Abstract
Researchers have studied marketing ethics from several perspectives. Few studies, however, have analyzed supervisory reactions to unethical behavior by salespeople. The results of this study using a 2 × 3 factorial design showed that the performance level of the salesperson and the consequences of the salesperson's actions influenced some types of discipline used by a sample of 246 sales managers. The findings both support and contradict prior research on how sales managers respond to unethical sales force behavior.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baumhart, R. S. J.: 1961, ‘How Ethical Are Businessmen?’,Harvard Business Review 39 (July–August), pp. 6–31.
Barrow, J. C.: 1976, ‘Worker Performance and Task Complexity as Causal Determinants of Leader Behavior Style and Flexibility’,Journal of Applied Psychology 61 (August), pp. 433–440.
Bellizzi, J. A. and D. W. Norvell: 1991, ‘Personal Characteristics and Salesperson's Justifications as Moderators of Supervisory Discipline in Cases Involving Unethical Salesforce Behavior’,Journal of Academy of Marketing Science 19(1), pp. 11–16.
Bellizzi, J. A. and R. E. Hite: 1989, ‘Supervising Unethical Salesforce Behavior’,Journal of Marketing 53 (April), pp. 36–47.
Beyer, J. M. and H. M. Trice: 1984, “A Field Study of the Use and Perceived Effects of Discipline in Controlling Work Performance,”Academy of Management Journal 27 (December), 743–760.
Chonko, L. B. and J. 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), pp. 41–47.
Chonko, L. B. and S. D. Hunt: 1985, ‘Ethics and Marketing Management: An Empirical Examination’,Journal of Business Research 13, pp. 339–359.
DeConinck, J. B. and D. J. Good: ‘Perceptual Differences of Sales Practitioners and Students Concerning Ethical Behavior’,Journal of Business Ethics 8, pp. 667–676.
Dubinsky, A. J., E. N. Berkowitz, and W. Rudelius: 1980, ‘Ethical Problems of Field Sales Personnel’,MSU Business Topics 28 (Summer), 11–16.
Dubinsky, A. J., T. N. Ingram, and W. Rudelius: 1985, ‘Ethics in Industrial Selling: How Product and Service Salespeople Compare’,Journal of Academy of Marketing Science 13 (Winter–Spring), pp. 160–170.
Dubinsky, A. J. and T. N. Ingram: 1984, ‘Correlates of Salespeople's Ethical Conflict: An Exploratory Investigation’,Journal of Business Ethics 3 (April), pp. 343–353.
Ferrell, O. C. and K. M. Weaver: 1978, ‘Ethical Beliefs of Marketing Managers’,Journal of Marketing 42 (July), pp. 69–73.
Ferrell, O. C. and L. G. Gresham: 1985, ‘A Contingency Framework For Understanding Ethical Decision Making in Marketing’,Journal of Marketing 49 (Summer), pp. 87–96.
Fredericksen, L. W.: 1982,Handbook of Organizational Behavior Management (New York: John Wiley and Sons).
Fritzsche, D. J. and H. Becker: 1983, ‘Ethical Behavior of Marketing Managers’,Journal of Business Ethics 2, pp. 291–299.
Hawkins, D. I. and A. B. Cocanougher: 1972, ‘Student Evaluations of the Ethics of Marketing Practices: The Role of Marketing Education’,Journal of Marketing 36 (April), pp. 61–64.
Hunt, S. D., P. L. Kiecker, and L. B. Chonko: 1990, ‘Social Responsibility and Personal Success: A Research Note’,Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 3 (18), pp. 239–244.
Hunt, S. and S. Vitell: 1986, ‘A General Theory of Ethics’,Journal of Macromarketing 6 (Spring), pp. 5–16.
Ilgen, D. R., T. R. Mitchell, and J. W. Frederickson: 1981, ‘Poor Performers: Supervisors' and Subordinates' Responses’,Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 27 (June), pp. 386–410.
Levy, M. and A. J. Dubinsky: 1983, ‘Identifying and Addressing Retail Salespeople's Ethical Problems: A Method and Application’,Journal of Business Research (Spring), pp. 46–66.
Mayo, M. and L. J. Marks: 1990, ‘An Empirical Investigation of a General Theory of Marketing Ethics’,Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 18 (2), pp. 163–171.
Mitchell, T. R. and R. E. Wood: 1979, ‘An Empirical Test of an Attribution Model of Leader's Responses to Poor Performance’,Academy of Management Proceedings, pp. 94–98.
Newstrom, J. W. and W. A. Ruch: 1975, ‘The Ethics of Management and the Management of Ethics’,MSU Business Topics 23 (Winter), pp. 29–37.
O'Reilly, C. A. and B. Weitz: 1980, ‘Managing Marginal Employees: The Use of Warnings and Dismissals’,Administrative Science Quarterly 25, 467–484.
Podsakoff, P. M.: 1982, ‘Determinant's of a Supervisor's Use of Rewards and Punishments: A Literature Review and Suggestions for Further Research’,Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 29 (February), pp. 58–63.
Rosen, B. and T. H. Jerdee: 1974, ‘Factors Influencing Disciplinary Judgments’,Journal of Applied Psychology 59 (3), pp. 327–331.
Whetton, D. A. and K. S. Cameron: 1991,Developing Management Skills, 2nd ed. (Harper Collins Publishers, Inc.: New York).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
James B. DeConinck is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at The University of Dayton. His publications have appeared inThe Journal of Business Research, The Journal of Business Ethics, andThe Journal of Applied Business Research. Prior to being in academics, he held industry positions in transportation and sales.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
De Coninck, J.B. How sales managers control unethical sales force behavior. J Bus Ethics 11, 789–798 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00872311
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00872311