2005).
Overall, the sales ethics research into individual ethical
perspective over the past two decades has been grounded
mainly in the absolutist ethical theories of deontology and
teleology, and particularly that of utilitarianism. This
stream of research follows from The General Theory of
Marketing Ethics (Hunt and Vitell 1986) and from the
initial investigations of ethical idealism and ethical rela-
tivism referred to previously. This research has provided a
rich explanation of decision-making. Future research
grounded in ethical theories of virtue, rationalism, or
emotivism may provide deeper and alternative insights into
ethical decision-making in sales.
Proposition The ethical judgments of sales practitioners
differ according to personal moral philosophies of virtue,
rationalism, and emotivism.
Cross-Culture Comparison
Only two cross-culture studies about ethical perceptions
and company policy and ethical climate are included in
McClaren (2000). This compares to four in the present
review which mostly pursued new areas of investigation
(Lu et al. 1999; Lee et al. 2009; Herndon et al. 2001;
Weeks et al. 2006). Managers should be aware of and
account for the complex differential effect of culture on
ethical decision-making which is becoming more important
as selling and sales management becomes increasingly
global. The message from the recent research is that cul-
turally diverse practitioners may be similar in their con-
clusions, but differ in the way to these conclusions. In part of cross-culture studies. The four studies in this section
other words, it is more important now for global managers
to consider not only the ethical judgments of salespeople
113
but also to consider how salespeople arrive at a judg-
ment. Salespeople from different cultures may differ on
certain dimensions (for example, Taiwan and USA on
Confucian dynamism, uncertainty avoidance, power dis-
tance, masculinity, and individualism dimensions), but be
similar in their identification with common, industry-wide
deontological norms. Individual moral values and percep-
tions of corporate ethics are similar for sales managers and
salespeople in Taiwanese and USA cultures, but perceptions
of the ethicalness of the corporate culture of Taiwanese sales
personnel influence organizational commitment, in turn
influencing job satisfaction, which directly influences turn-
over intention. This path differed from that of USA person-
nel, where perceptions of the ethicalness of corporate culture
directly influenced those three factors, with job satisfaction
influencing both organizational commitment and turnover
intentions, and with organizational commitment influencing
turnover intentions.
Although the routes taken to a moral judgment may
differ, the conclusion may be the same for both collec-
tivists and individualists. Taiwanese salespeople, for
example, consider their fellow employees and a wider
network of stakeholders compared to American salespeople
who focus more on fair customer treatment and less on
their fellow employees. Global managers need to develop
codes of ethics that are appropriate not only for individu-
alistic salespeople who rely on personal norms and per-
sonal codes but also for collectivists, and to be aware of
cultural differences in the emphases on profit and
competition.
Although there are no significant differences in the
relationships between a perceived organizational ethical
climate and both organizational commitment and sales
performance for USA and Mexican salespeople, CMD
influences the perceptions of ethical climate of Mexicans,
but not of salespeople in the USA. The influence of
ethical climate on salespeoples individual commitment to
quality is stronger for American than for Mexican sales-
people. Although ethical climate influences the organiza-
tion commitment of USA salespeople, there is no support
for this influence being stronger than that of Mexican
salespeople.
Cross-culture investigation of many of the variables
mentioned in the preceding sections would be beneficial to
global corporations. Future research might explore how
training, type of leadership, selling activities, and sales
climate influence ethical behavior. Given the calls for
professional associations to implement universal codes, as
mentioned previously, this area also warrants attention as
compared the culture of sales practitioners in USA to
practitioners in China and Mexico (one study each) and
123
114
Taiwan (two studies). Our understanding of the manage-
ment of ethics and cultural differences could be broadened
by including a greater number and variety of cultures and
political structures.
Proposition Formal and informal selling-related ethical
norms will be more similar across cultures where (i) the
selling role requires legal registration and where (ii) sales
practitioners are members of professional sales
associations.
Proposition Differences in the ethical climate and ethical
behavior of sales practitioners are associated with the
management cultures of (i) the USA, (ii) countries that
were part of the former USSR, (iii) the Republic of China,
(iv) India, and (v) the United Arab States.
Ethical Decisions and Evaluation of Outcomes
Ferrell et al. (2007) describe the influence of the immediate
job context, the work environment, and the individual on
ethical decisions. Ferrell et al. (2007) also highlight the
influences of opportunity, company policy, supervisory
behavior, and personal values on the evaluation of out-
comes. Because the managerial implications arising from
recent research into ethical decisions and the evaluation of
outcomes have been summarized in the preceding sections,
attention is now turned to future research directions.
Future Research
Many of the areas identified by McClaren (2000) in need of
future research were investigated since the initial review.
The scarcity of empirical sales research needed to support
the development of sales theory (e.g., Wotruba 1990)
appears to be less of a concern with the increase in studies
in the present review period. This is evident in new
frameworks that draw from numerous studies of selling and
sales practitioners, such as Ferrell et al. (2007). Studies
grounded in moral philosophy and CMD continued to be
used, unlike the explicit use of differential association,
contingency, and reasoned-action frameworks. Several
studies in the present period addressed the need for
research into morals and values, intentions, reasoning, and
behavior. The diminishing emphasis on the selling process
identified by McClaren (2000) in the previous period is not
a feature of the past decade. Further research into cultural
influences, competition, selling dyads, and a variety of
individual and organizational factors has also occured.
Previous research needs that remain unaddressed include
more comparisons of the decision-making structure across
123
N. McClaren
different sales practitioner groups and selling activities,
greater use of selling taxonomies, the replication of studies
investigating organizational variables, and the effect of
variables such as company size, self-selection into selling
roles, job tenure, and company offering.
Overall, the sales ethics research in the preceding dec-
ade has investigated complex dimensions of ethical issues
in greater depth and with more analytical sophistication,
thus providing a more detailed understanding of ethical
decision-making than in the past. The literature in the
current period extends and expands several areas of
investigation. However, some areas remain in which little
research has been provided, where preceding calls have
gone unaddressed, and where further investigations are
required. Although OFallon and Butterfield (2005) suggest
improvement is needed in the theoretical grounding of
research, in the operationalization and measurement of
(un)ethical behavior, and in the examination of interaction
effects, it appears that even more work is needed. There is
still a need to develop our conceptual understanding of
sales ethics by developing theory, particularly predictive
theory, grounded in ethical decision-making models.
The need to extend the work begun by Bellizzi and
others to provide managers with the ability to better
structure their organizations was identified by Ferrell et al.
(2007). Several studies included in the present review
address this need, but further research is required. Few
studies have examined sales ethics in a broader strategic
marketing context. One exception is Ferrell and Ferrell
(2009) who suggest the necessity of an enterprise-wide,
strategic stakeholder approach to sales ethics, including
making risk assessments of strategic groups.
Specific factors requiring further investigation include
CMD and moral intensity. Ferrell et al. (2007) highlight the
need to investigate the relationship between individual
characteristics of CMD and organizational control systems
and governance, such as codes of ethics and compliance.
Although Ingram et al. (2007) emphasize the importance of
understanding the relationships between leadership, control
strategies, and CMD, research needs to investigate the
extent to which sales management control systems, trans-
formational leadership styles, socialization and internali-
zation to ethical values, and trust are affected by CMD.
Although studies, such as Schwepker and Good (2007b),
measure ethics training, there needs to be an even deeper
understanding of what companies do in ethics training.
Differences between education and training may be
important in distinguishing between and understanding the
professional and organizational socialization that influ-
ences the work-norms that shape ethical perceptions, yet
the influence of education and training on such socializa-
tion appears to be unknown (McClaren et al. 2010). Also
The Personal Selling and Sales Management Ethics Research
referred to throughout much of the recent research was the
status and professional standing of personal selling and
sales management. Aspects of this research touched on
universal standards, socialization, professional member-
ship, and the benchmarking of organizations. It may be
timely to investigate the status of the sales profession,
professional values, the extent to which sales practitioners
identify with their profession, and the regulatory and
governance roles performed by a wider array of industry
associations.
Professional associations and professional values are
important for consumers, practitioners, industry, and gov-
ernment, yet there appear to be few studies investigating
the relationship between such associations and the ethics of
their stakeholder groups. Professional education and
training and professional associations provide a socializing
effect among sales practitioners, yet more research into
these factors is required. Schwepker (2001), as an instance,
suggests that future research should investigate the influ-
ence of training and socialization tactics on ethical climate.
Studies might also examine the impact of professional
membership and professional codes on the ethics of
salespeople, investigate compliance issues related to pro-
fessional membership, and research the application of
professional codes of ethics. More research, such as that by
Chonko et al. (2002) into the Direct Selling Association, is
needed if practitioners are to understand the benefits of
professional bodies and professionalism.
A longitudinal study may be needed to see the effect of
implementing such codes, and comparative research is
particularly important if professional associations are used
as sample frames. Research might also consider the prob-
lem that professional associations cannot assume that
higher levels of socialization into the profession outweigh
the influence of organizational socialization on work-rela-
ted norms and ethics. Because improvement in the ethical
environment of direct selling was attributed by Chonko
et al. (2002) to the development and enforcement of the
associations code of ethics, company executives should
turn to industry associations not only for the development
and implementation of codes but also to provide evidence
of their effect.
Although studies into corporate codes of ethics have
both extended and broadened the research literature by
investigating control mechanisms, implementation, orga-
nizational values, organizational commitment, and corpo-
rate social responsibility, among other variables, much
research focused on the presence of codes in organizations.
Further research is needed to ascertain how codes influence
employees, extending the recent research into compliance-
and values-based climates, as an example. Valentine and
Barnett (2002) suggest that future research should
115
investigate the influence of codes on changes in employee
behavior rather than on their perceptions, and to investigate
specific components of codes and their influence on
employee perceptions of organizational values. A content
analysis of the content of codes, particularly those parts of
codes that are most relevant to salespeople, may provide
further insight into decision-making. The research agenda
provided by Ingram et al. (2007) highlights that more needs
to be done than to focus on the structural dimensions of the
organization and codes of ethics.
Despite research suggesting that ethical position (i.e.,
ethical relativism and ethical idealism) is linked to ethical
decision-making, there appear to be no studies reporting if,
and how, companies use such assessment tools in the
management of ethics. Although such studies demonstrate
that individual moral philosophy may influence the ethical
decision-making of sales practitioners, it seems that this
knowledge is practically useful only if managers have
assessed the ethical perspectives of their staff. A research
agenda investigating the ethics of this issue, the reasons for
the apparent non-use of such tools, and whether such
assessments are effective in improving an organizations
ethics may be worthwhile. Future research might survey
the beliefs of sales managers about the use of such tools
and longitudinal studies could investigate the impact of
these tools.
More broadly, future research might investigate the
extent to which companies use psychological assessment
tools in the management of ethics and measure the effec-
tiveness of such tools. Ethical assessments and ethical
audits are also important feedback and compliance mech-
anisms, and, as Ferrell et al. (2007) note, organizations
need systems of discovery with formal and informal
feedback systems to monitor sales activities, particularly
after ethical incidents. Future research might also investi-
gate the extent to which managers have increased their
understanding of the management of ethical decision-
making, how this knowledge is applied at individual and
company-wide levels, and then benchmark various systems
of discovery and management.
Although there has been greater interest shown in the
role of customers and other stakeholders in salesperson
customer dyads, such as investigations into different types
of selling, the tools used in selling, the structure of the sales
force, and the influence of parties beyond the salesperson
customer dyad, this too would seem to be an appropriate
area for deeper examination. New technologies, team-
based approaches and the changing, more strategic role of
personal selling, suggest changes are required in the
management of ethics.
Although Weeks et al. (2004, 2006), Herndon (1991),
and Herndon et al. (2001) extended previous studies, more
123
116 N. McClaren

replication and longitudinal studies are needed. Research
that rigorously develops and extends measurement tools is
sparse in the literature. Overall, it appears that sales ethics
researchers consider existing instruments appropriate for
their purposes. The present review identifies several
aspects of ethics for which new or modified measures may
be necessary. They include, for example, instruments to
make the detailed risks assessments to which Ferrell and
Ferrell (2009) refer. Tools such as those developed by
Amyx et al. (2008) measuring salesperson corporate ethical
values, and Lavorata (2007) measuring ethical climate in
French-speaking business-to-business contexts, are needed
to investigate selling and sales management in contexts that
are ever-changing, more complex, and increasingly global.
Content analyses might provide insight into ethics training
programs and meta-analyses might provide useful insights.
Finally, investigation of salespeople may extend to new
research methods, such as those used in neuro-marketing
(see Ariely and Berns 2010; Gountas and Ciorciari 2010),
although the use of such techniques may present ethical
issues in themselves. Linked to this is the absence in the
literature of reviews and critical evaluations of the research
methods used in the personal selling and sales management
ethics research.
Acknowledgment The author thanks the anonymous reviewers for
their valuable and supportive suggestions and critical feedback.
Appendix
See Table 1.

Table 1 Summary of the empirical sales ethics research

Author(s) and Sample description Variables examined Key findings
year of
publication

Abratt et al. Retail executives, Ethical beliefs There are differences in the work- and customer-
(1999) managers, and sales related ethical beliefs of salespeople and
staff managers
Lu et al. Life and health Power distance; uncertainty; avoidance; No difference between the extent to which the
(1999) insurance salesmen in individualism; masculinity; confucian US and Taiwanese agents identified with a set
Taiwan and USA dynamism; ethical decision-making; of common, industry-wide deontological
deontological norms; importance of norms. Cultural dimensions affected level of
stakeholders importance placed on the company and on
fellow employees
Schwepker Business-to-business Ethical conflict; organizational commitment; Ethical conflict is negatively associated with
(1999) salespeople turnover intentions organizational commitment and positively
associated with turnover intentions
Schwepker Financial services Perceived quota difficulty; moral judgment; If the consequences for failing to make quota are
and Good salespeople ethical climate; market attractiveness; self- considered, quota does influence the moral
(1999) efficacy judgment of financial services salespeople
Boyle (2000) Real estate agents Customer characteristics; individual moral Salespersons ethical judgments are affected by
philosophy; ethical judgments situational factors including customer
characteristics; the level of relativism, unlike
idealism, has a direct effect on judgments
Cherry and Sales managers Deontological and teleological evaluations; External, compared to internal sales managers
Fraedrich subjective norms; ethical judgments; and attach greater importance to teleological and
(2000) intentions act-oriented reasoning. Internal managers rely
more on deontological evaluations than
externals in forming ethical judgments;
external managers rely more on teleological
evaluations than internals when forming
behavioral intentions
Izzo (2000) Real estate salespeople Compulsory ethics education; individual factors; The value of compulsory ethics education in
cognitive moral development; industry-specific improving the moral reasoning of real estate
ethical reasoning; ethical judgments; intentions practitioners is highly questionable
Bellizzi and Business-to-business Perceptions of sales practices; supervisory Supervisory discipline is influenced by the
Hasty (2001) sales managers reaction gender of the supervisor and the characteristics
(obesity and gender) of the transgressor; the
existence of policies moderates this
relationship

123
The Personal Selling and Sales Management Ethics Research 117

Table 1 continued
Author(s) and Sample description Variables examined Key findings
year of
publication

Herndon et al. Retail sales personnel Individual moral values; perceptions of Individual perceptions of corporate ethics are a
(2001) ethicalness of corporate culture; job more direct determinant of organizational
satisfaction; organizational commitment; commitment compared to individual moral
turnover intention values in both Taiwanese and the US cultures.
Individual moral values are not indicators of
potential organizational commitment, job
satisfaction, or turnover intention across the
Taiwanese and the US cultures
Honeycutt Automobile Ethical perception; legal perception; Ethical perception is the most important
et al. (2001) salespeople compensation method; age; education; ethical determinant of ethical behavior
behavior
Schwepker Business-to-business Ethical climate; job satisfaction; organizational Ethical climate positively influences job
(2001) salespeople commitment; turnover intention satisfaction, organizational commitment, but
not intention to quit
Abratt and Sales professionals Financial (monetary reward); stakeholder Ethical perceptions are affected by financial
Penman (customer, competitor, employer); ethical considerations; females are more ethical than
(2002) issue; ethical judgment; ethical perception males; female and older salespeople are more
ethical than younger and male salespeople
Bellizzi and Business-to-business Gender of supervisor and subordinate; relative There are differences in the severity of discipline
Hasty (2002) sales managers percent of women supervised; (un)ethical sales based on the gender of the supervisor and the
behavior; supervisory reaction gender of the subordinate and the proportion of
the gender being supervised
Cherry and Sales managers Consequential/non-consequential evaluation; In forming ethical judgments non-consequential
Fraedrich ethical judgment; ethical intention evaluations outweigh consequential
(2002) evaluations, regardless of risk perceptions
Chonko et al. Direct selling corporate Opportunities for unethical behavior; ethical There are differences in perception, opportunity,
(2002) officers behavior; ethical standards standard, and frequency of unethical behavior
between DSA members/non-members and
compared to other industries and types of
selling
Ergeneli and Medical equipment Gender; type of selling; demographic factors; Ethical perceptions differ between age, gender,
Arikan sellers and clothing ethical perceptions type of selling, and role (manager/non-
(2002) retailers manager)
Valentine and Sales representatives Codes of ethics; employees perceptions of their Corporate code of ethics positively influences:
Barnett 2002 and sales managers employers ethical values sales professionals perception of top
managements ethical values; perceptions that
ethical behavior was the norm in their
organization; that unethical behavior would be
punished, and that success is possible while
maintaining high ethical standards
Bellizzi and Sales managers Work history consistency (sales performance); Sales managers are more lenient with top,
Hasty (2003) work history distinctiveness (history of ethical compared to poor sales performers. Managers
infractions; boundary condition (company are more severe with discipline for salespeople
policy); disciplinary treatment with a repeated record of unethical behavior,
compared to salespeople with no record. Sales
managers discipline salespeople more harshly
when misleading customers is specifically
prohibited by company policy, compared to
when sales managers have discretion
Chonko et al. Direct selling Relativism and idealism; code familiarity; code Ethics code awareness decreases as business
(2003) executives usefulness; environmental turbulence turbulence increases; ethics code usefulness
decreases as business turbulence increases;
ethics code usefulness is negatively related to
relativism; ethics code usefulness is positively
related to idealism

123
118 N. McClaren

Table 1 continued
Author(s) and Sample description Variables examined Key findings
year of
publication

DeConinck Sales managers Organizational justice; codes of ethics; sales Increased perceived organizational injustice
(2003) managers perceptions; propensity to discipline decreases sales managers perceptions that
behavior is unethical. Enforcing codes of ethics
increases sales managers perceptions.
Increased perceived organizational injustice
encountered by salespersons leads to lower
propensity for sales managers to discipline
unethical salesperson behavior. Enforcing
codes of ethics increases sales managers
propensity to discipline unethical behavior
Ross and Salespersons and sales Self-monitoring scale; Machiavellianism; Situational factors influence salespeoples ethical
Robertson managers company ethical clarity scale; compensation decision-making. Universal and particular
(2003) factors have different effects on decision-
making about ethical issues. Individual factors,
as well as directly affecting decision-making
about ethical issues, interact with situational
factors to influence decision-making
Schwepker Business-to-business Level of ethical conflict; overall job performance Salespersons ethical conflict is negatively
(2003) salespeople related to the sales objectives component of job
performance; ethical conflict negatively affects
the job performance of salespeople selling
products, but not services or a combination of
products and services; ethical conflict
negatively affects the job performance of
salespeople irrespective of their mode of
compensation
Sivadas et al. Presidents responsible Moral philosophy (ethical idealism and Ideological relativism influences ethical
(2003) for the sales function relativism); moral judgment; hiring intentions judgments and hiring intention. Managers can
be categorized into Forsyths (1980) taxonomy.
Absolutists judge questionable behavior more
harshly than do exceptionists, situationists, and
subjectivists. Absolutists are less likely to hire
the salesperson than are exceptionists,
situationists, and subjectivists. Ethical
judgments for the most part influence hiring
intentions
Valentine and Sales, marketing and Affective organizational commitment; corporate Awareness of organizational codes of ethics
Barnett promotional ethical values; awareness of existence of contributes to higher perceptions of
(2003) managers corporate code; job tenure; social desirability organizational ethics. Although awareness of
codes influences the level of organizational
commitment, it is mediated by perceptions of
corporate ethical values
Barnett and Sales representatives, Ethical issue recognition; ethical judgments; Issue contingencies explain a significant portion
Valentine managers and sales behavioral intentions; issue contingencies of the variance in marketers recognition of
(2004) executives ethical issues, ethical judgments and behavioral
intentions. Only the perceived magnitude of
consequences is significantly associated with
recognition of ethical issues, ethical judgments
and behavioral intentions. Perceived social
consensus is associated with ethical issue
recognition and ethical judgments. Proximity
and temporal immediacy are not associated
with ethical decision-making

123
The Personal Selling and Sales Management Ethics Research 119

Table 1 continued
Author(s) and Sample description Variables examined Key findings
year of
publication

Dubinsky Retail salespersons Moral philosophy (ethical idealism and Salespersons moral philosophy is associated
et al. (2004) relativism); ethical perceptions with ethical perceptions. Relativism is
unrelated to retail salespeoples perceptions of
potentially ethically troublesome situations
although idealism is generally observed to be
negatively related
Honeycutt Retailers Ethical problems; ethical perceptions, training There is a significant difference between
et al. (2004) international and domestic retailers with
respect to the ethical issues encountered by the
sales force
Inks et al. Buyers/salespeople Perception of ethical problem (sensitivity); Buyers and sellers differ in ethical sensitivity to
(2004) company policy on issues; intention to select issues; buyers and sellers differ in their
supplier perceptions about the effect that ethical
problems have on intention to select a supplier;
3040% of organizations lack policy on these
issues; the percentages differ between buyers
and sellers
Murphy 2004 Sales managers/ Education; status aspiration and competitiveness; Corporate reputations, codes, and reinforcement
salespeople organizational commitment; relationship to mechanisms encouraging ethical behavior
supervisor; sales force behavior reduce highly problematic sales force
behaviors, but may not affect moderately or
lesser problematic behaviors.
Schwepker Sales managers Ethical attitudes; sales force customer orientation Sales managers attitudes influence ethical
and Good (SCO); ethical practices (coaching and evaluations; sales managers attitudes influence
(2004a) evaluation); knowledge of ethical violations; coaching; coaching is related to SCO;
sales managers quota achievement knowledge of ethical violations relates to
coaching
Schwepker Sales managers Perception of quota difficulty; ethical climate; Sales managers who perceive their quota to be
and Good managerial control of salesperson; SCO difficult are more likely to allow salespeople to
(2004b) behave unethically. The more ethical the
climate, the less the probability of sales
managers allowing salespeople to behave
unethically. SCO is negatively related to sales
managers probability of allowing salespeople
to act unethically, and positively related to
ethical climate
Tengilimoglu Pharmaceutical sales Ethical problems encountered in their Ninety-seven percent of salespeople experience
et al. (2004) representatives interactions with physicians ethical problems with physicians. Physicians
are the primary source of ethical problems
encountered in the pharmaceutical industry.
Salesperson tenure does not reduce experiences
of ethical problems with physicians
Weeks et al. Business-to-business Ethical climate; individual commitment to Ethical climate influences individual
(2004) salespeople quality; organizational commitment; commitment to quality and organizational
performance commitment
Bellizzi and Sales managers Work history consistency (sales performance); Self-reports regarding the level of discipline
Bristol 2005 work history distinctiveness (history of ethical administered in response to unethical sales
infractions); organizational policy; disciplinary force behavior are associated with social
treatment; social desirability bias desirability bias. Top sales performers are
treated more leniently even as second
offenders, compared to poorer sales performers
who commit an unethical act for the first time

123
120 N. McClaren

Table 1 continued
Author(s) and Sample description Variables examined Key findings
year of
publication

DeConinck Sales managers Perceived moral intensity; perceived ethical Commitment by top management to a
(2005) problem; behavioral intentions compliance-oriented ethics control program
and to a values-oriented ethics control program
increases sales managers perceptions of the
existence of ethical problems. Increases in
sales managers perceived moral intensity leads
to higher perceptions that ethical problems
exist. Increases in sales managers perception
that an ethical problem exists lead to a lower
propensity to engage in unethical behavior
Gegez et al. Buyers and salespeople Ethical sensitivity; ethical behavior; buyers Buyers tend to view seller-focused behaviors as
(2005) intentions to choose suppliers; ethical policies more unethical than do sellers, which impacts
on buyers intentions to choose suppliers
Inks and Loe Salespeople, managers, Use of GPS technologies; ethical perceptions Sales managers perceive the same situations as
(2005) support people between salespeople and managers more ethical than do salespeople
Mantel (2005) Sales representatives Salesperson affect; situational factors; ethical Salespeople in a positive affect state, compared
options; probability of payout; ethical to a neutral affect state, are more likely to look
judgment past situational factors and make the more
ethical judgment
Roman and Salespeople Reward system; control system; age; education; Reward systems, control systems, and age
Munuera ethical sales behavior (inter-sender role influence ethical sales behavior (inter-sender
(2005) conflict, performance, job satisfaction) role conflict, job satisfaction)
Bellizzi Sales managers Severity of ethical infraction; severity of the Top sales performers are treated more leniently
(2006) consequences; work history consistency (sales than poorer sales performers. The severity of
performance); supervisor discipline consequences increases the severity of
discipline. The severity of the ethical infraction
increases the severity of discipline
Huang et al. Retail customers and Ethical perceptions There are differences between salespeoples and
(2006) salespeople customers perceptions of the acceptability of
their own ethically questionable behavior
Jaramillo et al. Retail salespeople Ethical climate; role ambiguity; role conflict; Ethical climate negatively influences role
(2006) organizational commitment; job satisfaction; conflict, role ambiguity, and positively
turnover intention; job performance influences job satisfaction
Mulki et al. Salespeople Ethical climate; trust in supervisor; Ethical climate is positively related to trust in
(2006) organizational commitment; job satisfaction; supervisor, job satisfaction, and organizational
turnover intention commitment
Weeks et al. Business-to-business CMD; ethical development; ethical climate; CMD significantly influences Mexican but not
(2006) sales forces individual commitment to quality; US salespeoples perceptions of their ethical
organizational commitment; performance climate. Perceived organizational ethical
climate is positively related to individual
commitment to quality for both the US and
Mexican salespeople and has a stronger
influence on the organizational commitment of
the US compared to Mexican salespeople
Bush et al. Sales executives Sales force automation Identified issues to do with exploitation and
(2007) control themes
Grisaffe and Sales as their Presence of a code of ethics; enforcement of Formation of a single, hierarchical EL scale
Jaramillo primary area/ compliance; organization trade-offsprofit-
(2007) department seeking versus ethics/compliance; organization
standards
Lavorata Industrial salespersons Scale development Developed and tested a measurement scale of
(2007) ethical climate in a French-speaking context
Pettijohn et al. Retail salespeople/ Attitudes about general business ethics; There is no difference between marketing
(2007) students perceptions of employers ethics; salespersons students and retail salespeople in their
attitudes as a consumer; job satisfaction perception that good ethics is good business

123
The Personal Selling and Sales Management Ethics Research 121

Table 1 continued
Author(s) and Sample description Variables examined Key findings
year of
publication

Schwepker Non-retail sales Perceived quota difficulty; sales manager quota Although sales managers generally are not likely
and Good managers achievement; firm performance; managerial to allow salespeople to perform an unethical
(2007a) actions; probability of ethical actions act (exaggeration, false promises, pressure) to
(intentions) reach quota, depending on the type of action,
some managers may be willing to allow
salespeople to act unethically in order to
achieve quota
Schwepker Non-retail sales Ethical climate; sales managers ethical attitudes; Ethical attitude predicts ethical behavior, ethical
and Good managers ethics training; ethics hiring evaluation; hiring, and ethical training. Ethical climate
(2007b) salesperson behavior predicts ethical attitudes. Ethical hiring
predicts ethical sales force behavior
Valentine and Selling sales Perceived organizational ethics; recognition of Recognition of ethical issue is related to ethical
Barnett management ethical issue; ethical judgment; ethical judgment and related to ethical intention.
(2007) intention Judgments are related to intentions. Perceived
organizational ethics is related to ethical
judgment and related to ethical intentions
Amyx et al. Salespeople Salesperson corporate ethical values (SCEV); Fairness, OCB, and organizational commitment
(2008) fairness; organizational citizenship behavior are related to SCEV. Ethics has a strong
OCB); organizational commitment; job positive association with job satisfaction and is
satisfaction; salesperson performance positively related to performance
Pettijohn et al. Retail salespeople Employer ethics; job satisfaction; turnover Attitudes as a consumer are significantly related
(2008) intentions to salespersons perceptions of their
employers ethics. Salespersons general
attitudes about business ethics are related to
their attitude toward the employers ethics, to
their level of job satisfaction, and to their
turnover intentions. Salespersons job
satisfaction is negatively affected by their
perception that their employer is unethical.
There is a strong relationship between
salespersons perceptions of the employers
ethics and their turnover intentions
Valentine and Sales and marketing Ethics programs; perceived corporate social Perceived CSR plays a mediating role in the
Fleischman professionals responsibility; social desirability; job relationship between ethics programs and job
(2008a) satisfaction satisfaction
Valentine and Sales and marketing Professional ethical standards; corporate social An individuals beliefs about professional ethics
Fleischman professionals responsibility; perceived role of ethics and are associated with CSR. CSR attitudes are
(2008b) social responsibility; social desirability; associated with the ideologies that originate in
position tenure professional associations. Professional
standards are related to both perceived CSR
and ethics and social responsibility.
Professional ethics influences CSR attitudes
through association with CSR, suggesting that
ethical attitudes are associated with corporate
involvement in CSR
Cadogan et al. Field sales managers Sales manager behavioral control; sales manager Ethical standards are negatively related to the
(2009) outcome control; sales manager relativism; probability of sales team members engaging in
sales manager idealism; sales team job unethical behavior. Sales teams ethical
insecurity; sales team cooperation; sales team standards are higher when sales managers
tactical performance; sales team ethical evaluations are based on the input behaviors of
standards; ethical behavior their sales teams. Increased job insecurity in
sales teams is associated with lower ethical
standards. Sales team cooperation (information
sharing) predicts ethical standards
Hsu et al. Sales representatives Frame pattern; commission structure; behavioral Frame pattern, commission structure, behavioral
(2009) control type; marketing norm perceptions; control type, and marketing norm perceptions
ethical behavior explain ethically questionable behavior

123
122 N. McClaren

Table 1 continued
Author(s) and Sample description Variables examined Key findings
year of
publication

Jaramillo et al. Salespeople Servant leadership; EL; person-organization fit; Servant leadership predicts EL and EL predicts
(2009) organizational commitment; sales experience; person-organization fit. EL has a moderating
turnover intention impact on the following servant leadership
relationships: servant leadership and
organizational commitment; person-
organization fit and organizational
commitment; EL and organizational
commitment; organizational commitment and
turnover intention. EL also has a moderating
impact on the following relationships: sales
experience and person-organization; sales
experience and organizational commitment;
and sales experience and turnover intention
Lee et al. Sales executives Confucian values; Maoist principles; ethical Younger Chinese salespeople are less likely to
(2009) perceptions evaluate unethical selling behavior negatively
than older Chinese salespeople
Mulki et al. Salespeople Instrumental leadership; caring leadership; Instrumental leadership influences ethical
(2009) ethical climate; satisfaction with supervisor; climate. Ethical climate influences satisfaction
job satisfaction; effort; job performance with supervisor, job satisfaction, and effort
Valentine Sales and marketing Ethics training; company ethical context; social Hours of ethics training is associated with
(2009) professionals desirability; satisfaction with supervisors and increased perceptions a company is ethical.
co-workers Hours of ethics training received by
professionals was positively related to
satisfaction with both supervisors and
colleagues. Ethics training works through an
ethical context to impact satisfaction with
supervisors and colleagues. Work colleagues
are important aspects of the ethical context that
influences professionals satisfaction
Bush et al. Marketing and sales Ethical climate of marketing organizations; Seventy percent of the organizations had codes
(2010) executives/managers current codes of ethics and sales technology; of ethics that addressed the salespersons use of
monitoring methods for the ethical use of sales technology. Although most organizations have
technology codes of ethics, not as many have codes that
specifically address sales force technology
Fournier et al. Salespeople Ethical climate; performance; job satisfaction; Level of ethical climate moderates the
(2010) self-efficacy; person-career fit; role overload; relationship between performance and
propensity to leave propensity to leave a company and the
relationship between role overload and
performance
McClaren Sales support staff; Organizational socialization; professional Organizational socialization and professional
et al. (2010) sales and marketing socialization; work-related marketing norms; socialization are related but distinct constructs.
managers; product ethical perceptions Organizational socialization and professional
managers socialization influence work-related marketing
norms. Work-related marketing norms
influence ethical perceptions
Schwepker Business-to-business Transformational leadership; supervisor Trust in manager is significantly positively
and Good sales professionals capability orientation; trust in manager; moral related to salesperson moral judgment. The
(2010) judgment more the sales manager uses transformational
leadership behaviors, the greater the
salespersons trust in the manager. This, in
turn, is likely to lead to salespeople making
more ethical decisions when faced with an
ethical sales dilemma

123
The Personal Selling and Sales Management Ethics Research
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