Sales technology: Help or hindrance to ethical behaviors and productivity?

Sales technology has had a major impact on the efficiency, effectiveness, and relationship building processes between the organization, manager, salesperson, and ultimately, the customer. However, this technology may generate ethical issues for these stakeholders. While the importance of sales force...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business research 2007-11, Vol.60 (11), p.1198-1205
Main Authors: Bush, Alan J., Bush, Victoria D., Orr, Linda M., Rocco, Richard A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automation
Business ethics
Business management
Ethics
Information technology
Information technology Sales force automation Ethics Productivity Sales management
Productivity
Sales
Sales force automation
Sales management
Sales techniques
Studies
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Summary:Sales technology has had a major impact on the efficiency, effectiveness, and relationship building processes between the organization, manager, salesperson, and ultimately, the customer. However, this technology may generate ethical issues for these stakeholders. While the importance of sales force ethics and information technology are undeniable, there is a dearth of research that has examined these two topics together. Thus, we attempt to do so by conducting a qualitative investigation of sales experts in the field. Based on in-depth interviews with key sales executives from a variety of business-to-business and business-to-consumer industries, our results show that, indeed, there are many ethical issues surrounding the use of sales technology. These ethical issues comprise two major themes: Exploitation and Control. These themes are discussed from a productivity perspective with implications for business researchers and managers.
ISSN:0148-2963
1873-7978
DOI:10.1016/j.jbusres.2007.04.007