Moral Intensity, Issue Characteristics, and Ethical Issue Recognition in Sales Situations

• Published in: IDEAS Working Paper Series from RePEc 2020-05, Vol.163 (2), p.347-363
• Main Authors: Rousselet, Evelyne, Brial, Bérangère, Cadario, Romain, Béji-Bécheur, Amina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acknowledgment; Banking; Business administration; Business and Management; Business Ethics; Conflicts of interest; Customers; Data; Decision making; Education; Employee behavior; Ethics; Humanities and Social Sciences; Low income groups; Management; Morality; Organizational factors; Original Paper; Philosophy; Qualitative research; Quality of Life Research; Quantitative analysis; Research methodology; Sales; Sales workers; Salespersons; Situational factors
• ISSN: 0167-4544; 1573-0697
• DOI: 10.1007/s10551-018-4020-1

Researchers have considered individual and organizational factors of ethical decision making. However, they have little interest in situational factors (McClaren, Journal of Business Ethics 112(1):101-125, 2013) which is surprising given the many situations sales persons face. We address this issue using two pilot qualitative studies successively and a 2 by 2 withinsubject experiment with sales scenarios. Qualitative and quantitative data are obtained from front-line employees of the main French retail banks that serve low-income customers. We show that the recognition of an ethical issue differs depending on the role behavior salespersons are engaged in and the nature of the conflict of interest they face. Moreover, the combined effect of these two situational characteristics is mediated by moral intensity. This study not only adds evidence on situational factors affecting ethical decision but also extends empirical research on sales ethics by revealing sales situations that are not considered in the empirical literature. The research implications of the findings are discussed along with the study's limitations and suggestions for future research.