Three Levels of Ethical Influences on Selling Behavior and Performance: Synergies and Tensions

Abstract

In general, the business ethics literature has treated the conceptual domains and outcomes of macro-level (industrial), meso-level (organizational), and micro-level (individual) ethical influence separately. However, this singular treatment ignores the synergies and tensions that can arise across these different types of ethical influence. Using sales as a research context, the current study argues that all three ethical frames of references are important in shaping employee behavior and performance and, as such, should be examined simultaneously. The findings show that industrial ethical climate and salesperson moral equity are positively associated with salesperson customer orientation. In addition, industrial and organizational ethical norms have a stronger joint effect on customer orientation than either ethical climate alone. More specifically, a more ethical organizational climate enhances the positive effects of the industrial ethical climate on customer orientation. Furthermore, whereas salesperson moral equity is significantly associated with salesperson customer orientation, strong moral equity beliefs in situations requiring adaptive selling result in weaker sales outcomes. This study concludes with a set of theoretical and actionable implications, as well as a discussion of future research avenues.2

Ethical Climate at the Frontline: A Meta-Analytic Evaluation

“…As depicted thus far, the EC of an organization is likely to influence a variety of FLE actions, attitudes, and outcomes. However, the direct effect between EC and the FLE is not universally supported (see Kadic-Maglajlic et al 2019). Rather, (1) FLEs bring a variety of individual-level experiences to each situation they encounter, which alters their evaluative lenses; (2) various methodological approaches result in varied response rates, which influences the nature of the final sample; and (3) country-level conditions influence broader ethical perceptions of respondents.…”

“…However, while FLEs’ perceptions of the firm’s EC may orient their actions within customer interfaces (Hill and Watkins 2007), FLEs also face ethical tensions and role pressures that may be at odds with each other (Bolander et al 2017). Thus, it is unclear whether FLEs will consistently act with customers’ interests in mind simply because of the impetus of their organization’s EC (i.e., whether the impact of an EC will vary in the service context; Coelho et al 2010; Kadic-Maglajlic et al 2019). For these reasons, the intersection of ethics and the frontline is an important research domain (Agnihotri and Krush 2015; Ingram, LaForge, and Schwepker 2007; von Walter, Wentzel, and Tomczak 2016), and a meta-analysis is required to integrate the abundance of empirical research to resolve such questions.…”

“…These findings help solidify the debated relationship between EC and customer orientation and clarify uncertainties in how particular mechanisms influence desired downstream outcomes (Lau et al 2017). Research would value understanding the association among ethics, customer orientation, and performance outcomes (Bateman and Valentine 2015; Howe, Hoffman, and Hardigree 1994); the mediated nature of this relationship (or lack thereof; DeConinck 2010); the incorporation of relational bonds as a coinciding foundation for a summative ethics study (Abela and Murphy 2008); and the generalizability of such models at the frontline (Kadic-Maglajlic et al 2019).…”

Introducing a three‐tier sustainability framework to examine bike‐sharing system use: An extension of the technology acceptance model

“…In the conceptual model, we took inspiration from Cheng () and looked into the existing literature that considered variables at multiple levels, that is, macro, mezzo and micro, in the consumer and business ethics literature domains. Beginning with Pruden (), the multilevel approach was picked up by other authors (i.e., Hunt & Vitell, , ) and was primarily used to examine employees’ unethical behaviours (Culiberg & Mihelič, ; Kadic‐Maglajlic, Micevski, Lee, Boso, & Vida, ), while it has been largely overlooked in consumer studies with a few notable exceptions (Kos Koklic, Kukar‐Kinney, & Vida, ). Following Kadic‐Maglajlic, Micevski, Lee, Boso, & Vida, ), the macro level captures the factors pertaining to the industry (such as bike‐sharing systems), mezzo level the norms and micro level the individuals (i.e., consumers) and their characteristics.…”

Bullying Trends Inside Sport: When Organized Sport Does Not Attract but Intimidates

“…On the other hand, most of the results and conclusions of conducted research are based on athletes' opinion (Tamminen et al, 2013;Risner, 2014;Cervin et al, 2017;McPherson et al, 2017), and quite scarcely the phenomenon of bullying is analyzed on the grounds of the position of coaches as the key persons in the formation of interpersonal relationships in sport (Piper et al, 2013;Fathynah and Syahirah, 2015). However, some studies analysing the field of social relationships in organizations emphasize the role of interactions between different levels-micro, mezzo, and macro (Jeurissen, 2005;Appelbaum et al, 2009;Kadic-Maglajlic et al, 2019), although it is not entirely clear how this manifests itself in the sports environment.…”