Rogues in the ranks of selling organizations: using corporate ethics to manage workplace bullying and job satisfaction

Abstract

The literature recognizes that the sales profession is an inherently competitive and self-interested occupation that can be negatively impacted by deviant behavior and rationalizations of unethical conduct. The unique boundary-spanning nature and autonomy of such work means that there is often little management oversight of sales professionals' behavior, which may lead to misbehavior and poor work attitudes. Yet, evidence suggests that the development of corporate ethical values (CEVs) can mitigate concerns about unethical conduct, suggesting that these principles might be used to reduce workplace bullying and enhance job satisfaction. Using a self-report questionnaire, information was collected from national and regional samples of selling professionals employed in different organizations located in the USA (N = 356). While controlling for the effects of sampling and social desirability, results indicated that increased communication of an ethics code was associated with stronger perceptions of CEVs, while ethical values were negatively related to perceptions of workplace bullying and positively related to job satisfaction. Workplace bullying was also negatively related to job satisfaction. The findings suggest that an ethical work environment should be instituted in sales organizations to reduce misconduct and enhance work attitudes.

Keywords:

• corporate ethical values
• workplace bullying
• job satisfaction

Acknowledgments

The authors thank O.C. Ferrell and Eric Arnould for their assistance with this research project.

Notes

1. The sampling frame was defined broadly to include a variety of employees who perform different selling activities in their firms (e.g., hospitality employees, customer contact workers, retail associates, real estate professionals, etc.).

2. Decisions were made based on whether individuals provided information for at least one of several sales-related demographic items (establishing positive confirmation of selling activity), regardless of whether or not they claimed to be a sales profession.

Additional information

Funding

Funding provided by the University of Wyoming was used to support this research.