A Social Network Perspective on Sales Force Ethics

Ethics During Adolescence: A Social Networks Perspective

“…This research recognizes the importance of peers, but has not empirically examined the effect of social networks, and more particularly an individual's structural position within the network. Additional research among adults reflects a growing interest in the impact of network positions on EP (e.g., Lee 2013; Seevers et al 2007); however, these studies have not examined adolescents. Research on adolescents, as opposed to adults or children, is needed because adolescents are qualitatively different from consumers in other stages of development, both in the value that they attach to peer groups (Mangleburg et al 2004) and in their adoption of harmful and illegal consumption activities (Cox et al 1990; Rose et al 1992).…”

The Practice of Networking: An Ethical Approach

“…Recent literature includes, among other topics, studies regarding the influence of social networks in innovation (Ahuja, 2000), in the creativity of managers who occupy bridging positions between groups in a network (Burt, 2004), in marketing (Achrol and Kotler, 1999) and in sales practice (Plouffe et al, 2004;Sparks and Schenk, 2006;Ü stüner and Godes, 2006), in knowledge transfer (Dyer and Hatch, 2006), in work organizations (Labianca and Brass, 2006), in intra-organization knowledge creation (Hansen, 1999;Tsai, 2001;Yli-Renko et al, 2001), in generating ''communities of practice'' (Cross et al, 2006;Fox, 2000), in fostering interpersonal citizenship behavior (Bowler and Brass, 2006), in personal selling (Seevers et al, 2007), and in innovative capability (Chen and Wang, 2008;Gloor et al, 2008, Hung et al, 2008. Other topics cover firm-stakeholder networks (Boutilier, 2007;Rowley, 1997), networking among firms (Mehra et al, 2001;Zang, 1999), networks of leaders (Mehra et al, 2006), the impact of business networks on communities (Besser et al, 2006), and others.…”

“…Among them, Brass et al (1998) presented a psychological model using social network analysis to explain unethical behavior, expanding other models constructed only on characteristics of individuals, issues, and/or organizational characteristics. Umphress et al (2000) considered social influence regarding perceptions of justice in a social network context, and Seevers et al (2007) applied a network perspective on sales force ethics, considering that ''this perspective provides a useful approach for examining the characteristics of relationships among salespeople that are themselves part of a larger structure of organizational relationships' ' (p. 341).…”

Sales Force – Customer Relationship and Ethical Behaviours in the Nigerian Banking Industry: A Synthesis

“…For instance, Seevers et al (2010) argued that employees in most companies are complicit and that the social ties between individuals encourage ethical misconduct. They emphasized that the social ties that link a salesperson to clients especially through social network devices such as facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, SMS etc.…”

“…However, the fact remains that the ethics of those engaged in selling profession have often been questioned. This is why Seevers et al (2010) suggest that whoever one hires for sales job is important but perhaps not as important as what he/she is recruited to do and how to do it after being hired. Ethicality/ unethicality of the sales force can destroy or improve customer relationship .Studies show that customers' perceptions of salespeople's ethical behaviours significantly affect buying intentions.…”