Abstract
This scenario-based study examines the perceptions of university students in the United States and Australia regarding the ethics and acceptability of various sales practices. Study results indicate several significant differences between U.S. and Australian university students regarding the perceptions of ethical and acceptable sales practices. These differences centered on company-salesperson and salesperson-customer relationships. The findings are significant for the employer, and have consequences for customers and competitors. They also have implications for recruiters and managers of salespeople, academics with an interest in understanding cross-national differences in sales ethics, and educators preparing students for future careers as business professionals.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arlow, Peter: 1991, ‘Personal Characteristics in College Students' Evaluations of Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility’, Journal of Business Ethics 10, 63–69.
Bellizzi, Joseph A. and Robert E. Hite: 1989, ‘supervising Unethical Salesforce Behavior’, Journal of Marketing 53(April), 36–47.
Berg, Eric N.: 1988, ‘Harvard to Require M.B.A. Ethics Course’, The New York Times, 137(July 13), 35 N.
Chonko, Lawrence B. and John J. Burnett: 1983, ‘Measuring the Importance of Ethical Situations as a source of Role Conflict: A Survey of Salespeople, Sales Managers, and Sales Support Personnel’, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management 3(May), 41–47.
Crittenden, V. L., W. F. Crittenden and J. M. Hawes: 1986, ‘Ethical Standards of Marketing Students’, in N. K. Malhotra (ed.), Developments in Marketing Science (Academy of Marketing Science, FL, Atlanta), pp. 164–168.
Dabholkar, Pratibha A. and James J. Kellaris: 1992, ‘Toward Understanding Marketing Students' Ethical Judgment of Controversial Personal Selling Practices’, Journal of Business Research 24, 313–329.
Dawson, Leslie M.: 1992, ‘Will Feminization Change the Ethics of the Sales Profession?’, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management XII(1) (Winter), 21–32.
DeConinck, James B. and David J. Good: 1989 ‘Perceptual Differences of Sales Practitioners and Students Concerning Ethical Behavior’, Journal of Business Ethics 8, 667–676.
Digest of Educational Statistics: 1993, National Center for Education, U.S. Department of Education.
Directory of American Firms Operating in Foreign Countries: 1991 (Uniworld Business Publications, Inc, New York).
Directory of Foreign Firms Operating in the United States: 1992 (Uniworld Business Publications, Inc., New York).
Dubinsky, Alan J., Marvin A. Jolson, Masaaki Kotabe and Chae U. Lim: 1991, ‘A Cross-National Investigation of Industrial Salespeople's Ethical Perceptions’, Journal of International Business Studies (Fourth Quarter), 651–670.
Feldman, Howard D. and Richard C. Thompson: 1990, ‘Teaching Business Ethics: A Challenge for Business Educators in the 1990s’, Journal of Marketing Education (Summer), 10–22.
Fraedrich, John: 1989, ‘Teach Ethics? Don't Kid Yourself’, Marketing Educator (Winter), 7.
Hair, Joseph F., Ralph E. Anderson and Ronald L. Tathum: 1987, Multivariate Data Analysis with Readings, 2nd Edition (Macmillan, New York).
Hanson, Kirk O.: 1987, ‘What Good Are Ethics Courses?’, Across the Board 24(September), 11–12.
Harris, James R. and Hugh J. Guffey, Jr.: 1991, ‘A Measure of the Short-term Effects of Ethical Instruction’, Journal of Marketing Education (Spring), 64–68.
Hunt, Shelby D., Lawrence B. Chonko and James B. Wilcox: 1984, ‘Ethical Problems of Marketing Research’, Journal of Marketing Research 21(August), 309–324.
Hunt, Shelby D. and Scott Vitell: 1986, ‘A General Theory of Marketing Ethics’, Journal of Macro-marketing 6(Spring), 5–16.
Kaye, Bruce N.: 1992, ‘Codes of Ethics in Australian Business Corporations’, Journal of Business Ethics 11, 857–862.
Lee, Tony: 1986, ‘The Myth of Marketing’, National Business Employment Weekly (Fall), 22.
Lysonski, Steven and William Gaidis: 1991, ‘A Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Ethics of Business Students’, Journal of Business Ethics 10, 141–150.
Martin, T. R.: 1982, ‘Do Courses in Ethics Improve the Ethical Judgment of Students?’, Business and Society Review, 17–26.
Mokowitz, Daniel B.: 1985, ‘Where Business Goes to Stock Up on Ethics’, Business Week 14(October), 63, 66.
Murphy, Patrick E. and Gene R. Laczniak: 1981, ‘Marketing Ethics: A Review with Implications for Managers, Educators and Researchers’, Review of Marketing 1981 (American Marketing Association, Chicago), pp. 251–266.
‘New York Will Bar Data General Sales to State Agencies Amid Bribery Inquiry’: 1992, The Wall Street Journal (October 8), A4.
Nyaw, Mee-Kau and Ignace Ng: 1994, ‘A Comparative Analysis of Ethical Beliefs: A Four Country Study’, Journal of Business Ethics 13, 543–555.
Patton, M. A. and T. W. R. Sleator: 1990, ‘Does Sales Training Belong in the University?’, Australian Marketing Educators' Conference Proceedings, South Australian Institute of Technology, Adelaide, S. A. (February), 2.
Peterson, Robert A., Richard F. Beltramini and George Kozmetsky: 1991, ‘Concerns of College Students Regarding Business Ethics: A Replication’, Journal of Business Ethics, 10, 733–738.
Porter, Lyman W. and Lawrence E. McKibbon: 1988, Management Education and Development: Drift or Thrust into the 21st Century (McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York).
Reidenbach, R. Eric, Donald P. Robin and Lyndon Dawson: 1991, ‘An Application and Extension of a Multidimensional Ethics Scale to Selected Marketing Practices and Marketing Groups’, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 19(2) (Spring), 83–92.
Siconolfi, Michael: 1993, ‘Prudential Unit General Counsel is Said to be Included in Partnership Probe’, The Wall Street Journal (Demember 30), A-2.
Siebold, Frank J.: 1988, ‘The Customer Service Ethic: Foiling the Ghost of Willy Loman’, Proceedings of the Pi Sigma Epsilon National Conference in Sales Management (Atlanta, GA), 55–57.
Singhapakdi, Anusorn and Scott J. Vitell: 1991, ‘Analyzing the Ethical Decision Making of Sales Professionals’, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management XI(4)(Fall), 1–12.
Singhapakdi, Anusorn and Scott J. Vitell: 1992, ‘Marketing Ethics: Sales Professionals Versus Other Marketing Professions’, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management XII(2) (Spring), 27–31.
Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1993, Department of Labor, p. 184.
Steinmetz, Greg: 1994, ‘Met Life Agents' Sales Practices Called Deceptive’, The Wall Street Journal(March 10), A-4.
Stratton, William E., Randolph W. Flynn and George A. Johnson: 1981, ‘Moral Development and Decision Making: A Study of Student Ethics’, Journal of Enterprise Management 3(Winter), 35–41.
Wotruba, Thomas R.: 1990, ‘A Comprehensive Framework for the Analysis of Ethical Behavior, with a Focus on Sales Organizations’, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management 10(Spring), 29–42.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stevenson, T.H., Bodkin, C.D. A Cross-National Comparison of University Students' Perceptions Regarding the Ethics and Acceptability of Sales Practices. Journal of Business Ethics 17, 45–55 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005706518136
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005706518136