Ethical Climate at the Frontline: A Meta-Analytic Evaluation

Abstract

Long-term customer relationships develop over repeated interactions, underscoring the importance of frontline employees (FLEs) engaging in ethical behaviors. Therefore, organizations must understand how a strong ethical climate (EC) may affect attitudes and behaviors among FLEs. This study reviews frontline-related EC research and employs a meta-analytic approach to investigate the direct, indirect, and contingent effects of EC on FLE actions, attitudes, and outcomes. The authors reviewed 67 frontline-related studies comprising a sample of 21,118 respondents to assess meta-analytic associations and derive a model for structural testing. The findings from this study show that a strong EC drives customer-oriented behaviors, fosters desirable job attitudes, reduces felt stress, increases perceived performance, and decreases turnover intentions among FLEs. The strength of theses associations is often predicated on individual-level (FLE experience), study-level (response rate), and country-level (perceived corruption, individualism/collectivism) factors. This study offers theoretical and managerial contributions germane to multiple uncertainties in service literature about EC’s implications on FLEs, including EC’s ability to break through sources of tension-facing FLEs, the mediated nature of EC’s impact on perceived performance through frontline actions, and the generalizability of the economic and human benefits of EC across service contexts and frontline roles that foster greater diffusion in practice.

Unethical sales practices in retail banking

“…This study examined the salesperson-driven unethical behavior toward consumers and provided a general assessment of the consumer perspective in the banking sector regarding ethical sales problems. The findings contributed to the need for current research on personal selling practices and salesperson ethics in the services domain (McClaren, 2015;Friend et al, 2020). Unethical problems emerged from data matched with a combination of the unethical sales dimensions that were mentioned in previous studies, and they were represented as a framework for researchers that can be used in future studies.…”

“…Consumers were aware of this fact and mentioned this in their posts by using "target" and "incentive" words in the deception clusters, referring to the sales targets and sales incentives of the salespeople. The sales staff confronts a dilemma between these targets and consumer well-being, and some consumers perceive that they are deceived when there is an over-focus on sales (Elsharnouby and Parsons, 2013;Friend et al, 2020).…”

“…Companies must have ethical codes, and the top management must communicate the importance of ethics to sales staff, and the work climate must make the sales staff feel that they will be held accountable for their unethical sales behaviors (Tseng, 2019). A strong ethical climate reduces the stress and drives customer-oriented behaviors of the salespeople (Friend et al, 2020). Service recovery efforts and developing solutions are also influential on customer trust and loyalty, so managers can monitor complaints proactively and share information with the sales teams continuously (Chang and Hung, 2018).…”

“…Although sales ethics literature mainly focused on the ethical decision-making and behavior of the salespeople, the existing knowledge about the "broader context of sales" has been improved only a little (Ameer and Halinen, 2019). Previous studies rarely investigated the nature of the selling activities and the impact of situational factors on ethical behavior, so there is a need for research on ethics that reflect current personal selling practices in services (McClaren, 2015;Friend et al, 2020). Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the salesperson-driven unethical behavior toward consumers in retail banking.…”

Ethical Climate as Social Norm: Impact on Judgements and Behavioral Intentions in the Workplace

“…For example, a high ethical climate is associated with positive attitudes at work but also with positive psychological health [ 10 , 11 ], performance [ 12 , 13 , 14 ], and high satisfaction [ 15 , 16 ] and a low turnover intention [ 17 , 18 , 19 ]. There is also a positive relationship between the ethical climate and commitment to work [ 20 , 21 ], trust in the organization [ 22 ], decrease corruption [ 23 ], and compliance with rules at work [ 24 ].…”