Skip to main content
Disciplines
Automotive Business IT + Informatics Construction + Real Estate Electrical Engineering + Electronics Energy + Sustainability Insurance + Risk Finance + Banking Management + Leadership Marketing + Sales Mechanical Engineering + Materials
Events
DE
EN
Books
Journals
Topic Page
Marketing
Start single access now
Access for companies
EXTENDED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Journal of Business Ethics
Published in: Journal of Business Ethics 2/2020

22-10-2018 | Original Paper

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

Authors: Evelyne Rousselet, Bérangère Brial, Romain Cadario, Amina Béji-Bécheur

Published in: Journal of Business Ethics | Issue 2/2020

Log in

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config
loading …

Abstract

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

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 102.000 Bücher
  • über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
  • Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Versicherung + Risiko




Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Footnotes
1
Source the website of the Ministry of Economic and Financial Affaires: https://​www.​economie.​gouv.​fr/​installation-de-l-observatoire-de-linclusion-bancaire.
 
2
Following Poujol et al. (2016), we use the term “bank salesperson” rather than “bank front-line employee,” although both are equivalent in the French context.
 
Literature
Abratt, R., & Penman, N. (2002). Understanding factors affecting salespeople’s perceptions of ethical behavior in South Africa. Journal of Business Ethics, 35(4), 269–280.
Adams, J. S. (1963). Towards an understanding of inequity. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67(5), 422–463.
Adams, J. S. (1965). Inequity in social exchange. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 267–299). New York: Academic Press.
Agnihotri, R., Rapp, A., Kothandaraman, P., & Singh, R. K. (2012). An emotion-based model of salesperson ethical behaviors. Journal of Business Ethics, 109(2), 243–257.
Barnett, T. (2001). Dimensions of moral intensity and ethical decision making: An empirical study. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 31(5), 1038–1057.
Barnett, T., & Valentine, S. (2004). Issue contingencies and marketers’ recognition of ethical issues, ethical judgments and behavioral intentions. Journal of Business Research, 57, 338–346.
Bateman, C. R., Valentine, S., & Rittenburg, T. (2013). Ethical decision making in a peer-to-peer file sharing situation: The role of moral absolutes and social consensus. Journal of Business Ethics, 115(2), 229–240.
Beauchamp, T. L., & Bowie, N. E. (1979). Ethical theory and business. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
Bellizzi, J. A., & Hasty, R. W. (2003). Supervising unethical sales force behavior: How strong is the tendency to treat top sales performers leniently? Journal of Business Ethics, 43(4), 337–351.
Berg, B. L. (2004). Qualitative research methods for the social sciences (5th edn.). Boston: Pearson Education Inc.
Bettencourt, L. A., & Brown, S. W. (1997). Contact employees: Relationships among workplace fairness, job satisfaction and prosocial service behaviors. Journal of Retailing, 73(1), 39–61.
Bettencourt, L. A., Gwinner, K. P., & Meuter, M. L. (2001). A comparison of attitude, personality, and knowledge predictors of service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(1), 29–41.
Blocker, C. P., Ruth, J. A., Sridharan, S., Beckwith, C., Ekici, A., Goudie-Hutton, M., & Varman, R. (2013). Understanding poverty and promoting poverty alleviation through transformative consumer research. Journal of Business Research, 66(8), 1195–1202.
Boyle, B. A. (2000). The Impact of customer characteristics and moral philosophies on ethical judgments of salespeople. Journal of Business Ethics, 23(3), 249–267.
Brady, F. N., & Wheeler, G. E. (1996). An empirical study of ethical predispositions. Journal of Business Ethics, 15(9), 927–940.
Brenkert, G. G. (1998). Marketing and the vulnerable. Business Ethics Quarterly, 1, 7–20.
Brief, A. P., & Motowidlo, S. J. (1986). Prosocial organizational behaviors. Academy of Management Review, 11(4), 710–725.
Bush, V., Bush, A. J., Oakley, J., & Cicala, J. E. (2017). The sales profession as a subculture: Implications for ethical decision making. Journal of Business Ethics, 142(3), 549–565.
Butterfield, K. D., Trevin, L. K., & Weaver, G. R. (2000). Moral awareness in business organizations: Influences of issue-related and social context factors. Human Relations, 53(7), 981–1018.
Carey, M. A. (1994). The group effect in focus groups: Planning, implementing, and interpreting focus group research. In J. Morse (Ed.), Critical issues in qualitative research methods (pp. 225–241). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Cherry, J., & Fraedrich, J. (2002). Perceived risk, moral philosophy and marketing ethics: mediating influences on sales managers’ ethical decision-making. Journal of Business Research, 55(12), 951–962.
Chonko, L. B., & Hunt, S. D. (1985). Ethics and marketing management: An empirical examination. Journal of Business Research, 13(4), 339–359.
Converse, J. M., & Presser, S. (1986). Survey questions: Handcrafting the standardized questionnaire (Vol. 63). Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage.
Craft, J. L. (2013). A review of the empirical ethical decision-making literature: 2004–2011. Journal of Business Ethics, 117(2), 221–259.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2011). Handbook of research methods for studying daily life. New York: Guilford Press.
Dabholkar, P. A., & Kellaris, J. J. (1992). Toward understanding marketing students’ ethical judgment of controversial personal selling practices. Journal of Business Research, 24(4), 313–329.
Deconinck, J. B. (2005). The influence of ethical control systems and moral intensity on sales managers’ethical perceptions and behavioral intentions. Marketing Management Journal, 15(2), 123–131.
Dubinsky, A. J., Howell, R. D., Ingram, T. N., & Bellenger, D. N. (1986). Salesforce socialization. The Journal of Marketing, 50, 192–207.
Ekström, K. M., & Hjort, T. (2009). Hidden consumers in marketing: The neglect of consumers with scarce resources in affluent societies. Journal of Marketing Management, 25(7–8), 697–712.
Ferrell, O. C., & Gresham, L. G. (1985). A contingency framework for understanding ethical decision making in marketing. The Journal of Marketing, 49, 87–96.
Ferrell, O. C., Johnston, M. W., & Ferrell, L. (2007). A framework for personal selling and sales management ethical decision making. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 27(4), 291–299.
Gioia, D. A., & Poole, P. P. (1984). Scripts in organizational behavior. Academy of Management Review, 9(3), 449–459.
Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine Publishing Company.
Greenberg, J., & Eskew, D. E. (1993). The role of role playing in organizational research. Journal of Management, 19(2), 221–241.
Hansen, J. D., & Riggle, R. J. (2009). Ethical salesperson behavior in sales relationships. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 29(2), 151–166.
Hill, R. P. (2002). Stalking the poverty consumer a retrospective examination of modern ethical dilemmas. Journal of Business Ethics, 37(2), 209–219.
Hill, R. P. (2008). Disadvantaged consumers: An ethical approach to consumption by the poor. Journal of Business Ethics, 80(1), 77–83.
Hoffman, B. J., Blair, C. A., Meriac, J. P., & Woehr, D. J. (2007). Expanding the criterion domain? A quantitative review of the OCB literature. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(2), 555–566.
Hollingworth, D., & Valentine, S. (2015). The moderating effect of perceived organizational ethical context on employees’ ethical issue recognition and ethical judgments. Journal of Business Ethics, 128(2), 457–466.
Honeycutt, E. D., Glassman, M., Zugelder, M. T., & Karande, K. (2001). Determinants of ethical behavior: A study of autosalespeople. Journal of Business Ethics, 32(1), 69–79.
Hunt, S. D., & Vitell, S. (1986). A general theory of marketing ethics. Journal of Macromarketing, 6(1), 5–16.
Jones, T. M. (1991). Ethical decision making by individuals in organizations: An issue-contingent model. Academy of Management Review, 16, 366–395.
Judd, C. M., Kenny, D. A., & McClelland, G. H. (2001). Estimating and testing mediation and moderation in within-subjects designs. Psychological Methods, 6, 115–134.
Karriker, J. H., & Williams, M. L. (2009). Organizational justice and organizational citizenship behavior: A mediated multifoci model. Journal of Management, 35(1), 112–135.
Katz, D. (1964). The motivational basis of organizational behavior. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 9(2), 131–146.
Kellaris, J. J., & Dabholkar, P. A. (1989). The PSE scale: A scenario-based approach to assessing the ethical sensitivity of sales students and professionals. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 9, 60–70.
Khavul, S., & Bruton, G. D. (2013). Harnessing innovation for change: Sustainability and poverty in developing countries. Journal of Management Studies, 50(2), 285–306.
Kim, W. C., & Mauborgne, R. A. (1996). Procedural justice and managers’ in-role and extra-role behavior: The case of the multinational. Management Science, 42(4), 499–515.
Lavorata, L. (2007). Proposal for a measurement scale of the ethical climate in business: A study in the area of B-to-B selling. Recherche et Applications en Marketing (English Edition), 22(1), 1–23.
Lee, N., Beatson, A., Garrett, T. C., Lings, I., & Zhang, X. (2009). A study of the attitudes towards unethical selling amongst Chinese salespeople. Journal of Business Ethics, 88, 497–515.
Lehnert, K., Park, Y. H., & Singh, N. (2015). Research note and review of the empirical ethical decision-making literature: Boundary conditions and extensions. Journal of Business Ethics, 129(1), 195–219.
Leitsch, D. L. (2004). Differences in the perceptions of moral intensity in the moral decision process: An empirical examination of accounting students. Journal of Business Ethics, 53(3), 313–323.
Levy, M., & Dubinsky, A. J. (1983). Identifying and addressing retail salespeople’s ethical problems: A method and application. Journal of Retailing, 59(1), 46–66.
Lewis, P. (2014). The over-training of apprentices by employers in advanced manufacturing: A theoretical and policy analysis. Human Resource Management Journal, 24(4), 496–513.
MacKenzie, S. B., Podsakoff, P. M., & Ahearne, M. (1998). Some possible antecedents and consequences of in-role and extra-role salesperson performance. The Journal of Marketing, 87–98.
MacKenzie, S. B., Podsakoff, P. M., & Fetter, R. (1991). Organizational citizenship behavior and objective productivity as determinants of managerial evaluations of salespersons’ performance. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(1), 123–150.
May, D. R., & Pauli, K. P. (2002). The role of moral intensity in ethical decision making: A review and investigation of moral recognition, evaluation, and intention. Business & Society, 41(1), 84–117.
McClaren, N. (2000). Ethics in personal selling and sales management: A review of the literature focusing on empirical findings and conceptual foundations. Journal of Business Ethics, 27(3), 285–303.
McClaren, N. (2013). The personal selling and sales management ethics research: Managerial implications and research directions from a comprehensive review of the empirical literature. Journal of Business Ethics, 112(1), 101–125.
McMahon, J. M., & Harvey, R. J. (2006). An analysis of the factor structure of Jones’ moral intensity construct. Journal of Business Ethics, 64(4), 381–404.
Montoya, A. K., & Hayes, A. F. (2017). Two condition within-participant statistical mediation analysis: A path-analytic framework. Psychological Methods, 22(1), 6–27.
Morris, S. A., & McDonald, R. A. (1995). The role of moral intensity in moral judgments: An empirical investigation. Journal of Business Ethics, 49(11), 1367–1393.
Morrison, E. W. (1994). Role definitions and organizational citizenship behavior: The importance of the employee’s perspective. Academy of Management Journal, 37(6), 1543–1567.
Mossholder, K. W., Richardson, H. A., & Settoon, R. P. (2011). Human resource systems and helping in organizations: A relational perspective. Academy of Management Review, 36(1), 33.
O’Fallon, M. J., & Butterfield, K. D. (2005). A review of the empirical ethical decision-making literature: 1996–2003. Journal of Business Ethics, 59(4), 375–413.
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Paine, J. B., & Bachrach, D. G. (2000). Organizational citizenship behaviors: A critical review of the theoretical and empirical literature and suggestions for future research. Journal of Management, 26(3), 513–563.
Podsakoff, P. M., & Organ, D. W. (1986). Self-reports in organizational research: Problems and prospects. Journal of Management, 12(4), 531–544.
Poujol, F. J., Harfouche, A., & Pezet, E. (2016). Salespeople’s unethical behavior during a sales contest: The mediation effect of the perceived ethical climate of the game. Recherche et Applications en Marketing (English Edition), 31(2), 21–39.
Rest, J. R. (1986). Moral development: Advances in research and theory. New York: Praeger.
Reynolds, S. J. (2006). Moral awareness and ethical predispositions: Investigating the role of individual differences in the recognition of moral issues. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(1), 233–243.
Robertson, D. C., & Anderson, E. (1993). Control system and task environment effects on ethical judgment: An exploratory study of industrial salespeople. Organization Science, 4(4), 617–644.
Schepers, J., Falk, T., Ruyter, K. D., Jong, A. D., & Hammerschmidt, M. (2012). Principles and principals: Do customer stewardship and agency control compete or complement when shaping frontline employee behavior? Journal of Marketing, 76(6), 1–20.
Schwartz, M. S. (2016). Ethical decision-making theory: An integrated approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 139(4), 755–776.
Schwepker, C. H., Ferrell, O. C., & Ingram, T. N. (1997). The influence of ethical climate and ethical conflict on role stress in the sales force. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 25(2), 99.
Sharma, A., Levy, M., & Evanschitzky, H. (2007). The variance in sales performance explained by the knowledge structures of salespeople. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 27(2), 169–181.
Singhapakdi, A., Vitell, S. J., & Franke, G. R. (1999). Antecedents, consequences, and mediating effects of perceived moral intensity and personal moral philosophies. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 27(1), 19–36.
Singhapakdi, A., Vitell, S. J., & Kraft, K. L. (1996). Moral intensity and ethical decision-making of marketing professionals. Journal of Business Research, 36(3), 245–255.
Sweeney, B., & Costello, F. (2009). Moral intensity and ethical decision-making: An empirical examination of undergraduate accounting and business students. Accounting Education, 18(1), 75–97.
Talukdar, D. (2008). Cost of being poor: Retail price and consumer price search differences across inner-city and suburban neighborhoods. Journal of Consumer Research, 35(3), 457–471.
Tang, T. L. P., Sutarso, T., Davis, G. M. T. W., Dolinski, D., Ibrahim, A. H. S., & Wagner, S. L. (2008). To help or not to help? The Good Samaritan Effect and the love of money on helping behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 82(4), 865–887.
Trevino, L. K. (1986). Ethical decision making in organizations: A person-situation interactionist model. Academy of Management Review, 11(3), 601–617.
Trevino, L. K. (1992). The social effects of punishment in organizations: A justice perspective. Academy of Management Review, 17(4), 647–676.
Tsalikis, J., Seaton, B., & Shepherd, P. (2008). Relative importance measurement of the moral intensity dimensions. Journal of Business Ethics, 80(3), 613–626.
Valentine, S. (2009). Ethics training, ethical context, and sales and marketing professionals’ satisfaction with supervisors and coworkers. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 29(3), 227–242.
Valentine, S., & Barnett, T. (2007). Perceived organizational ethics and the ethical decisions of sales and marketing personnel. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 27(4), 373–388.
Valentine, S., & Hollingworth, D. (2012). Moral intensity, issue importance, and ethical reasoning in operations situations. Journal of Business Ethics, 108(4), 509–523.
Valentine, S. R., & Bateman, C. R. (2011). The impact of ethical ideologies, moral intensity, and social context on sales-based ethical reasoning. Journal of Business Ethics, 102(1), 155–168.
Van Dyne, L., & LePine, J. A. (1998). Helping and voice extra-role behaviors: Evidence of construct and predictive validity. Academy of Management journal, 41(1), 108–119.
VanSandt, C. V., Shepard, J. M., & Zappe, S. M. (2006). An examination of the relationship between ethical work climate and moral awareness. Journal of Business Ethics, 68(4), 409–432.
Vargo, S. L., & Lusch, R. F. (2004). Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. Journal of Marketing, 68(1), 1–17.
Vey, M. A., & Campbell, J. P. (2004). In-role or extra-role organizational citizenship behavior: Which are we measuring? Human Performance, 17(1), 119–135.
Victor, B., & Cullen, J. B. (1988). The organizational bases of ethical work climates. Administrative Science Quarterly, 33, 101–125.
Williams, L. J., & Anderson, S. E. (1991). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment as predictors of organizational citizenship and in-role behaviors. Journal of Management, 17(3), 601–617.
Wimbush, J. C., & Shepard, J. M. (1994). Toward an understanding of ethical climate: Its relationship to ethical behavior and supervisory influence. Journal of Business Ethics, 13(8), 637–647.
Wotruba, T. R. (1990). A comprehensive framework for the analysis of ethical behavior, with a focus on sales organizations. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 10(2), 29–42.
Yin, R. K. (1994). Case study research: Design and methods, applied social research methods series. Biography, 5. London: Sage Publications.
Metadata
Title
Moral Intensity, Issue Characteristics, and Ethical Issue Recognition in Sales Situations
Authors
Evelyne Rousselet
Bérangère Brial
Romain Cadario
Amina Béji-Bécheur
Publication date
22-10-2018
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Published in
Journal of Business Ethics / Issue 2/2020
Print ISSN: 0167-4544
Electronic ISSN: 1573-0697
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-4020-1

Other articles of this Issue 2/2020

Journal of Business Ethics 2/2020 Go to the issue

Original Paper

Ethical Implications of Management Accounting and Control: A Systematic Review of the Contributions from the Journal of Business Ethics

Original Paper

The Trust Triangle: Laws, Reputation, and Culture in Empirical Finance Research

Original Paper

Changes in Firms’ Political Investment Opportunities, Managerial Accountability, and Reputational Risk

Original Paper

Managing Algorithmic Accountability: Balancing Reputational Concerns, Engagement Strategies, and the Potential of Rational Discourse

Original Paper

Is Corporate Tax Aggressiveness a Reputation Threat? Corporate Accountability, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Corporate Tax Behavior

Original Paper

Investor-Paid Ratings and Conflicts of Interest

Premium Partner

    Image Credits