Building Value through Sales Ethics

DeTienne, Kristen Bell; Alessandri, Alice; Aleo, Alberto; Agle, Brad

doi:10.1177/23949643221093455

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…This blind perspective towards unethical behaviours is becoming normalised as bank leaders do not recognise that they are facing a moral issue during the service-encounter interactions (Fichter, 2018). Thus, unethical behaviours are related to what Molinsky and Margolis (2005) have qualified as "necessary evils"; a malicious empire which is prospering through well-tailored reward and incentive schemes that are developed to promote sales in the banking sector (DeTienne et al, 2022). Indeed, job performance is usually based on quotas to be achieved in terms of sales, while employees are always under pressure to achieve targets, or they may lose their jobs (Glazer, 2016).…”

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypotheses Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

When unethical practices harm relationship outcomes: testing the influence of consumer-perceived unethical behaviour on trust and satisfaction in the banking sector

Kanyurhi,

Bugandwa Mungu Akonkwa,

Murhula Lusheke

et al. 2024

IJBM

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PurposeThe study has two objectives: (1) expand our knowledge of the relationship between unethical behaviour and both trust and satisfaction and (2) demonstrate that unethical behaviour research should be examined multi-dimensionally.Design/methodology/approachData were collected by resorting to a mixed methods approach. First, individual interviews were performed with 31 bank consumers from six main commercial banks in Bukavu city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Interview notes were submitted for content analysis to identify items and components that underpin the unethical practices construct. Second, a quantitative survey was conducted with 410 consumers from the same six banks. An aggregated-disaggregated structural equations modelling approach was used to test the impact of unethical practices on relationship outcomes through two studies. Study 1 tested a model that links unethical behaviour as a one-dimensional construct to trust and satisfaction. Study 2 tested a model that directly connects the four specific unethical behaviour components to both trust and satisfaction.FindingsResults from study 1 reveal that perceived unethical behaviour negatively influences consumer trust. Results also confirm that trust positively influences customer satisfaction. Results from study 2 confirm that unresponsive, disrespect and lying behaviours negatively influence both trust and satisfaction. Banks which are involving in those specific unethical behaviours can neither satisfy their consumers, nor maintain a sustainable and profitable relationship with them. Therefore, unethical behaviours harm the relationships outcomes in the banking sector.Research limitations/implicationsThe perceived unethical behaviour scale derives from a single data set and its reliability and validity need to be improved. Relationships between constructs are tested in a more direct way and ignore moderating variables. Perceived unethical behaviour is connected to relationship outcome variables while its impact on firms’ metrics have been ignored.Practical implicationsBanks have to understand customers’ perception of unethical behaviours and find a way to overcome them. Banks should recruit, motivate and retain employees who demonstrate an ethical inclination in the service encounter and create structures and mechanisms in order to monitor and manage unethical practices.Social implicationsBanks employees' unethical behaviour and practices not only damage the trust and reputation of banks but also can lead to frustration on the part of customers and damage their relationship with the institution. Our paper is a warning of this danger and might improve the social interactions between organisations (in general) and customers.Originality/valueUnethical behaviour is measured with a four-component scale in contrast to previous studies that have used bi-dimensional or one-dimensional scales. The study tests a disaggregated model that links four components of perceived unethical behaviour to relationship outcome variables. Perceived unethical behaviours are analysed from the customers’ perspective by resorting to mixed methods strategy.

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Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypotheses Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

When unethical practices harm relationship outcomes: testing the influence of consumer-perceived unethical behaviour on trust and satisfaction in the banking sector

Kanyurhi,

Bugandwa Mungu Akonkwa,

Murhula Lusheke

et al. 2024

IJBM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In any case, any value proposition from companies that enhances the ethical dimension will contribute to customer value creation, and they will ‘feel better off than before’ Grönroos (2008, p. 303). According to DeTienne et al (2022), the ethical culture of companies can create value through increased sales, higher customer satisfaction and retention, more referrals and improved well-being for employees. In fact, higher ethical standards in the value creation process will contribute to improving the company’s reputation, image, competitiveness and profitability, increasing customer, employee and stakeholder loyalty.…”

Section: What Else Could Be More Ethical Than Providing Value?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Defining and Measuring Customer Value: Some Reflections and New Perspectives

Gallarza

Sánchez‐Fernández

2023

Journal of Creating Value

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This article offers a personal perspective on the study of value. Based on a review of the academic contributions of the last 40 years, we aim to highlight the relevance of a concept that has been considered embryonic and crucial in marketing and business management. For this purpose, two main facets will be analyzed: the determining role of value creation in business activity and, at the same time, the complexity of its study, which requires continuous conceptual refinement and further development in assessment tools. Signs of progress (in the theory building) have been made, but some (measurement) challenges remain, while new encouraging avenues emerge, both for scholars and practitioners.

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“…Additionally, opportunism reduces counterparts' information sharing (Ried et al, 2021), which is an important driver of collaboration and relationship performance (Cao & Zhang, 2011;Carr & Pearson, 1999). Ethical scandals can lead to reputational damages and legal repercussions for not only the organization, but also the individual workers engaged in fraudulent behaviors; on the other hand, organizations prioritizing high ethical standards reap positive rewards including better employee retention and commitment, and improved business partnerships (DeTienne et al, 2019). Negotiators should therefore pay careful attention to the effects of their behaviors, particularly regarding their level of (dis)honesty.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From target to actor: Contagion of honesty and deception across buyer–supplier negotiations

Ried

Eckerd

Kaufmann

et al. 2022

J of Ops Management

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Understanding negotiators' decision‐making processes in buyer–supplier relationships has been of key interest to behavioral operations and supply chain management researchers. We hypothesize that through the exposure to various counterparts in the supply chain network, negotiators' behaviors are influenced by others' behaviors and prone to behavioral contagion—where the target adopts the behavior he/she is subjected to and exhibits it toward a nonpartisan counterpart. This paper examines such contagion where targets turn into actors of honesty and deception across buyer–supplier negotiations. We analyzed text responses from two studies employing scenario‐based negotiation experiments with 350 and 424 individuals with B2B sales experience and tested for the effects of previously received behavior (honesty/deception) and different frequency levels of the received behavior. Our results show contagion effects for honesty and deception in both studies. These effects are largely independent from the frequency with which the behaviors have been received, suggesting that a low stimulus frequency suffices to induce contagion of honest and deceptive behaviors across buyer–supplier negotiations. Interestingly, in contrast to our hypothesized key mechanism based on the extant literature, neither injunctive nor descriptive social norms mediated the relationship between received and acted behaviors. We offer alternative explanations and discuss implications for theory and practice.

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Building Value through Sales Ethics

Cited by 3 publications

References 43 publications

When unethical practices harm relationship outcomes: testing the influence of consumer-perceived unethical behaviour on trust and satisfaction in the banking sector

When unethical practices harm relationship outcomes: testing the influence of consumer-perceived unethical behaviour on trust and satisfaction in the banking sector

Defining and Measuring Customer Value: Some Reflections and New Perspectives

From target to actor: Contagion of honesty and deception across buyer–supplier negotiations

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