The Effect of Perceived Ethical Climate on the Search for Sales Force Excellence

By W. A. Weeks, T. Loe, L. Chonko, Kirk L. Wakefield. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 2004

153 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This study investigates the relationship of perceived ethical climate to individual commitment to quality, organizational commitment, and performance among business-to-business salespeople from two companies. The results indicate a firm’s ethical climate has an effect on its sales force. Salesperson’s perceptions of a positive organization ethical climate are positively related with their individual commitment to quality and organizational commitment. Although ethical climate does not have a direct effect on performance, it does have an indirect effect on performance when using individual commitment to quality and organizational commitment as intervening variables. Furthermore, the findings suggest an association exists between individual commitment to quality and performance. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Subfields: Information Systems and Management, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

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In Information Systems and Management

In Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

Citations in the corpus

Influence of the ethical servant leader and ethical climate on customer value enhancing sales performance (2015, background): “2004), supervisory trust and organizational identification (DeConinck 2011), corporate citizenship (Vitell and Paolillo 2004), individual commitment to quality (Weeks et al. 2004), and employer– employee covenantal relationships (Barnett and Schubert 2002) and negatively associated with ethical conf”
A Multilevel Model Examining the Relationships Between Workplace Spirituality, Ethical Climate and Outcomes: A Social Cognitive Theory Perspective (2019, background): “An organisation that champions an ethical climate might give high importance to customer service, put in place performance measurement systems that assess and reward high levels of customer satisfaction and hire employees who establish better customer relations through high-quality service (Wimbush ”
Salesperson Perceptions of Ethical Behaviors: Their Influence on Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions (2008, background): “2006; Schwepker 1999; Weeks et al. 2004, 2006). These findings are supported by Jaramillo et al. (2006) who conclude that the firm's ethical climate has a sig nificant impact on salesperson turnover intentions.”
Curbing the Undesirable Effects of Emotional Exhaustion on Ethical Behaviors and Performance: A Salesperson–Manager Dyadic Approach (2019, background): “This is not surprising, as sales organizations that provide their employees with clear ethical policies and codes of conduct tend to have more productive salesforces (Weeks et al. 2004; Weeks and Nantel 1992).”
Impact of Customer Orientation, Inducements and Ethics on Loyalty to the Firm: Customers’ Perspective (2010, background): “These studies have examined ethics primarily from the view points of managers or salespeople (Babin et al., 2004; Ingram et al, 2007; Weeks et al., 2004).”
The Effect of Islamic Work Ethics on Work Outcomes (2010, background): “Studies showed that ethical conduct in the work influence job satisfaction organizational commitment and reduce turnover intention (Weeks et al, 2004; Schwepker, 2001).”
The Role of Ethical Climate on Salesperson’s Role Stress, Job Attitudes, Turnover Intention, and Job Performance (2006, methodology): “There is empirical evidence of the relationship between ethical climate and both job satisfaction and organizational commitment for salespeople (Mulki, Jaramillo, and Locander 2006; Schwepker 2001; Weeks et al. 2004).”
Cognitive Moral Development and the Impact of Perceived Organizational Ethical Climate on the Search for Sales Force Excellence: A Cross-Cultural Study (2006, background): “In a previous paper, Weeks et al. (2004) examined perceived organizational ethical climate, individual commitment to quality, organizational commitment, and performance among U.S. salespeople.”
The Relationship Between Paternalistic Leadership and Organizational Commitment: Investigating the Role of Climate Regarding Ethics (2008, background): “The research conducted on ethical climates especially found that ethical work climates influence some organizational outcomes like job satisfaction, performance and organizational commitment (Cullen et al., 2003; Deshpande, 1996; Weeks et al., 2004).”
Linking ethical leadership and ethical climate to employees' ethical behavior: the moderating role of person–organization fit (2020, background): “Because subordinates perceive the existing ethical climate to impact organisational policies, procedures for decision-making and the payment system, they are likely to offer services and act well in the organisation when the ethical atmosphere in the organisation is strong (Weeks et al., 2004; Lu an”