Gender Differences in Personal Selling Ethics Evaluations

Abstract

Sales career opportunities are growing, and the number of women in sales is increasing. Educators must adequately prepare both men and women for today's ethical sales dilemmas. Using the Personal Selling Ethics Scale, the current study analyzes the impact of idealism and relativism on the sales ethics evaluations of men and women. Results indicate that women evaluate sales ethics scenarios as less ethical than males and that varying positions on these ethical frameworks partially explain the divergence. Results also imply that today's sales educators should primarily emphasize moral idealism when teaching sales ethics. Ethical codes and situation-based frameworks can aid this effort. When teaching relativistic individuals, educators can supplement idealistic methods via the use of cognitive moral development frameworks.

Do Technology-Based Sales Support Materials Make a Difference in Personal Selling? The Impact of Technology Usage by Gender in the Personal Selling Process

“…In many arenas, variant educational approaches have been suggested in light of gender disparities. However, unlike sales ethics or sales negotiations in which substantive gender divergence may warrant gender-specific instruction (Donoho et al, 2012;Stevens & Whelan, 2019), the current study's findings suggest that gender-specific instruction is not required in sales technology.…”

Making Marketers Ethical: Background Variables for Sales Training Effectiveness

“…Mirroring prior studies (Donoho, Heinze, & Kondo, 2012), the current study illustrates the strong need for sales ethics training. The overall mean PSE-2 score was 3.36, indicating an average student response between "somewhat unethical" and "neither unethical nor ethical."…”

“…For example, idealistic individuals were found to be more sensitive to ethical misconduct in sales, and relativistic individuals were found to be less sensitive. Likewise, Donoho, Heinze, and Kondo (2012) found that higher moral idealism scores resulted in critical ethical evaluations of sales ethics abuses, while higher relativism scores resulted in ethical evaluations that were less critical.…”

“…The revised scale, Personal Selling Ethics Scale II (PSE-2), added to the original scale through incorporating input from current sales texts, popular press sales books, sales journal articles, and corporate codes of conduct (Donoho & Heinze, 2011). Findings included the fact that when moral relativism and idealism are factored, gender evaluation differences disappear (Donoho, Heinze, & Kondo, 2012). And although relativism and idealism enjoy a statistically signification relationship with ethical evaluation sensitivity, the two constructs explain less than 9% of evaluation variation (Donoho, Heinze, & Kondo, 2012).…”

“…Findings included the fact that when moral relativism and idealism are factored, gender evaluation differences disappear (Donoho, Heinze, & Kondo, 2012). And although relativism and idealism enjoy a statistically signification relationship with ethical evaluation sensitivity, the two constructs explain less than 9% of evaluation variation (Donoho, Heinze, & Kondo, 2012). The PSE-2's scenarios are presented in Appendix A.…”