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Bringing meaning to the sales job: The effect of ethical climate and customer demandingness

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  • Jaramillo, Fernando
  • Mulki, Jay Prakash
  • Boles, James S.

Abstract

Top performing salespeople are attracted to organizations that provide opportunities to make full use of their abilities. Responses from 1450 sales directors from a leading direct selling organization were used to examine salesperson's experienced meaningfulness. Results show that experienced meaningfulness is critical to sales because it impacts salesperson's performance, turnover intentions and felt stress. Further, ethical climate and customer demandingness influence experienced meaningfulness perceptions.

Suggested Citation

  • Jaramillo, Fernando & Mulki, Jay Prakash & Boles, James S., 2013. "Bringing meaning to the sales job: The effect of ethical climate and customer demandingness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(11), pages 2301-2307.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:66:y:2013:i:11:p:2301-2307
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2012.03.013
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Mari Huhtala & Muel Kaptein & Joona Muotka & Taru Feldt, 2022. "Longitudinal Patterns of Ethical Organisational Culture as a Context for Leaders’ Well-Being: Cumulative Effects Over 6 Years," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(2), pages 421-442, May.
    3. Mulki, Jay & Lassk, Felicia G., 2019. "Joint impact of ethical climate and external work locus of control on job meaningfulness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 46-56.
    4. Won‐Moo Hur & Seung‐Yoon Rhee & Eun Ju Lee & Hyewon Park, 2022. "Corporate social responsibility perceptions and sustainable safety behaviors among frontline employees: The mediating roles of organization‐based self‐esteem and work engagement," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(1), pages 60-70, January.
    5. Omar S. Itani & Fernando Jaramillo & Larry Chonko, 2019. "Achieving Top Performance While Building Collegiality in Sales: It All Starts with Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(2), pages 417-438, May.
    6. Itani, Omar S. & Jaramillo, Fernando & Paesbrugghe, Bert, 2020. "Between a rock and a hard place: Seizing the opportunity of demanding customers by means of frontline service behaviors," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    7. M. Fernanda Wagstaff & Gabriela L. Flores & Albert Cannella & Sayan Sarkar & Christine Choirat, 2021. "Construct Validity of Unobtrusive Measures of Organizational Ethical Climates," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(3), pages 158-177, August.
    8. Micevski, Milena & Dewsnap, Belinda & Cadogan, John W. & Kadic-Maglajlic, Selma & Boso, Nathaniel, 2019. "Sales intra-functional flexibility: Its relationship to performance and moderating effects on role stressors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 552-562.
    9. Hyo Joo Lee & Kyoung Ryoul Min & Min Young Kim & Sung Min Park, 2022. "The Impact of Entrepreneurial Leadership and Ethical Climate on Public Service Motivation in Korea and China: Moderating Role of Confucian Values," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-16, October.
    10. Katsikea, Evangelia & Theodosiou, Marios & Morgan, Robert E., 2015. "Why people quit: Explaining employee turnover intentions among export sales managers," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 367-379.
    11. Li, Xiaodong & Liu, Zibing & Ren, Ai & Gong, Bengang, 2022. "What fuzzy requests bring to frontline employees: An absorptive capacity theory perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    12. Jung, Jin Ho & Brown, Tom J. & Zablah, Alex R., 2022. "How Customer Requests Influence Frontline Employee Job Outcomes: The Role of Personal Appraisal Tendencies and Situational Customer Demandingness," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 315-334.
    13. Omar S. Itani & Nawar N. Chaker, 2022. "Harnessing the Power Within: The Consequences of Salesperson Moral Identity and the Moderating Role of Internal Competitive Climate," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(4), pages 847-871, December.
    14. Rai, Arpana & Kim, Minseo & Singh, Sanjay Kumar, 2023. "Meaningful work from ethics perspective: Examination of ethical antecedents and outcomes of meaningful work," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    15. Colin B. Gabler & Omar S. Itani & Raj Agnihotri, 2023. "Activating Corporate Environmental Ethics on the Frontline: A Natural Resource-Based View," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(1), pages 63-86, August.
    16. Mulki, Jay Prakash & Jaramillo, Fernando & Goad, Emily A. & Pesquera, Martha Rivera, 2015. "Regulation of emotions, interpersonal conflict, and job performance for salespeople," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 623-630.

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