Making Marketers Ethical: Background Variables for Sales Training Effectiveness

Abstract

Though sales is a growing career within the marketing discipline, the effectiveness of sales ethics training is not keeping pace. Relatively scant attention has been paid to ethics training, and the current study seeks to correct this oversight through discussing important background values that impact ethical decision making in sales situations. These background values should be factored into the design of effective sales ethics training courses.The study reviews the roles that idealism, relativism, personal values, religiosity, money ethics and attitudes toward business play in the determination of sales ethics judgments and choices. Results indicate that sales ethics evaluations are significantly impacted by idealism, relativism, and money ethics. Personal values indirectly influence evaluations. Religiosity and attitudes toward business do not significantly impact evaluations. Recommendations include the development of a sales education ethics model that includes both principle-based (idealism and personal values) and situation-based (relativism and money ethics) perspectives.