Salesperson Perceptions of Ethical

Behaviors: Their Inuence on Job

Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions
Charles Pettijohn
Linda Pettijohn
A. J. Taylor
ABSTRACT. In the academic world, research has indi-
cated that good ethics is good business. Such research
seems to indicate that firms, which emphasize ethical
values and social responsibilities, tend to be more profit-
able than others. Generally, the profitability is credited to
the firms positive relationships with its customers,
reduced costs of attempting to rebuild a tarnished image,
ease of attracting capital, etc. The research conducted in
this study evaluated salespeoples perceptions of the ethics
of businesses in general, their employers ethics, their
attitudes as consumers, and the relationships existing
between these perceptions and the sale forces job satis-
faction and turnover intentions. The results show a
positive relationship existing between salesperson per-
ceptions of business ethics, his/her employers ethics,
consumer attitudes, and the salespersons job satisfaction
and reduced turnover intentions.
KEY WORDS: salesperson ethics, ethics and business
relationships, ethics and job satisfaction, ethics and turn-
over, ethics measures
Introduction
Over the past few years, it seems that the business
sections of many city newspapers and business
publications have been dominated by stories con-
cerning unethical business actions. These articles
obviously have had an adverse affect on both
investors and customers in their interactions with
business (Jaramillo et al. 2006). In fact, business
executives tend to be among the lowest ranked
professional categories in terms of their image
(Lantos 1999; Luther et al. 1997; Wulfson 1998).
For example, Sales and Marketing Management
(2005) reports the results of a survey that show only
17% of Americans trust business leaders of major
corporations. The negative consequences of uneth-
ical business activities, with regard to their impacts
on investors and customers, have been discussed by
many scholars and business practitioners (cf. Lantos
1999; Schwepker 1999; Trease et al. 1994). How-
ever, how does the perception of a business ethical
behavior affect another important group the
business employees? If ones employer is perceived
as unethical, does that affect the employees job
satisfaction and turnover intentions? The answer to
Charles E. Pettijohn (D.B.A., Louisiana Tech University) is a
professor of marketing in the College of Business Adminis-
tration at Missouri State University. He is also co-editor of
the Marketing Management Journal. His research has
appeared in the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales
Management, the Journal of Businesss Ethics, Mar-
keting Management Journal, Psychology and Market-
ing, and the Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice.
At Missouri State University, his primary teaching focus is in
the areas of Personal Selling and Sales Management.
Linda S. Pettijohn (D.B.A., Louisiana Tech University) is a
Professor of marketing in the College of Business Adminis-
tration at Missouri State University. Her research has ap-
peared in the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales
Management, Human Resource Development Quar-
terly, Marketing Management Journal, Psychology and
Marketing, and the Journal of Financial Serivices
Marketing. At Missouri State University, her primary
teaching focus is in the area of Retailing.
Albert J. Taylor (D.B.A., Louisiana Tech University) is an
associate professor of marketing in the College of Business
Administration at Coastal Carolina University. His research
has appeared in the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales
Management, Human Resource Development
Quartely, the International Journal of Hospitality and
Tourism Administration, Psychology and Marketing,
and the Journal of Applied Business Research. At
Missouri State University, his primary teaching focus is in the
areas of Marketing Research and Personal Selling.
Journal of Business Ethics (2008) 78:547557 Springer 2007
DOI 10.1007/s10551-007-9367-7
this question, the central issue of the research, may be
affected by the ndings as they relate to two addition
questions. First, does an individuals attitude toward
general business ethics or his/her attitude as a con-
sumer inuence that persons attitudes toward his/her
employers ethics? Second, why should rms care
what their employees think about their ethics, business
ethics, or the employees perceptions as consumers?
One might contend that the nal question may be
the simplest one to answer. Businesses should care
what their employees think because employee per-
ceptions can inuence employee behaviors. If a rms
employees perceive that their employers are ethical,
then that rm may discover that job satisfaction rat-
ings are high and that turnover intentions are low.
Both factors are widely perceived as desirable for
businesses. Conversely, when employees perceive
that their employers are unethical, then job satisfac-
tion levels may decline and turnover intentions might
increase (Jaramillo et al. 2006). Both of these out-
comes are generally regarded as being negative. While
one could argue that a business or businesses in gen-
eral should behave ethically to establish goodwill with
their customers and with investors, the argument
could be advanced that ethical business behavior may
also create positive outcomes with regard to the rms
employees (Sales and Marketing Management 2006).
Of the issues addressed in the literature, it seems
that the one issue that is examined the least is the affect
that ones employers ethics has on the employees
levels of job satisfaction and turnover intentions.
Instead, the majority of the literature has focused its
efforts on the relationships that exist between a rms
perceived ethical levels and customer perceptions
and/or investor perceptions of the rm. Certainly
one cannot dispute the importance of previous
research agendas. The affect of a business ethical
behaviors on its customers and its investors is a critical
issue for evaluation. Most research has discovered that
rms, which are perceived as being unethical, are less
protable, have negative customer attitudes to over-
come, etc. The same holds true with regard to
investors (cf. Lantos 1999; Trease et al. 1994). As
investors lose condence in business, they become
less likely to invest their savings in those businesses,
which in turn increases the cost of capital to the
business, resulting in nancial challenges. While
many rms have huge public relations departments
and advertising budgets charged with elevating the
business public image, many discover that their
investments are either wasted or too small to rectify
ethical lapses their rms have experienced. Thus,
unethical behaviors have been shown to have
numerous deleterious outcomes for businesses as they
relate to their customers and investors (Lantos 1999;
Mantel 2005; Schwepker 1999).
Many managerial theorists contend that a rms
most important asset is its employees (cf. Collins 2001).
Yet, the inuence of a business ethical behaviors on
the employees has not been widely studied. The
purpose of this research is to address this issue and
evaluate the effect that the employees perceptions of
business ethics and behaviors have on that employees
job satisfaction levels and his/her intentions to leave
the organization. Specically, this research is designed
to empirically assess the relationships that exist be-
tween the perceived levels of ones employers ethics,
business ethics in general, and attitudes toward business
from a consumers viewpoint, and that employees job
satisfaction and turnover intentions with regard to his/
her employer. This research could show that the
negative consequences of unethical behaviors on
investors, consumers, and government could be sup-
plemented by further negative consequences with re-
gard to the business employees. Such a nding would
provide additional motivation for businesses to engage
in more ethical behaviors as a means to enhance their
business nancial viability.
Related literature
Business ethics are critical factors from a managers
perspective. The critical nature of ethics is not solely
based on the societal implications of ethical behavior,
but ethical concerns are also based on their economic
and business implications. This argument leads to the
conclusion that the ethical behaviors of a business are
critical managerial problems and management should
have a leading role in promoting ethical behaviors
(Chonko et al. 2002; Hunt and Chonko 1987).
Employees, by virtue of their life experiences, may
perceive outcomes in a very individualized fashion.
While these life experiences may include many vari-
ables far outside the purview of this study, two sets of
experiences that may inuence how one perceives
these factors might be that persons experiences as a
consumer and as a citizen. These two sets of experiences
548 Charles Pettijohn et al.
may be exemplied by the individuals attitudes as a
consumer and that persons attitudes toward business in
general. The rst set of experiences focus on the indi-
viduals beliefs that businesses have as their sole focus
earning prots. Thus, some individuals might perceive
that businesses only care about making prots, that they
make unrealistic claims, sell products that can be
harmful, etc. The second set of experiences relate to
attitudes that may be held regarding the importance of
ethics to rms as they relate to the ability of businesses to
earn prots, retain customers, and maintain a healthy
business environment. Thus, some individuals probably
feel that ethical behavior is important to business, that
good ethics creates good prots, etc. These people
might then perceive that businesses are ethical because it
is the right thing to do. These two perceptions could
subsequently affect how one perceives the ethical
behaviors of his/her employer. If an individual believes,
as a consumer, that businesses do not care about hon-
esty, they only care about making a prot, etc. then it
may be speculated that this individual will transfer these
negative perceptions as a consumer to his/her em-
ployer. Conversely, if individuals feel that businesses
attitudes are essentially positive and that ethical behav-
ior is in fact good business, then those individuals will
probably perceive business through a more positive
prismand thus regard their employers in a more positive
light. According to some researchers, an individuals
general attitudes may lead one to either reject certain
careers due to their perceptions of the roles they will
play (Sales and Marketing Management 2006; Sparkes
and Johlke 1996) or face cognitive dissonance in their
roles, leading to dissatisfaction (McFarland 2003).
These arguments led to the establishment of the rst
two research hypotheses, which state:
Hypothesis 1 There will be a signicant positive
relationship between a salespersons attitudes as a
consumer and his/her ethical perceptions of the
employer.
Hypothesis 2 There will be a signicant positive
relationship between a salespersons attitudes to-
ward general business ethics and that persons
ethical perceptions of their employer.
Job satisfaction is a desirable outcome for most
employers. Job satisfaction has been shown to be
related to organizational commitment, motivation,
performance, effort, and lower levels of turnover
(cf. Babin and Boles 1996; Bashaw and Grant 1994;
Brown and Peterson 1993) in many previous studies.
Dubinsky and Levy (1985) contend that a salespersons
inability to cope with ethical challenges might result in
lower levels of job performance. Other research studies
have shown that the employers ethical climate, as
perceived by it sales force, affects the salespersons level
of job satisfaction (Jaramillo et al. 2006). In addition to
these factors, one could expect that employees who
feel that overall, businesses engage in ethical behaviors
would also have positive feelings of job satisfaction as a
result of working in an environment in which they
have feelings of pride. An argument could be stated
that ones satisfaction could be inuenced by the de-
gree to which they feel positive about the business
environment in which they work.
Jones and Kavanaugh (1996) contend that ethical
intentions will be lower when the perceived quality of
the work experience is low. This suggests that a rela-
tionship might exist between the persons job satis-
faction and their perceptions of the ethical behaviors of
the business. Similarly, the individuals attitude toward
his/her employers ethics should have a signicant
inuence on his/her job satisfaction. Such an argu-
ment would logically contend that if one works for an
employer, which is perceived as unethical, then that
persons job satisfaction levels would likely be low, as
he/she might feel guilty or ashamed to be working for
a rm that has low ethical standards. In support of this
position, Hunt and Chonko (1987) conclude that an
employees ethical problems with his/her employer
negatively affected relationships with co-workers and
performance. These arguments led to the development
of hypotheses 3 and 4, which state:
Hypothesis 3 There will be a signicant positive
relationship between a salespersons perceptions of
general business ethics and that persons level of
job satisfaction.
Hypothesis 4 There will be a signicant positive
relationship between a salespersons perceptions of
his/her employers ethics and that persons level of
job satisfaction.
In the sales environment, one of the outcomes of
many situations is turnover. Turnover can be costly in
numerous ways. Obviously, when a rm has too few
Salesperson Perceptions of Ethical Behaviors 549
salespeople, the result will be lost sales and customer
dissatisfaction. While opportunity costs and customer
dissatisfaction costs are difcult to measure, the
recruiting and training costs associated with sales force
turnover are quite high. Valentine and Barnett (2003),
suggest that a relationship exists between employee
perceptions of their employers ethical values and their
organizational commitment. They contend that
employees prefer ethical companies for which to work.
Other research has concluded that requiring sales
employees to engage in coercive sales tactics, which the
salesperson may feel are unethical, can lead to lower
performance, poorer health, higher absenteeism, de-
creased job satisfaction, and increased levels of turnover
(McFarland 2003). Correspondingly, it has been argued
that students might reject careers in personal selling,
because they perceive the job to be fraught with ethical
challenges (Sparks and Johlke 1996). Based on this re-
search, one might anticipate that employees will be
more likely to try to leave environments that they
perceive to be unethical. For example, if an employee
feels that businesses are unethical, then it may be argued
that this individual will be likely to voluntarily leave the
organization. Similarly, in situations in which one feels
that his/her employer is unethical, then it may be
anticipated that he/she will intend toleave the unethical
environment his/her employer has fostered. Such a
position is reected by Levy and Dubinskys (1983)
conclusion that salespeople working in ethically chal-
lenging situations can experience frustration leading to
higher turnover. Research has shown that ethical
incongruities can lead to lower levels of organizational
commitment and higher levels of turnover. This
incongruity generally seems to exist when the em-
ployees levels of ethics exceed the employers. Thus, the
low level of employer ethics, vis a vis the salespersons,
will result in lower levels of organizational commitment
and higher levels of turnover intentions (Mulki et al.
2006; Schwepker 1999; Weeks et al. 2004, 2006).
These ndings are supported by Jaramillo et al. (2006)
who conclude that the rms ethical climate has a sig-
nicant impact on salesperson turnover intentions.
Thus, these arguments led to the development of the
nal two hypotheses, which state:
Hypothesis 5 There will be a signicant inverse
relationship between a salespersons perceptions of
general business ethics and that persons turnover
intentions.
Hypothesis 6 There will be a signicant inverse
relationship between a salespersons perceptions of
his/her employers ethics and that persons turn-
over intentions.
Methodology
The research methodology consisted of three steps.
The rst step entailed the selection of an appropriate
sample. Salespeople were identied as the sample of
interest for this research because they seem to be the
ones accused of some of the most unethical behavior
(Mantel 2005; Sales and Marketing Management
2005). These accusations might be based on the fact
that by virtue of their positions, they face more
difcult ethical situations. These difcult ethical
situations tend to be magnied by many factors. For
example, salespeople are in boundary spanning roles
which means they are placed in situations in which
job requirements may cause considerable conict
(Jaramillo et al. 2006) Further, salespeople are often
conicted between the job pressures in the short-
term versus their long-term desires. Salespeople also
have opportunities to engage in unethical behaviors
by virtue of the environments in which they work.
The sales role itself provides considerable manage-
ment pressures to make sales and prots (Hawes
et al. 2004).
Given the research objectives of assessing the
relationships between a salespersons ethical attitudes
toward his/her employer, businesses in general,
attitudes as a consumer, job satisfaction, and turn-
over intentions, it was determined that too much
sample variability was not desired. For example,
situations facing retail, wholesale, service, and
industrial salespeople might be too disparate to
provide reliable results in an exploratory study such
as this. Thus, one type of salesperson was selected to
comprise the sample, retail salespeople.
Retail salespeople were selected for a variety of
reasons. First, research has found that retail sales-
people receive little formal training and socialization
with regard to ethics (Burns 1999; Dawson 1997;
Dubinsky and Levy 1985). This means that their
attitudes and perceptions regarding business ethics
might be more untainted by training and socializa-
tion, which may exist in other salesperson categories.
550 Charles Pettijohn et al.
These untainted respondents might be more
capable of providing honest answers instead of
responses that are more socially acceptable. Sec-
ond, retail salespeople are signicant in number and
are signicant participants in the marketing channel.
Third, retail salespeople engage in most of the tra-
ditional selling roles and face many of the ethical
challenges facing all salespeople. Fourth, as Dubinsky
and Levy (1985) point out, retail sales managers
should be particularly concerned with a salespersons
ability to deal with ethical situations because an
inability to properly respond to ethical dilemmas is
likely to result in lower job performance, unhappy
customers and ridicule. Correspondingly, retail
sales expenses consume a signicant portion of the
retailers operating expenses and promotional
expenses and are an important factor in the retailers
success (Chonko et al. 1990; Hawes et al. 1993).
Finally, as stated by McIntyre et al. (1999, p. 43)
The ethics of retail practices is an understudied
phenomenon in general.
To maintain as much homogeneity in the sample
as possible, 18 retailers engaged in the sale of
shopping goods were identied as potential study
participants. Each of these retailers was contacted
by one of the principal researchers in the study.
Fourteen of the retailers agreed to participate in the
research; these 14 retailers employed a total of 156
salespeople.
As stated, the objectives of the research were to
uncover the relationships existing between the
salespersons perceptions of general business ethics,
employer ethics, consumer attitudes, job satisfac-
tion, and turnover intentions. The second step of
the process required the development of a research
instrument. Since these dimensions of interest had
been assessed in previous studies, established scales
were sought. The measurement of salesperson
attitudes pertaining to general business ethics was
facilitated by using a scale developed by Sing-
hapakdi et al. (1995). The original version of this
scale consisted of seven questions using a nine-
point Likert-type scale. For the purposes of the
present research, the scale was reduced by two
questions, and was revised to a seven-point scale
that was more consistent with the other scales used
in the research and more common-place in cur-
rent research. The Singhapakdi et al. (1995) scale
was derived from a scale originally developed by
Kraft and Jauch (1992). The scale itself was named
the Good Ethics is Good Business scale and
measures the respondents perception of the rela-
tionship between a business social responsibility
and protability. High scores on the scale are
indicative of one who believes that ethical
behavior has a positive impact on a business
protability and long-term viability. In Sing-
hapakdi et al.s (1995) study, the scale had an alpha
coefcient (Cronbach 1960) of 0.72. In this study,
the scales mean value is 30.1 and the alpha
coefcient value is 0.91 (well above the 0.70 level
established by Nunnally 1978).
The second scale used in the study was developed
to evaluate the respondents perceptions of his/her
employers ethics. This scale was also developed by
Singhapakdi et al. (1995). The scale, which was
termed the Corporate Ethical Value scale, was
developed originally by Hunt et al. (1989) with the
intent of measuring the employees perceptions of
his/her managers ethical behavior, the degree to
which managers were concerned about ethical is-
sues, and how such behavior was evaluated in the
organization. Hunt et al.s (1989) version of the scale
used a seven-point Likert-type scale and Singhapakdi
et al. (1995) used a nine-point version. The earlier
version had an alpha coefcient (Cronbach 1960) of
0.78 and Singhapakdis version had an alpha coef-
cient of 0.85. The current application of the scale
uses a seven-point Likert-type scale and has a mean
value of 26.2 with an alpha coefcient of 0.79.
The salespersons consumer attitudes were
assessed using the Alienation: Consumer Alienation
from the Marketplace scale (Allison 1978). The
original version of this instrument included 35 items
scored on a seven-point Likert-type scale. The
validity of this scale was assessed by Bearden et al.
(1983) who used 22 of the 35 original scale items. The
alpha coefcient (Cronbach 1960) for the scale was
0.84. The instrument used in this analysis was reduced
to 15 items due to space and time constraints.
However, the scale reductions do not seem damaging
to the scales reliability coefcients, as the alpha
coefcient for this scale is 0.85 and the mean is 52.6.
Job satisfaction was measured by a modied ver-
sion of the Job Satisfaction scale developed by
Wood et al. (1986). This scale assesses satisfaction
from four dimensions and has 14 separate questions.
The past usage of the scale has resulted in an
Salesperson Perceptions of Ethical Behaviors 551
established reliability, with an alpha coefcient of
0.89 (Cronbach 1960). The current survey uses six
of the questions to assess the four dimensions. In this
study, the scale has an alpha coefcient of 0.89 and a
mean value of 31.4.
The respondents intentions of leaving were used
as a surrogate measure of turnover. This scale was a
four-item scale developed by OReilly et al. (1991).
The results in this study show that the scale has an
alpha coefcient of 0.88 and a mean value of 17.9.
To summarize, the scale names, mean values, and
alpha coefcients are provided in Table I.
Following the development of the survey, the nal
step of the research required the collection of the data.
As mentioned previously, 14 retailers employing 156
salespeople agreed to participate. Each of the retailers
agreed to distribute the survey to their salespeople
along with a statement encouraging participation in
the study. Following distribution of the surveys,
participating salespeople returned completed surveys
to the researchers by using response envelopes pro-
vided. This was designed to ensure the respondents
anonymity and to encourage accurate responses. A
total of 124 surveys were returned and of that number
119 were deemed usable. Thus, the effective response
rate is 76%.
Table II provides the demographic characteristics
of the sample. As indicated in the table, a slight
majority of the respondents were male. Approxi-
mately 41% had completed at least a Bachelors
degree and the majority had incomes exceeding
$30,000. In addition, the sample worked an average
of 42 h per week, had over 10 years experience in
sales and were over 36 years of age.
Results
Table III provides the results of the study. Univari-
ate regression was used to test the hypotheses
because it provided the most rigorous test of the
results without allowing collinearity of the variables
to confound the ndings. With regard to hypotheses
1 and 2, the ndings support both hypotheses. As
shown, attitudes as a consumer are signicantly
(p <0.0001) related to salespersons perceptions of
their employers ethics. Thus, if a salesperson per-
ceives that businesses are providing valuable prod-
ucts, not trying to deceive customers, and etc., then
that salesperson is signicantly more likely to hold
positive attitudes toward his/her employer. Con-
versely, if the salesperson feels that businesses make
shoddy products, engage in deceptive practices,
etc. then that salesperson is likely to have signi-
cantly more negative attitudes toward his/her
employers ethics.
The second hypothesis is also supported, as a
salespersons general attitude regarding business
ethics is signicantly related (p <0.0001) to his/her
attitude toward the employers ethics. This indicates
that if one feels that business ethics, in general, are
poor then this perception carries over to the
TABLE I
Demographic characteristics of respondents
Demographic characteristic Number Percent
Gender
Male 60 53.1%
Female 53 46.9%
Education
Some College 70 58.8%
Bachelors Degree 33 27.7%
Masters Degree 16 13.5%
Income
Less than $30,000 43 36.1%
$30,000$39,999 39 32.8%
$40,000$49,999 11 9.2%
$50,000 or greater 26 21.8%
Mean SD
Age 36.8 11.0
Hours worked per week 42.3 10.2
Sales experience (years) 10.5 8.8
TABLE II
Scale means and alpha coefcients
Scale Mean (SD) a
Ethical attitude toward
business in general
30.1 (6.2) 0.91
Ethical attitude toward
employer
26.2 (6.9) 0.79
Attitude as a consumer 52.6 (12.6) 0.85
Job satisfaction 31.4 (8.5) 0.89
Turnover intentions 17.9 (7.3) 0.88
552 Charles Pettijohn et al.
perception that ones employers ethics must also
be poor.
The ndings also indicate support of hypotheses 3
and 4. As shown in the table, the salespersons per-
ceptions of general business ethics are signicantly
related (p <0.0004) to the level of job satisfaction.
Thus, the third hypothesis is supported by the
ndings. This indicates that as the salespersons
perceptions of business ethics in general increase,
his/her job satisfaction also increases.
The fourth hypothesis is also supported by the
ndings. While each of the R
2
values has been rel-
atively strong (i.e., greater than 0.10) for this type of
research, it should be noted that the coefcient of
determination for the univariate equation that eval-
uated the relationship between job satisfaction and
the salespersons perception of his/her employers
ethics is not only signicant (p <0.0001), but the R
2
value is 0.35. This indicates that the equation
explains 35% of the variance in ones job satisfaction
level. The results show that if the salesperson per-
ceives his/her employer as being unethical, then that
salespersons job satisfaction will be negatively
affected by this perception.
With regard to hypothesis 5, the ndings indicate
that the hypothesis is supported. A signicant
(p <0.01) relationship is found between the sales-
persons perceptions of general business ethics and
his/her turnover intentions. Thus, the results indi-
cate that a positive perception of business ethics in
general will reduce the salespersons intentions of
leaving his/her present position.
The ndings with regard to the nal hypothesis
are also supported. The results show a strong
signicant (p <0.0001) relationship between the
salespersons perceptions of the employers ethics
and his/her turnover intentions. Again, in this case
the relationship seems very strong, with an R
2
of
0.30, thus indicating that 30% of the variance is
explained by the relationship between these two
variables. These ndings indicate that in situations in
which the salesperson perceives that his/her
employer is unethical, this perception will strongly
inuence the salespersons intentions of leaving his/
her present sales position.
Discussion and managerial implications
Most research tends to indicate that businesses
should behave ethically not just for altruistic reasons,
but because good ethics is good business. Such an
argument seems hard to refute. A business that
maintains a strong ethical climate will discover that it
has to devote fewer resources to advertising and
publicity designed to ameliorate negative press.
Additionally, it could be argued that fewer resources
would be devoted to legal fees, penalties, battling red
tape, etc. This research supplements the widely held
conclusion that good ethics is good business by
showing that business ethics affect the salespersons
job satisfaction levels and turnover intentions. As
businesses devote resources designed to build
employee job satisfaction and to reduce turnover, it
TABLE III
Ethics, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions
Variable
B t-value (p) F-value (p) R
2
Employer ethics
Attitudes as a consumer 0.21 4.4 (0.0001) 18.9 (0.0001) 0.14
Attitudes toward business ethics 0.41 4.2 (0.0001) 17.8 (0.0001) 0.13
Job satisfaction
Attitudes toward business ethics 0.47 3.6 (0.0004) 13.2 (0.0004) 0.10
Employer ethics 0.73 8.0 (0.0001) 63.9 (0.0001) 0.35
Turnover intentions
Attitudes toward business ethics 0.29 2.7 (0.01) 7.4 (0.01) 0.06
Employer ethics 0.58 7.1 (0.0001) 50.1 (0.0001) 0.30
Salesperson Perceptions of Ethical Behaviors 553
should be recognized that ethical behaviors affect
both of these factors in their sales forces.
The results imply that one means for a business to
reduce its turnover and build its job satisfaction is to
improve the salespersons ethical perceptions of their
business. This suggests that the employers ethical
behavior signicantly affects their sales forces satis-
faction with their jobs and their likelihood of staying
in their positions. Practically, the repercussions of a
rms unethical image are signicant. In one con-
siders only turnover, for example, the costs can be as
high as $40,000 for the loss of a productive sales-
person (Roberts et al. 1999). If a rm with a sales
force of 500 salespeople and an average annual
turnover rate of 25% can reduce that rate to 20% as a
result of enhanced ethical perceptions, the rm
could theoretically save $1,000,000 ($40,000 25
salespeople). Similarly, Jaramillo et al. (2006) con-
clude that higher job satisfaction leads to greater
commitment, which in turn leads to greater levels in
performance. Thus, a rm that has an enhanced level
of ethical perceptions should logically nd that these
perceptions lead to greater performance. Obviously,
higher performance levels translate into greater
prots for the rm.
One implication that may be drawn from this
research is the need for all businesses to recognize
the impact that their behaviors have on the job
satisfaction and turnover intentions of employees.
Based upon the ndings, salesperson perceptions of
businesses from the perspective of the salespersons
role as a customer affect that persons attitudes
regarding his/her employers ethics. Correspond-
ingly, the salespersons perceptions of the ethics of all
businesses, in general, inuence his/her perceptions
of the employers ethical levels. These ndings
indicate that salespeople enter into their sales posi-
tions possessing a biased (positive or negative) pre-
disposition toward their employers ethical levels.
The prisms through which they view ethics as a
consumer and as a citizen inuence their perceptions
of their own employers ethics. This implies that
sales employers need to recognize the inuences
they might have on their employees ethical per-
ceptions of their own rms. For example, if a par-
ticular business enterprise continually discusses the
negative ethical behaviors of competitors or other
business enterprises, this rm could inadvertently be
causing a decline in its own ethical ratings. On the
other hand, if a sales manager treats the competition
with respect and continues to discuss positive
business behaviors, then the result might be
improved perceptions of their own rms ethics.
One might conclude that sales managers would be
well-advised to promote not only the ethical
behaviors of their own rms but also the ethical
behaviors of most businesses and perhaps capitalism
in general to ensure positive perceptions of their
own rms business ethics. It can be suggested that
training programs be designed to ensure that
employees appreciate and comprehend the ethical
behaviors and social contributions of their employers
and businesses in general. One could even argue that
the rm might use a sales applicants perceptions of
business ethics in general and his/her perceptions as a
consumer as a selection tool. In so doing, the busi-
ness might be able to predict the likelihood of an
applicants feelings that his/her employer is unethi-
cal. An applicant who feels that consumers are
mistreated and that business is unethical in general
might receive additional training or might be more
closely coached by the sales manager.
The nding that ones perceptions of his/her
employers ethics, specically, and business ethics, in
general, lead to job satisfaction and/or turnover
intentions might have profound implications.
Obviously, the sales manager would want to try and
enhance the ethical image of his/her employer and
businesses in general to build job satisfaction and to
reduce turnover. However, it seems that perhaps the
ideal means of building this type of ethical image
might be to ensure that the rm maintains ethical
behaviors as one of its top priorities. This study
indicates that sales employees who feel that their
employers are unethical are quite likely to experi-
ence both increased job dissatisfaction and increased
intentions of leaving the rm. Neither of these
feelings are positive ones for the rm. As the sales
forces attitudes toward their employers will proba-
bly be translated into their selling efforts and perhaps
their customer relations, if the salesperson feels his/
her employer is unethical, it would seem that the
salesperson would be less willing to encourage pur-
chase of the rms products and might even demean
the rm to his/her customers. While turnover and
job dissatisfaction are negative outcomes, the
potential for additional adverse results should
encourage rms to not only behave ethically, but to
554 Charles Pettijohn et al.
ensure that their sales forces recognize the ethical
behaviors of their businesses.
Limitations and future research
As is often the case with research of this type, this
study has several limitations that should be noted.
First, the sample consists of retail salespeople engaged
in the sale of shopping goods. Therefore, the gen-
eralizability of the results is limited to this type of
salesperson in this particular area. Additionally, the
salespeople were selected based on their managers
willingness to allow participation. Thus, some
responses may have been inuenced by the man-
agers encouragement to participate.
In addition, the survey instrument measured
perceptions of potential behaviors, not actual
behaviors. Consequently, the results are limited to
the degree that perceptions match behaviors that
may have actually occurred. Such a linkage is gen-
erally a tenuous one. Further, other behaviors could
have been assessed in the research, including efforts
and actual performance results.
Future research should assess these factors as it
builds on these ndings. One area of future research
would involve replicating this research with addi-
tional samples. The research could focus on business-
to-business sales situations. Perhaps future research
could also focus on salespeople who possessed
greater levels of education and/or income. Since
students are important as new sources of salespeople,
their attitudes could also be assessed with regard to
their perceptions of ethics and the effects those
perceptions have on their future behaviors and
attitudes.
Future research might also evaluate a variety of
different outcome variables. For example, future
research could examine the degree to which nega-
tive perceptions of the employers ethics affect the
salespersons efforts for the employer. Other research
might consider the customer-orientation levels of
salespeople who work for employers with different
ethical levels. Finally, one might investigate the
salesperson performance and ethical attitude com-
bination. While one might reasonably suspect a
relationship between the two, an empirical investi-
gation would provide valuable research insight.
Regardless of the direction of future research, this
research provides valuable insights as they relate to
the positive relationship between a business ethical
image and that business economic outputs. The
relationship between a rms protability, ROI, etc.
has been shown by other research. However, this
research provides additional support for the concept
that good ethics is good business by showing the
relationship between the employees perceptions of
business ethics and the employees job satisfaction
and turnover intentions. In fact, this research extends
the relationship to not only the salespersons
employers ethics, but the ethics of other businesses
and the salespersons perceptions as a consumer. The
ndings indicate that all businesses should behave
ethically and should promote their ethical behaviors
as a means of building job satisfaction and reducing
unwanted turnover.
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Charles Pettijohn and Linda Pettijohn
Marketing,
Missouri State University,
901 S. National, Springeld, MO 65897, U.S.A.
E-mail: charliepettijohn@missouristate.edu
E-mail: lindapettijohn@MissouriState.edu
A. J. Taylor
Marketing,
Coastal Carolina University,
P.O. Box 261954, Conway, SC 29528, U.S.A.
Salesperson Perceptions of Ethical Behaviors 557