How Implicit Ethics Institutionalization Affects Ethical Selling Intention: The Case of Taiwan’s Life Insurance Salespeople

Tseng, Lu‐Ming

doi:10.1007/s10551-017-3723-z

Cited by 25 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…Also, top management's values, leadership, organizational rules and performance management and rewarding systems have a direct impact on the ethical conduct of salespeople. If employees feel that they will be held accountable for their unethical behavior and consider that their unethical behavior will bring more disadvantages than advantages, then their intention to behave ethically increases, given that the top management communicates the values of ethical behavior (Tseng, 2019).…”

Section: The Theoretical Background 21 Unethical Sales Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Salespeople are the representatives of banks, who need to uphold the reputation and brand image of their banks while conducting ethically and in conformity with the legal restrictions (Roman, 2003). Professional ethics is extremely important in the banking sector since the impact of any possible harm is not limited with the customer at focus, but also has the potential to get systemic by spreading to a large number of professionals and harm society as a whole (Herzog, 2019;Tseng, 2019). Since customer perceptions about the ethical conduct of financial institutions positively influence customer satisfaction and loyalty, ethical sales practices in customer relationship management are the essence of sustainable competitive advantage in banking (Mulki and Jaramillo, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Especially in banking, the complexity of the services and high expectations of the managers make some selling situations an outdoor to unethical practices. However, in the digital era in which consumers are connected, and organizations increasingly try to create customer value through engagement, the concerns about ethical practices in banking are increasing (Ferreira et al, 2016;Tseng, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Promises made by salespeople, such as promises of a fee-free credit card, are considered as informal contracts, and while making deliberately false statements are considered as lying, any failure to fulfill such promises offends consumers morally (Mass, 2017). Therefore, unethical sales behavior is defined as short-term conduct that benefits the salesperson at the expense of the customer or any behavior that harms other people such as deceiving customers, lying about the features of a product, selling people products that they do not need, or implementing pressure for making a sale (Roman, 2003;Roman and Ruiz, 2005;Yoo et al, 2014;Tseng, 2019). Other unethical sales behaviors can be listed as being disrespectful or rude to a customer, not behaving in a polite way while servicing customers, offering bribes and gifts, exaggerating, discrimination, suggesting wrong products, withholding information and lacking product knowledge (Cohen et al, 2013;Leonidou et al, 2013;Ferreira et al, 2016;Ameer and Halinen, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unethical sales practices in retail banking

Tosun

2020

IJBM

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PurposeThis study examines the salesperson-driven unethical behavior toward consumers in the retail banking context.Design/methodology/approachConsumer posts on an online social platform were analyzed using content analysis. Cluster analysis and word association analyses were conducted to analyze the posts across ethics dimensions, customer intentions and banking services.FindingsComplaints about salesperson-driven unethical behavior were classified into three clusters: disrespect, fee deception and other deception. Four themes of consumer intentions emerged from data: expecting an action regarding the staff, fixing the problem, exiting the bank, or just expressing the problem on the social platform. There was a significant difference among clusters in terms of intentions. The deception clusters had a stronger association with fixing the problem, while the disrespect cluster had a stronger association with consumers’ willingness to express their complaints and requests regarding corrective actions for the salespeople.Practical implicationsBanks must differentiate their service recovery approach depending on the problem. While a refund can be more appropriate for recovering deception, a corrective action regarding misbehaving sales staff is expected by the customers for the disrespect problem.Originality/valueThis study contributed to the need for current research on personal selling practices and salesperson ethics in banking services. The unethical sales practices were linked to customer intentions, and several associations were found. An unethical sales behavior framework that can be used in future research was represented.

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Section: The Theoretical Background 21 Unethical Sales Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unethical sales practices in retail banking

Tosun

2020

IJBM

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“…Finally, they act based on their intentions. Accordingly, the ethical/unethical behavior is a form of rational and intentional behavior (Tseng, 2017; Barsky, 2011).…”

Section: Theoretical Framework Literature Review and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unintentional unethical behavior: the mediating and moderating roles of mindfulness

Hong

2019

IJOES

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Purpose This paper aims to investigate the mediating and moderating roles of mindfulness in explaining the influences of performance goal attributes (e.g. difficulty, specificity and performance pressure), moral justification and peer unethical sales behavior on unintentional unethical behavior in the sales context. In this study, goal attributes and peer unethical sales behavior are proposed to positively impact unethical selling behavior. Especially, mindfulness and moral justification are explored as mediators of these relationships. Moreover, mindfulness also moderates the influence of peer’s unethical sales behavior on moral justification. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 188 salespeople working in companies in Vietnam is included to test the conceptual framework. Partial least squares structural equations modeling and SmartPLS v3 were implemented to test the path model. Findings This study highlights the mediating and moderating roles of mindfulness in explaining unintentional unethical behavior. The findings indicate that sales performance goals negatively influence mindfulness and positively influence unethical behavior. In the mediating role, mindfulness mediates the relationships between goal attributes and moral justification. Further, moral justification also mediates the influence of mindfulness on unethical behavior. In the moderating role, mindfulness plays a significant impact on the positive relationships between peers’ unethical selling behavior and moral justification. Research limitations/implications Data are collected from salespeople in Vietnam. Therefore, the results are limited. Practical implications While many organizations use goal-setting as a tool to promote employees’ performance, it is warned that goal variables (e.g. difficulty, specificity and performance pressure) may lead to unethical behavior. Interestingly, people may fail to notice moral dilemmas because of focusing on the goals. Furthermore, ethical erosion in organizations may spur unethical selling behavior. Therefore, salespeople sell unethically without intention to do so. Proposing mindfulness as self-regulation, these findings may explain the reasons people display unintentional unethical behavior. Therefore, it is crucial to set performance goals for employees not only to promote their performance but also to prevent unethical behaviors. Social implications By focusing on the roles of mindfulness that foster unintended unethical practices, this study provides important implications for governments and policymakers. For example, governments may emphasize ethical codes to clearly definite which practices are unethical. Moreover, ethics training should be considered to enhance ethical cognition in people. Originality/value Emphasizing unintentional unethical selling behaviors in sales context, this study tests a research framework which highlights the roles of mindfulness in explaining the dark effects of performance goals on people’s cognition and behavior. Therefore, this paper contributes to a deeper understanding of ethical blind spots in people’s cognition.

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Harnessing the Power Within: The Consequences of Salesperson Moral Identity and the Moderating Role of Internal Competitive Climate

Chaker

2021

J Bus Ethics

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How Implicit Ethics Institutionalization Affects Ethical Selling Intention: The Case of Taiwan’s Life Insurance Salespeople

Cited by 25 publications

References 86 publications

Unethical sales practices in retail banking

Unethical sales practices in retail banking

Unintentional unethical behavior: the mediating and moderating roles of mindfulness

Harnessing the Power Within: The Consequences of Salesperson Moral Identity and the Moderating Role of Internal Competitive Climate

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