IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v109y2012i2p243-257.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Emotion-Based Model of Salesperson Ethical Behaviors

Author

Listed:
  • Raj Agnihotri
  • Adam Rapp
  • Prabakar Kothandaraman
  • Rakesh Singh

Abstract

Academic research studies examining the ethical attitudes and behaviors of salespeople have produced several frameworks that explore the ethical decision-making processes to which salespeople adhere when faced with ethical dilemmas. Past literature enriches our understanding; however, a critical review of the relevant literature suggests that an emotional route to salesperson ethical decision-making has yet to be explored. Given the fact that individuals’ emotional capacities play an important role in decision-making when faced with an ethical dilemma, there is a need for empirical research in this area. We address this issue by outlining and testing an emotion-based model to study the ethical attitudes and behaviors of salespeople in a relational selling context. Building on the cognitive-affective model proposed by Gaudine and Thorne (J Bus Ethics 31:175–187, 2001 ), we outline a framework that incorporates higher order prosocial emotions: capacity for concern and capacity for guilt. We include salesperson’s role clarity within the organization as a moderator to examine person–situation interaction. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Raj Agnihotri & Adam Rapp & Prabakar Kothandaraman & Rakesh Singh, 2012. "An Emotion-Based Model of Salesperson Ethical Behaviors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(2), pages 243-257, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:109:y:2012:i:2:p:243-257
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-011-1123-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-011-1123-3
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-011-1123-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sarah Steenhaut & Patrick Kenhove, 2006. "The Mediating Role of Anticipated Guilt in Consumers’ Ethical Decision-Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 69(3), pages 269-288, December.
    2. Jones, Eli & Busch, Paul & Dacin, Peter, 2003. "Firm market orientation and salesperson customer orientation: interpersonal and intrapersonal influences on customer service and retention in business-to-business buyer-seller relationships," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 323-340, April.
    3. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    4. Scott Vitell & Megan Keith & Manisha Mathur, 2011. "Antecedents to the Justification of Norm Violating Behavior Among Business Practitioners," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 101(1), pages 163-173, June.
    5. Sean Valentine & Lynn Godkin & Philip Varca, 2010. "Role Conflict, Mindfulness, and Organizational Ethics in an Education-Based Healthcare Institution," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 94(3), pages 455-469, July.
    6. Jennifer Mencl & Douglas May, 2009. "The Effects of Proximity and Empathy on Ethical Decision-Making: An Exploratory Investigation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(2), pages 201-226, March.
    7. S. Steenhaut & P. Van Kenhove, 2006. "The Mediating Role of Anticipated Guilt in Consumers’ Ethical Decision-Making," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 06/370, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    8. Verbeke, W.J.M.I. & Belschak, F.D. & Bagozzi, R.P., 2004. "The Adaptive Consequences of Pride in Personal Selling," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2004-012-MKT, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    9. Baker, Thomas L. & Hunt, Tammy G. & Andrews, Martha C., 2006. "Promoting ethical behavior and organizational citizenship behaviors: The influence of corporate ethical values," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(7), pages 849-857, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Joerg Dietz & Emmanuelle Kleinlogel, 2014. "Wage Cuts and Managers’ Empathy: How a Positive Emotion Can Contribute to Positive Organizational Ethics in Difficult Times," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 119(4), pages 461-472, February.
    2. Rahizah Sulaiman & Paul Toulson & David Brougham & Frieder Lempp & Jarrod Haar, 2022. "The Role of Religiosity in Ethical Decision-Making: A Study on Islam and the Malaysian Workplace," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 297-313, August.
    3. Scott J. Vitell & Robert Allen King & Jatinder Jit Singh, 2013. "A special emphasis and look at the emotional side of ethical decision-making," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 3(2), pages 74-85, June.
    4. J. J. Klerk, 2017. "Nobody is as Blind as Those Who Cannot Bear to See: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on the Management of Emotions and Moral Blindness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 141(4), pages 745-761, April.
    5. Lu-Ming Tseng, 2019. "How Implicit Ethics Institutionalization Affects Ethical Selling Intention: The Case of Taiwan’s Life Insurance Salespeople," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 727-742, September.
    6. Lyngdoh, Teidorlang & Chefor, Ellis & Hochstein, Bryan & Britton, Benjamin P. & Amyx, Douglas, 2021. "A systematic literature review of negative psychological states and behaviors in sales," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 518-533.
    7. Popa Mirela & Salanta Irina Iulia, 2013. "Emotions In The Organizational Environment," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(1), pages 1595-1605, July.
    8. Xiaoyan Wang & Guocai Wang & Yanhui Zhao & Wyatt A. Schrock, 2024. "The Intellectual Structure of Sales Ethics Research: A Multi-method Bibliometric Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 193(1), pages 133-157, August.
    9. Bari L. Bendell, 2017. "I don't Want to be Green: Prosocial Motivation Effects on Firm Environmental Innovation Rejection Decisions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(2), pages 277-288, June.
    10. Evelyne Rousselet & Bérangère Brial & Romain Cadario & Amina Béji-Bécheur, 2020. "Moral Intensity, Issue Characteristics, and Ethical Issue Recognition in Sales Situations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 347-363, May.
    11. Yanju Zhou & Yi Yu & Xiaohong Chen & Xiongwei Zhou, 2020. "Guanxi or Justice? An Empirical Study of WeChat Voting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 201-225, June.
    12. Vishag Badrinarayanan & Indu Ramachandran & Sreedhar Madhavaram, 2019. "Mirroring the Boss: Ethical Leadership, Emulation Intentions, and Salesperson Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 897-912, October.
    13. Lamberto Zollo & Massimiliano Matteo Pellegrini & Cristiano Ciappei, 2017. "What Sparks Ethical Decision Making? The Interplay Between Moral Intuition and Moral Reasoning: Lessons from the Scholastic Doctrine," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(4), pages 681-700, November.
    14. 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.
    15. Mark S. Schwartz, 2016. "Ethical Decision-Making Theory: An Integrated Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(4), pages 755-776, December.
    16. Paolo Antonetti & Stan Maklan, 2014. "Feelings that Make a Difference: How Guilt and Pride Convince Consumers of the Effectiveness of Sustainable Consumption Choices," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 117-134, September.
    17. Rostami, Amin & Gabler, Colin & Agnihotri, Raj, 2019. "Under pressure: The pros and cons of putting time pressure on your salesforce," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 153-162.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paolo Antonetti & Stan Maklan, 2014. "Feelings that Make a Difference: How Guilt and Pride Convince Consumers of the Effectiveness of Sustainable Consumption Choices," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 117-134, September.
    2. Camilla Barbarossa & Patrick Pelsmacker, 2016. "Positive and Negative Antecedents of Purchasing Eco-friendly Products: A Comparison Between Green and Non-green Consumers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(2), pages 229-247, March.
    3. Onwezen, Marleen C. & Antonides, Gerrit & Bartels, Jos, 2013. "The Norm Activation Model: An exploration of the functions of anticipated pride and guilt in pro-environmental behaviour," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 141-153.
    4. Volker Lingnau & Florian Fuchs & Till E. Dehne-Niemann, 2017. "The influence of psychopathic traits on the acceptance of white-collar crime: do corporate psychopaths cook the books and misuse the news?," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(9), pages 1193-1227, December.
    5. Birau, Mia M. & Faure, Corinne, 2018. "It is easy to do the right thing: Avoiding the backfiring effects of advertisements that blame consumers for waste," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 102-117.
    6. Antonetti, Paolo & Baines, Paul & Jain, Shailendra, 2018. "The persuasiveness of guilt appeals over time: Pathways to delayed compliance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 14-25.
    7. Yu-Shan Huang & Shuqin Wei & Tyson Ang, 2022. "The Role of Customer Perceived Ethicality in Explaining the Impact of Incivility Among Employees on Customer Unethical Behavior and Customer Citizenship Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(2), pages 519-535, June.
    8. Rahizah Sulaiman & Paul Toulson & David Brougham & Frieder Lempp & Jarrod Haar, 2022. "The Role of Religiosity in Ethical Decision-Making: A Study on Islam and the Malaysian Workplace," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 297-313, August.
    9. Rafi M. M. I. Chowdhury, 2017. "Emotional Intelligence and Consumer Ethics: The Mediating Role of Personal Moral Philosophies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 527-548, May.
    10. Jana Eßer & Manuel Frondel & Stephan Sommer, 2023. "Soziale Normen und der Emissionsausgleich bei Flügen: Evidenz für deutsche Haushalte [Social Norms and Flight Emission Offsets: Evidence for German Households]," AStA Wirtschafts- und Sozialstatistisches Archiv, Springer;Deutsche Statistische Gesellschaft - German Statistical Society, vol. 17(1), pages 71-99, March.
    11. Ola Altabbaa & Muge Ors, 2019. "Factors affect Canadian Women Purchase Intention in Green Cosmetics in the Frame of Moral Obligation, Green Trust, Self-Identity, Health, Social Value, and Satisfaction," International Journal of Science and Business, IJSAB International, vol. 3(5), pages 42-58.
    12. Lu-Ming Tseng, 2019. "How Implicit Ethics Institutionalization Affects Ethical Selling Intention: The Case of Taiwan’s Life Insurance Salespeople," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 727-742, September.
    13. Tang, Honghong & Li, Lin & Su, Song, 2022. "Experiencing less leads to the use of more: The effect of a scarcity mindset on product usage," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 139-148.
    14. Ahsan Habib & Md Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan, 2017. "Determinants of monetary penalties for environmental violations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(6), pages 754-775, September.
    15. Mills, Paul & Groening, Christopher, 2021. "The role of social acceptability and guilt in unethical consumer behavior: Following the crowd or their own moral compass?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 377-388.
    16. Katarina Katja Mihelič & Barbara Culiberg, 2019. "Reaping the Fruits of Another’s Labor: The Role of Moral Meaningfulness, Mindfulness, and Motivation in Social Loafing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(3), pages 713-727, December.
    17. Henrike Andersch & Jörg Lindenmeier & Florian Liberatore & Dieter K. Tscheulin, 2018. "Resistance against corporate misconduct: an analysis of ethical ideologies’ direct and moderating effects on different forms of active rebellion," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 88(6), pages 695-730, August.
    18. Yanina Rashkova & Ludovica Moi & Francesca Cabiddu, 2024. "Addressing the Societal Challenges in Organizations: The Conceptualization of Mindfulness Capability for Social Justice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(2), pages 249-268, January.
    19. Berta Bekti Retnawati & Nuryakin, 2016. "Developing Salesperson Performance: The Role of Customer Encountering Competence Portfolio, Relational Capital and Service Excellent Customer Heterogeneity," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 6(4), pages 891-897.
    20. Schneider, Patricia J. & Zielke, Stephan, 2020. "Searching offline and buying online – An analysis of showrooming forms and segments," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:109:y:2012:i:2:p:243-257. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.