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Determinants and consequences of ethical behaviour: An empirical study of salespeople 

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DOI: 10.1108/03090560510590674 
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Determinants and consequences of ethical 

behaviour: an empirical study of salespeople Sergio 
Roma ́n and Jose ́ Luis Munuera Marketing 
Department, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain 
Abstract Purpose – The main purpose of this research is to gain a clearer understanding of several key determinants and 
consequences of the ethical behaviour of salespeople. Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaires were administered during 
regularly scheduled meetings to a total of 280 financial services salespeople. The salespeople questioned were mainly 
specializing in selling high-involvement financial products (e.g. mortgages, life insurance) to final consumers. Findings – Results 
suggest that method of compensation and control system (CS) are important determinants of ethical behaviour. Age (AGE) also 
proves to be a significant antecedent of ethical behaviour. However, education (EDU) is not significantly related to ethical 
behaviour. Additionally, a salesperson’s ethical behaviour leads to lower levels of role conflict-intersender and higher levels of 
job satisfaction, but not higher performance. Research limitations/implications – To improve generalization of the findings, future 
research should broaden the sample by including a variety of industries. Likewise, the use of longitudinal data could provide new 
insights into the antecedents and consequences of ethical behaviour of salespeople and in particular the relationship with 
performance. Continuing research is needed to further analyse the relationship between ethical behaviour and other relevant 
behaviours that may take place during the interaction with the customer (e.g. organisational citizenship behaviours and customer 
orientation). Practical implications – This research is, to our knowledge, the first study that simultaneously identifies and analyses 
several key antecedents and consequences of the ethical behaviour of salespeople. Originality/value – This study adds to the 
literature by reducing the existing gap and showing companies insights into how to foster ethical sales behaviour and the positive 
consequences that this behaviour has on their salespeople. Keywords Business ethics, Sales force, Financial services Paper type 
Research paper 
Introduction Sales professionals have been frequent targets of ethical criticism (Abratt and Penman, 2002). For 
example, the results of a Sales & Marketing Management survey of 200 sales managers revealed that 49 per cent of 
managers say their salespeople have lied on a sales call, 34 per cent say their salespeople have made unrealistic 
promises on a sales call and 22 per cent say their salespeople have sold products their customers did not need 
(Marchetti, 1997). 
There  are  several  reasons  for  focusing  specific  attention  on  salespeople’s  ethical  behaviour.  Salespeople  are 
exposed  to  greater  ethical  pressures  than  individuals  in  many  other  jobs.  They  work  in  relatively  unsupervised 
settings;  they  are  primarily  responsible  for  generating  the  firm’s  revenues,  which  at  times can be very stressful and 
they are often 

An empirical study of salespeople 

473 
Received July 2003 Revised April 2004 Accepted August 2004 
European Journal of Marketing Vol. 39 No. 5/6, 2005 pp. 473-495 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0309-0566 DOI 
10.1108/03090560510590674 
 
EJM 39,5/6 
474 
evaluated  on  the  basis  of  short-term  objectives  (Dubinsky  et  al.,  1986;  Bellizzi  and  Hite, 1989; Wotruba, 1990). In 
addition,  research  suggests  that  a  salesperson’s  ethical  behaviour  can  play  a  critical  role  in  the  formation  and 
maintenance  of  long-term  buyer-seller  relationships  (Gundlach  and  Murphy,  1993;  Roma  ́n  and  Ruiz,  2005).  In 
contrast,  unethical  behaviour  can  even  generate  liability  problems  for  salespeople’s  organizations  through  both 
intentional and inadvertent statements (Boedecker et al., 1991). 
Despite  the  importance  of  understanding  salespeople’s  ethical  behaviour,  only  a  few  studies  have  empirically 
addressed  the  determinants  and  consequences  of  such  behaviour  (Loe  et  al.,  2000;  McClaren,  2000)  and  none  of 
them,  to  our  knowledge,  has  simultaneously  analysed  its  determinants  and  consequences.  Therefore,  the  main 
purpose  of  this  research  is  to  gain  a  clearer  understanding  of  several  key  determinants  and  consequences  of  the 
ethical  behaviour  of  salespeople.  By  doing  so,  we  will  contribute  to  the  marketing  literature  reducing  the  existing 
gap  and  we  will  show  companies  insights  into  how  to  foster  ethical  sales  behaviour  and  the positive consequences 
that  this  behaviour  has  on  their  salespeople.  The  following  sections  develop  the  hypotheses,  test  them  empirically 
and discuss implications of the findings. 
Research hypotheses Ethical sales behaviour The salesperson may behave unethically, when interacting with 
different stakeholders such as customers, competitors and employers. In the hierarchy of stakeholder importance, it 
appears that salespeople regard ethical transgressions against customers as being less ethical than any controversial 
actions against competitors or their employer (Chonko and Burnett, 1983; Chonko and Hunt, 1985). Accordingly, 
the focus of this research is on salespeople’s ethical behaviour as related to interactions with their customers. 
Ethical  selling  behaviour  is  a  highly  elusive  construct  and  is  often  situation  specific  (Lagace  et  al.,  1991). 
Nevertheless,  it  can  be  argued  that  ethics  requires  an  individual  to  behave  according  to  the  rules  of  a  moral 
philosophy  with  an  emphasis  on  the  determination  of  right  and  wrong  (Gundlach  and  Murphy,  1993).  More 
specifically,  ethical  sales  behaviour  is  related  to  widely  “recognized”  societal  norms  such  as  fair  play, honesty and 
full  disclosure  (Robertson  and  Anderson,  1993;  Futrell,  2002).  Consequently,  in  the  context  of  this  study,  ethical 
sales behaviour is defined as fair and honest actions that enable the salesperson to foster long-term relationships with 
customers  based  on  customer  satisfaction  and  trust.  Examples  of  such  activities  include:  selling  products that meet 
customers’  needs,  providing  true  information  about  the  product  (e.g.  when  comparing  with  the  competitors’ 
products,  or  in  terms  of  its  benefits  or  availability)  and  implementing  low-pressure selling techniques (Chonko and 
Burnett,  1983;  Dubinsky  et  al.,  1991;  Lagace  et  al.,  1991;  Reidenbach  et  al.,  1991;  Tansey  et al., 1994; Verbeke et 
al., 1996; Singhapakdi et al., 1999). 
The  conceptual  model  we  propose  is  shown  in Figure 1, namely that some organizational factors (reward system 
(RE)  and  salesforce  control  system  (CS))  and  some  personal  factors  (age  (AGE)  and  education  (EDU))  affect  the 
salesperson’s  ethical  behaviour.  Further  that  this  behaviour,  in  turn,  influences  the  salesperson’s  role 
conflict-intersender,  performance and satisfaction. This research does not intend to examine all potential antecedents 
and consequences of ethical behaviour, rather it 
 
represents  a  further  step  in  the  process  of  understanding  how  several  key  personal  and  organisational  variables are 
related  to  ethical  behaviour  in  the  personal  selling  context.  The  logic  for  the  choice  of  such  variables  and  their 
hypothesised relationship with ethical sales behaviour is explained below. 
Determinants of ethical sales behaviour Reward and control system. The RE and CS have been found to be key 
managerial factors affecting salespersons’ actions. For instance, findings from Cravens et al. (1993) and Oliver and 
Anderson (1994) showed significant effects on customer-oriented selling, a behaviour that is closely related to 
ethical behaviour (Howe et al., 1994). We believe that the influence of the RE and CS on ethical behaviour deserves 
further attention. On the one hand, previous research analysing the relationship between the compensation system 
and ethics has led to mixed findings. Kurland (1996) did not find a significant relationship, whereas findings from 
Honeycutt et al. (2001) indicate that the firm’s reward structure significantly influenced the ethical behaviour of 
salespeople. On the other hand, past research has analysed the effect of a CS either on a salesperson’s ethical 
decision-making (Verbeke et al., 1996), or on a salesperson’s ethical judgments (Robertson and Anderson, 1993), 
but not on behaviour as reported by salespeople. This is the reason why Ross and Robertson (2003) recently called 
for continuing research to explore the relationship between the CS and ethical behaviour. The RE comprises a set of 
processes through which behaviours are directed and motivated to achieve individual and organizational goals 
(Chonko et al., 1996). Compensation plans emphasizing salary are recommended, when firms want their salespeople 
to adopt a long-term orientation and invest time servicing accounts to realize future sales. In contrast, plans 
emphasizing incentives are advocated, when firms want their salespeople to get immediate sales (John and Weitz, 
1989; Howe et al., 1994). 
Results  from  Victor  and  Cullen  (1988)  indicated  that  commissioned  sales  organizations  develop  instrumental 
ethical  climates  characterised  by  statements  such  as  “in  this  company,  people  are  mostly  out  for  themselves”  and 
“people are 

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Figure 1. Conceptual model 
 
EJM 39,5/6 
476 
expected  to  do  anything  to  further  the  company’s  interests,  regardless  of  the  consequences”.  In  this  vein, 
commission  pay  systems  create  a  conflict  of  interest  for  the  salesperson. On the one hand, it rewards salespeople to 
act  in  the  firm’s  interest,  as  well  as  their  own  interest,  but  fails to similarly directly reward salespeople to act in the 
customer’s  interest  (Kurland,  1995;  1999).  This  is the case, when the salesperson may find in his/her best interest to 
act  unethically  (e.g.  by  withholding  information  from  the  client)  in  order to make the sale and earn the commission 
(Kurland,  1999).  In  other  words,  commission-based  compensation methods might motivate the salesperson to act in 
an  unethical  manner  that  will  result  in  maximun  sales.  Such  a  motivation  is  likely  to  be  absent  in  salary-based 
methods  (Honeycutt  et  al.,  2001).  A  salary-based  compensation  system  is  likely  to  encourage  the  salesperson  to 
adopt  a  long-term  perspective  with his/her customers, since under this system the company assumes most of the risk 
of  lost  sales  and  the  salesperson  little,  so  he/she  feels  less  pressure  to  get  immediate  sales,  thereby  reducing  the 
changes of unethical practices being used (Robertson and Anderson, 1993). 
Empirical  evidence  from  Kalra  et  al.  (2003)  indicated  that,  when  the  salesperson  compensation  derives  a  larger 
fraction  of  compensation  based  on  sales  commissions,  there  was  an  incentive  to  behave  unethically.  Accordingly, 
we propose the first hypothesis: 
H1. The higher the fixed salary percentage of the salesperson, the more ethical the 
salesperson’s behaviour. 
Salespeople  are  thought  to  behave  differently  depending on the CS they face (Anderson and Oliver, 1987). Initially, 
Anderson  and  Oliver  (1987)  defined  a  salesforce  CS  as  “a  set  of  procedures  the  organization  has  for  monitoring, 
directing,  evaluating  and  compensating  its  salespeople”.  However,  our  definition  of  salesforce  CS  is  more  in  line 
with  recent  studies  that  have  considered  the  CS  as  a  global  construct,  where  the  compensation  component  is  not 
included  (Verbeke  et  al.,  1996;  Piercy  et  al., 2001). This is consistent with John and Weitz’s (1989) argument that a 
CS predicts, but does not include, the style of compensation. 
A  behaviour  CS  allows  for  non-sales  goals,  such  as  account  maintenance  and  service.  A  longer  perspective can 
be  assumed  because  immediate  results  can be balanced with long-term sales relationships and outcomes (Oliver and 
Anderson,  1994).  In  contrast,  in  an  outcome  CS  sales  techniques  may  be  compromised  as  short-run  goals  are 
pursued  (Oliver  and  Anderson,  1994).  In  a  behaviour-based  CS  managers  are  directive  with their salespeople (they 
specify  desired  behaviour  rather  than  settling  for  outputs,  however  achieved)  and  are  well  informed  about  their 
activities  (behaviours  or  inputs).  Consequently,  the risk of detection and punishment of unethical behaviour is much 
higher  in  such  systems  (Robertson  and  Anderson,  1993;  Verbeke  et  al.,  1996).  In  other  words,  the  existence  of 
opportunities  for  unethical  behaviour  decreases  in a behaviour-based CS and hence the salesperson is more likely to 
suffer any “cost” associated with behaving unethically. 
Results  form  Hunt  and  Vasquez-Parraga  (1993)  indicated  that  one  of  the  advantages  of  behaviour-based  CS  is 
“the  development  and  maintenance  of  an  organizational  culture  that  encourages  ethical  behaviour  and  discourages 
unethical  behaviour”.  Further  research  has  shown  that  a  behaviour-based  CS  significantly  influences  salespeople’s 
ethical judgments (Robertson and Anderson 1993) and salespeople’s 
 
ethical  decision-making  (Verbeke et al. 1996). Similarly, results from Ramaswami (2002) showed that salespeople’s 
perceptions of output control were positively associated with their opportunistic behaviour. 
In  summary,  since  behaviour-based  CSs  look  at  how  salespeople  reach  goals,  managers  can  outlaw  undesirable 
and/or  unethical  procedures,  which  otherwise  could  have  been  used  to  obtain  immediate  sales.  By  the  same token, 
managers can bring ethical procedures to the attention of their salespeople, therefore we propose that: 
H2. The more behaviour-based the salesforce CS, the more ethical the 
salesperson’s behaviour. 
Age  and  education.  Among  the  personal  antecedents,  two  clear  empirical  generalizations  from  the non-sales ethics 
literature  are  that,  although  the findings are not unanimous, older and more educated persons generally behave more 
ethically  than  younger  and  less  educated  persons  (Browning  and  Zabriskie,  1983;  Jones  and  Gautschi,  1988; 
Ruegger  and  King,  1992;  Deshpande,  1997).  These  demographic  variables  are,  in  a  sense,  proxies  for  a  cluster  of 
personality  or  attitudinal  characteristics  that  tend  to  be  associated  with these demographic characteristics (Ross and 
Robertson,  2003).  Nevertheless,  as indicated by McClaren (2000), because of the specific characteristics of the sales 
profession  mentioned  earlier,  previous  research  has  yielded  inconclusive  evidence  regarding  the effect of AGE and 
EDU  on  a  salesperson’s  ethical  behaviour.  For  example,  Hoffman  et  al.  (1991)  and  Honeycutt et al. (2001) did not 
find  a  significant  relationship  between a salesperson’s AGE and his/her ethical behaviour. Results from Dubinsky et 
al.  (1992)  indicated  that  AGE  had  a  significant  impact  on  salespersons’  ethical  perception,  whereas  EDU  had  no 
significant  effect.  Consequently,  we  shall  further  analyse  the  role  of  such  demographic  variables  on  ethical 
behaviour in the personal selling context. 
We  expect  older  salespeople  to  be  more  ethical  than  younger  salespeople  for  several  reasons.  First,  as  AGE 
increases,  subjects  have  displayed  more  conservative  and  strict  ethical  tendencies  and  hold  less  compromising 
interpretations  of  what  is  to  be  judged  ethical  (Sikula  and  Costa,  1994).  Second,  ethical  decision-making  and 
intended  ethical  behaviour,  in  general,  increases  as  individuals  move  from  lower  levels  to  higher  levels  of  moral 
reasoning  (Wotruba,  1990)  and  moral  reasoning  is  directly  linked  to  AGE  (Rest,  1986).  Third,  older  people  have 
been  exposed  longer  to  ethical  dilemmas  in  non-business  contexts  (Izzo,  2000),  therefore  they  are  more  willing  to 
accept  and  conform  to ethical standards and behave accordingly (Serwinek, 1992). All the above leads us to propose 
the following: 
H3. The older the salesperson, the more ethical the salesperson’s behaviour. 
Despite  the  inconclusive  findings  mentioned  above,  we  expect  EDU  to have a positive influence on a salesperson’s 
ethical  behaviour.  First,  it  can  be  argued  that  the  educational  process  is  designed  to  foster  critical  thinking  and the 
ability  to  view  situations  from  multiple  perspectives  (Levy  and  Sharma,  1994).  In  this sense, previous research has 
found  that  EDU  is  positively  related  to  moral  judgement  (Rest  and  Thoma,  1985;  Rest, 1986). Similarly, the effect 
of  EDU  on  ethical  behaviour  can  be  supported  by  Kohlberg’s  (1969)  typology. EDU is believed to result in greater 
sensitivity to different points of view and to be linked to a person’s stage of cognitive 

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478 
moral  development  (Singhapakdi  et  al.,  1999).  A  second  possible  link  is  the  normative  view  that  the  core  of  EDU 
itself  is  virtue  or  right  conduct  (Hogness,  1986;  Howard,  1989).  Building  upon  the  Socratic  dictum  “knowledge  is 
virtue”,  this  classical  view  of  EDU  would  suggest  that  the  more  educated  would  be  the more virtues. Accordingly, 
we propose that: 
H4. The more educated the salesperson, the more ethical the salesperson’s 
behaviour. 
Consequences of ethical sales behaviour Role conflict-intersender. Following Rizzo et al. (1970), role conflict can 
be defined by the dimensions of congruency-incongruency or compatibility-incompatibility in the requirements of 
the salesperson role, where congruency or compatibility is judged relative to a set of standards that affect role 
performance. Role conflict can be conceptualized in terms of the following five conflict types or dimensions (Rizzo 
et al., 1970; Michaels et al., 1987; p. 31): intersender, intrasender, person-role, interrole and role overload. 
We  shall  focus  on  the  relationship  between  ethical  behaviour  and  role  conflict-intersender.  This  type  of  role 
conflict  occurs,  when  two  or  more  role  partners  have  simultaneous  expectations,  such  that  compliance  with  the 
expectations  of  one  role  partner  makes  it  difficult  or  even  impossible  to  fulfil  the  expectations  of  the  other  role 
partner(s)  (Michaels  et  al.,  1987).  For  example,  salespeople  may  perceive  role  conflict-intersender,  when 
simultaneously  trying  to  meet  company  expectations  and  customer  demands.  A customer may demand better credit 
terms  or  quicker  delivery  schedules,  which  may  be  unacceptable  to  the  management.  Role  conflict-intersender  is 
likely to be the most pervasive and intensely felt conflict experienced by salespeople (Walker et al., 1975). 
Past  research  has  produced  mixed  findings,  when  analysing the effect of ethical behaviour on role conflict. First, 
Chonko  and  Burnett  (1983)  provided  empirical  evidence  for  ethical  sales  behaviour  reducing  a  salesperson’s  role 
conflict.  However,  Dubinsky  and  Ingram  (1984)  did  not  find a significant relationship between these two variables. 
Recently,  Turner  and  Valentine  (2001),  in  a  sample  of  customer  service  and  sales  personnel,  found  that  cynicism 
(that  represents  a  distrusting  moral  dimension)  was  positively  related  to  role conflict. These studies considered role 
conflict  as  a  global  construct  without  explicating  its  dimensions.  Based  on research conducted by Singh (2000), we 
believe that the use of a disaggregated conceptualization of role conflict is likely to yield clearer results. 
Role  conflict-intersender  involves  conflicting  expectations  from  two  or  more  role  partners  (Singh,  2000). 
Generally,  the  major  sources  of  this  type  of  role  conflict  are  the company (employer) and the customers (Walker et 
al.,  1975). The salesperson must try to satisfy the expectations of his/her company and his/her customers. On the one 
hand,  recognizing  the  negative  consequences  of  unethical  sales  behaviour  mentioned  above  (e.g.  decrease  in 
customer satisfaction and trust, possible litigation), a company will expect its salespeople to behave ethically. On the 
other  hand,  customers  try  to  satisfy  their  own  objectives  and  needs  in  a  sales  transaction  and  are  often  unaware  of 
the  policies  and  constraints  under  which  a salesperson is operating (Walker et al., 1975). Since, among other things, 
ethical selling behaviour implies taking into account 
 
customers’  needs,  when  selling  a  product  (e.g.  by  refraining  from  selling  products  that  customers  do  not  need) 
(Ingram  et  al.,  2001),  we  propose that a salesperson’s ethical behaviour will reduce role conflict-intersender, at least 
by  the  percentage  that  is  attributable  to  the  conflicting  expectations  of  the  company and the customers. In a similar 
fashion,  following  Kelman’s  (1958)  theory  of  identification,  in  order  to  maintain a satisfying ego-identity, which is 
also  known  as  the  self-concept  or  self-image,  the  salesperson must maintain positive relationships with others, such 
as  their  customers,  who  support  that  positive  self-image  (Kelman,  1961).  Interactions  with  customers  who  do  not 
support  this  positive  self-image  are  likely  to  lead  to  feelings  of  embarrassment  and  cognitive  discomfort 
(O’Shaughnessy,  1971).  When  salespeople  behave  unethically  (e.g.  implementing  manipulative  sales  tactics  or 
high-pressure  selling  techniques),  there  may  be  a  fear  of  personal  rejection  by  the  buyer,  because  the  use  of  such 
actions  is  not  supportive  of  positive  relationships  (Boyle  and  Dwyer,  1995). This fear of rejection, in turn, does not 
support  a  positive  self-image  and  is  likely  to  lead  to  feelings  of  stress  and  in  particular,  to increase a salesperson’s 
role conflict (McFarland, 2003). Stated formally: 
H5. The more ethical the salesperson’s behaviour, the lower the salesperson’s role 
conflict-intersender. 
Performance.  Performance  is  comprised  of  behaviours  (the  activities  salespeople  perform)  and  outcomes  resulting 
from  behaviours;  the  former  has  been  termed  behavioural  performance,  whereas  the  latter  is  known  as  outcome 
performance  (Behrman  and  Perrault,  1982;  Grant  and  Cravens,  1996).  In  this  study  we  shall  focus  on  outcome 
performance,  because  it  has  been  shown  to  be  positively  related  to  sales  force  effectiveness  (Cravens  et  al.,  1993; 
Grant and Cravens, 1999). 
The  research  to  date  provides  little  direction  in  terms  of  understanding  the  effect  of  ethical  sales  behaviour  on 
performance.  Literature  on  relationship  building  in  sales  may  help.  According  to  anecdotal  literature,  successful 
salespeople  focus  on  customers,  earn  the  customer’s  trust  and  respect  and  develop  partnership  relationships  with 
them (Manager’s Magazine, 1995; Schiffman, 1998). Likewise, empirical research shows that a salesperson’s ethical 
behaviour  is  positively  related  to  customer  trust  and  satisfaction,  thus  enhancing  relationship  quality  and  the 
probability  of  future  rewards  to  the  salesperson  (Lagace  et  al.,  1991;  Roma  ́n  and  Ruiz, 2005). More importantly, 
buyers  tend  to  purchase  from  salespeople  they trust (Ganesan, 1994). Focusing on customers, building relationships 
based  on  satisfaction  and  trust,  and  making  sales  are  generally  part  of  a  salesperson’s  job.  Consequently,  it  is 
plausible  to  expect  that  more  ethical  salespeople  are  more  likely  to  achieve  such  goals  and  subsequently  improve 
their performance. 
As  for  the  empirical  evidence,  the  study  carried  out  by  Weeks  and  Nantel  (1992)  showed  that  salespeople  who 
understood  their  company’s ethical business policy were moderately successful in their jobs. Similarly, Honeycutt et 
al.  (1995)  found  that  high-performance  salespeople  showed  high  ethical  behaviour  and  Schwepker  and  Ingram 
(1996)  have  provided  empirical  evidence  of  salespeople’s  moral  judgments  as  being  positively  related  to  their  job 
performance.  Recently,  results  from  Turner  and  Valentine  (2001)  indicated  that  altruism  and  performance  were 
positively correlated among salespeople. Accordingly we propose that: 

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EJM 39,5/6 
480 
H6. The more ethical the salesperson’s behaviour, the greater the salesperson’s 
performance. 
Job  satisfaction.  Churchill  et  al.  (1974)  defined  job  satisfaction  as:  “all  characteristics of the job itself and the work 
environment  which  salesmen  find rewarding, fulfilling and satisfying or frustrating and unsatisfying”. In a non-sales 
context,  Vitell  and  Davis  (1990)  found  that  management  information  systems professionals were less satisfied with 
their  jobs  when,  unethical behaviour was common within either their industry or company. Empirical evidence from 
the  sales  literature  shows  that  the job satisfaction of salespeople can be weakened if they perceive their organization 
as  rewarding  the  unethical  behaviours  of  co-workers  (Bellizzi  and  Hite,  1989).  Similarly,  studies  by  Weeks  and 
Nantel  (1992)  and Schwepker (2001) indicated that the code of ethics and the ethical climate respectively influenced 
a  salesperson’s  job  satisfaction.  Finally,  the  qualitative  research  of  Beatty  et  al.  (1996)  noted  that  salespeople’s 
ethical  behaviour  (e.g.  having  customers’ best interests in mind and being honest to them) led to higher levels of job 
satisfaction. 
We  expect  that  a  salesperson’s  ethical  behaviour  will  have  a  positive  impact  on  his/her  job  satisfaction.  On  the 
one  hand,  it  can  be  argued  that  because  of  the  negative  consequences  of  unethical  sales  behaviour  previously 
mentioned,  a  company  will  expect  its  salespeople  to  behave  ethically.  Thus,  a  salesperson  who  behaves  ethically 
will  comply  with  management  expectations  and  will  experience  feelings  of  success,  which  in  turn,  will  increase 
his/her  job  satisfaction  (Brown  et  al.,  1993).  On  the  other  hand,  a  salesperson  is  likely  to  be  more  satisfied  with 
his/her  work,  most  of  which  is  carried  out  interacting  with  customers  (Ingram  et  al.,  2001),  if  he/she  behaves 
ethically,  such  as  not  lying  to  customers  or  not  applying  deceptive  and  manipulative techniques. Finally, following 
Kelman’s  (1958)  theory  of  identification  explained  below,  the  practice  of  ethical  sales  behaviours  supports  a 
positive  self-image  and,  consequently,  is  likely  lead  to  feelings of satisfaction. This theorizing is summarized in the 
following hypothesis: 
H7. The more ethical the salesperson’s behaviour, the greater the salesperson’s 
job satisfaction. 
Role  conflict-intersender  and  satisfaction.  In  addition  to  examining  the  direct  effects  of  ethical  behaviour  on 
salesperson’s  role  conflict-intersender,  performance  and  satisfaction,  this  study  also proposes that ethical behaviour 
has an indirect and positive effect on satisfaction through role conflict-intersender. 
Role  conflict  has  been  negatively  related  to  job  satisfaction  (Behrman  and  Perrault,  1984;  Brown  and  Peterson, 
1994;  Mackenzie  et  al.,  1998).  Yet,  results  from  Johnston  et  al. (1990) revealed that role conflict had no significant 
effect on job satisfaction. Consequently, prior research using a global conceptualization of role conflict has produced 
mixed  findings.  Once  again,  we  believe  that  the  use of a disaggregated conceptualization of role conflict is likely to 
yield  clearer  results  (Singh,  2000).  Accordingly,  we  expect  that  role  conflict-intersender,  which  is  the  most 
pervasive and intensely felt conflict experienced by salespeople, is likely to reduce a salesperson’s job satisfaction. 
Role  conflict-intersender  occurs,  when  the  salesperson  tries  to  satisfy  the  often  inconsistent  demands  of  two  or 
more  of  his/her  role  partners.  For  example,  a  customer  wants  lenient  credit  terms,  but  the  credit  manager  wants  to 
deal in short-term credit 
 
with  stringent  terms.  The  salesperson  may  conclude  that  no  matter  what  he/she  does,  someone  will  be  upset  with 
him.  This  kind  of  conflict  can  produce  great  anxiety  and  emotional  turmoil  for  the  salesperson,  leading  to 
disillusionment  with the job (Churchill et al., 1976). Based on this reasoning, we formulate the last hypothesis of our 
model: 
H8. The lower the salesperson’s role conflict-intersender, the greater the 
salesperson’s job satisfaction. 
Method Data collection and sample Based on the research of Dubinsky et al. (1991, 1992), salespeople from only 
one industry were surveyed to hold constant the type of product sold. Prior research has found that the job-related 
responses of salespeople vary across sales settings (Churchill et al., 1985). Accordingly, the cooperation of three 
financial service institutions in Spain of approximately the same size was obtained. Financial services are highly 
abstract services characterized by credence attributes and consequently difficult for consumers to fully understand. 
Hence, the consumer must rely on the agent for correct information and proper guidance (Howe et al., 1994). 
Therefore, financial services salespeople could, if they chose to act unethically, take advantage of the consumer’s 
naivety and improve their own position (Wray et al., 1994). 
Following  Kelley  (1992)  and  Boorom  et  al. (1998), questionnaires were administered during regularly scheduled 
meetings  to  a  total  of  280  financial  services  salespeople.  All  of  them  completed  the  questionnaires.  Respondents 
were  assured  that  their  responses  would  be  kept  confidential  and  the  questionnaires  were  immediately  given to the 
researchers.  In  exchange  for  salespeople  completing  the  questionnaires,  we  provided  a  sales  training  seminar 
following the data collection. 
The  salespeople  questioned  were  mainly  specializing  in  selling  high-involvement  financial  products  (e.g. 
mortgages,  life  insurance)  to  final  consumers.  Each  salesperson  managed  a  portfolio  of clients and was responsible 
for  ongoing  customer  contact  after  the  sale  was  closed.  As  shown in Table I, 83 per cent of them were male, 60 per 
cent  were  between  25  and  39  years  old,  48  per  cent  had  a  college  degree  and 56 per cent had from 3 to 15 years of 
selling  experience.  In  this  sample,  the  total  annual  compensation  percentage  of fixed salary varies from a low of 10 
per cent to a high of 95 per cent with a mean of 78 per cent. 
Measures In-depth interviews were first carried out with convenience samples of financial services salespeople in 
order to get a better understanding of the research variables. Additionally, preliminary versions of the questionnaire 
were administered[1], as pretest and results were used to improve measures and design an appropriate structure (see 
scale items in Appendix, Table AI). 
All  scales  consisted  of  ten-point multiple-item Likert questions except the RE, AGE and EDU. The last two were 
single-item  questions  as  shown  in  Table  I.  Following  Cravens et al. (1993), the RE was measured with the previous 
and  current  year  percentages  of  fixed  salary  in  the  salesperson’s  pay  package.  Salesforce  CS  was  measured  by  a 
nine-item scale adapted from Oliver and Anderson (1994) and 

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Table I. Profile of respondents ðn 1⁄4 280Þ 
Percent Total 
Gender Male 83.6 Female 16.4 100 Age , 25 2.5 25-32 22.9 33-39 37.9 40-45 20 45 þ 16.8 100 Experience , 1 3.2 1-3 23.2 3-8 
33.9 9-15 22.5 15 þ 17.1 100 Education School graduation 5.7 Diploma (High school) 46.1 Undergraduate Degree I (three 
year-degree program) 31.1 Undergraduate Degree II (five year-degree program) 17.1 100 
Verbeke et al. (1996). Following these authors, the CS was measured at the level of the individual as the perception 
of the salesperson about the CS he/she faces[2]. 
Since  ethical  sales  behaviour  is  situation  specific  (Lagace  et  al.,  1991),  we  first  reviewed  financial  services 
literature  looking  for  relevant  unethical  practices  in  the  industry  that  take  place  during  the  salesperson-customer 
interaction  (Mitchell et al., 1992; Dunfee and Gunther, 1999; Cooper and Frank, 2002; Roma ́n, 2003). We selected 
the scale developed by Roma ́n (2003), because it measures ethical sales behaviour from the customers’ perspective 
in  the  Spanish  financial  services  industry.  Next,  we  pre-tested  this scale during in-depth interviews carried out with 
salespeople.  Based  on  the  results  of  these  interviews  a  three-item  scale  adapted  from  Roma  ́n  (2003)  was  used to 
measure  the  salesperson’s  ethical  behaviour  (ESB).  These  items  were  consistent  with  previous  unethical  sales 
behaviours identified in the financial services literature and reflected the most predominant ethical problems faced in 
the  Spanish  financial  services  industry:  “If  I  am  not  sure  a product is right for a customer, I will still apply pressure 
to  get  him  to  buy”,  “I  stretch  the  truth  about  the  competition  in  order  to  make  my  product  more  attractive  to  the 
customer”  and  “I  lie  about  the  availability  of  the  product  in  order  to  make  the  sale”[3].  All  items  were 
reverse-scored.  Therefore,  a  high  score indicates a greater degree of ethical sales behaviour. This procedure of using 
negatively-expressed  items  to  measure  ethical  behaviour  is  common  practice  in  the  ethics  literature  (Lagace  et  al., 
1991; Honeycutt et al., 2001). 
Role  conflict-intersender  (RCI) was measured by the original two items that composed this dimension in Rizzo et 
al.’s  (1970)  scale.  Performance  (P)  was  measured  by  four  items  from  the  “outcome”  performance  dimension  in 
Behrman  and  Perrault’s  (1982)  study.  Following  Dubinsky  et  al.  (1986),  job  satisfaction  (JS)  was  assessed  by  a 
three-item version of the Hackman and Oldhman’s (1976) scale. 
 
A  confirmatory  factor  analysis  model  for  the  six  multi-item  scales  was  carried  out  using  the  maximum  likelihood 
procedure  in  LISREL  8.30  (Jo  ̈reskog  and  So  ̈rbon,  1996).  Overall  goodness-of-fit estimates of the measurement 
model suggests a good fit between theory and data (Table II). 
Reliability  of  the  measures  was  confirmed  with  coefficient  alpha  higher  than  the  recommended  level  of  0.7 
(Nunnally,  1978).  Also,  all  items  loaded  on  their  hypothesized  factors  and  the  estimates  were  positive  and 
significant  (the  lowest  t  is  9.01)  which  provided  evidence  of  convergent  validity  (Bagozzi  and  Yi,  1988). 
Discriminant  validity  among  the  dimensions  of  each  of  the  six  concepts  considered  was  assessed  by  restricting 
factor  intercorrelations  (F)  pairwise  to  unity  and  subsequently  computing  a  chi-square  difference  test  (CDT), 
following  Anderson  and  Gerbing’s  (1988)  suggestions.  All  model  comparison  statistics were significant, indicating 
that  the  null  hypotheses  of  equal  fit  should  be  rejected,  which  provides  evidence  of  discriminant  validity.  The 
estimated correlation matrix among the constructs is shown in Table III. 
Results The results of the structural model, shown in Table IV, provide support for all of the hypotheses formulated 
in the conceptual model except H4 and H6. That is to say, EDU does not influence ethical behaviour and ethical 
behaviour does not have a significant effect on performance. The model’s fit was acceptable when one takes into 
account the large sample size ðn 1⁄4 280Þ and the normed chi-square value ðx2/df 1⁄4 1.70Þ[4]. In addition, the CFI 
and the TLI are greater than 0.90 and the RMSEA and RMSR are not greater than 0.08 (Hair et al., 1998). 
Overall,  the  three  significant  antecedents  accounted  for  15  per  cent  of  the  variance  in  salesperson’s  ethical 
behaviour.  Research  has  already  found  several  antecedents  to  ethical  behaviour  not  included  in  our  model  such  as 
cognitive moral development, 
CS RE P ESB JS RCI 
CS1 0.71 (11.63) CS2 0.66 (10.71) CS3 0.71 (11.70) RE1 0.99 (23.58) RE2 0.93 (20.96) P1 0.79 (15.11) P2 0.85 (16.89) P3 0.80 
(15.46) P4 0.79 (15.20) ESB1 0.57 (9.68) ESB2 0.88 (15.13) ESB3 0.78 (13.31) JS1 0.64 (11.87) JS2 0.85 (16.98) JS3 0.99 
(21.28) RCI1 0.90 (10.16) RCI2 0.72 (9.01) x2ð104Þ 1⁄4 159.7; p , 0.01; x 2/df 1⁄4 1.53; GFI 1⁄4 0.93; CFI 1⁄4 0.97; RMSEA 1⁄4 
0.04; RMSR 1⁄4 0.04; TLIðNNFIÞ 1⁄4 0.97 Note: t value in parenthesis 

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483 
Table II. Estimated coefficients (standardized), t-values and fit statistics in the measurement 
 
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484 
Table III. Correlations and reliability estimates 
Coefficient alphas 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 
1. CS 0.74 1 2. RE 0.96 0.02 1 3. P 0.88 0.03 20.04 1 4. ESB 0.78 0.30*** 0.14** 0.07 1 5. AGE – 20.19*** 20.04 0.12** 0.10* 
1 6. EDU – 20.02 0.04 20.14** 20.02 20.22*** 1 7. JS 0.86 0.43*** 20.04 0.11* 0.12* 0.10* 20.10* 1 8. RCI 0.78 20.31*** 
0.05 20.07 20.10* 20.10* 0.05 20.27*** 1 Notes: *p , 0.1; **p , 0.05; ***p , 0.01 
ethical  intention,  perceived  competitive  intensity,  peer  pressure  and  code  of  ethics  (Wotruba,  1990;  McClaren, 
2000).  Ethical  behaviour  explains  2  per  cent  of  the  variance  in  a  salesperson’s  role  conflict-intersender,  which can 
be  expected  given  the  fact  that  role  conflict-intersender  is  caused  by  a  number  of  different  people  including peers, 
other  executives  in  the  company  and  the  salesperson’s  family  (Walker  et  al.,  1975).  Finally,  ethical  behaviour  and 
role  conflict-intersender  explained  9  per  cent  of  the  variance in job satisfaction, which again might be expected due 
to  the  number  of  determinants  of  job  satisfaction  not  considered  in  this  conceptual  model  (Brown  and  Peterson, 
1993). 
A rival model It is generally agreed that researchers should compare rival models and not just test the performance 
of a proposed model (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988; Bagozzi and Yi, 1988). Our model posits that the RE, CS, AGE 
and EDU influence their outcomes only through the key mediating variable of ethical behaviour. Because our 
parsimonious model permits no direct path from any of the four variables to any outcome, it implies a central 
nomological status for ethical behaviour. Based on previous research, we estimated a rival model (less constrained 
model) that adds five new paths not considered in the conceptual model. Following research from Cravens et al. 
(1993) and Grant and Cravens (1996), the RE and the CS were hypothesized to influence performance. In addition, 
consistent with Goolsby (1992) and Michaels and Dixon (1994), EDU was also viewed as direct antecedents of role 
conflict-intersender. Based on empirical evidence from Churchill et al. (1985) and Babakus et al. (1999), a direct 
path from role conflict to performance was allowed to be estimated. Similarly, following Michaels et al. (1987) and 
Babakus et al. (1999), performance was hypothesized to influence job satisfaction. 
The rival model had a x 2 value of 231.51 with 135 degrees of freedom. The remaining fit statistics indicated an 
adequate fit of the data (x 2/df1⁄41.71 CFI 1⁄4 0.95; GFI 1⁄4 0.91; RMSEA 1⁄4 0.05; RMSR 1⁄4 0.08; TLI(NNFI) 1⁄4 
0.93). However, the decrease of the chi-square between our proposed model and the rival model was not significant 
ð7x2ð5Þ 1⁄4 6.78; p . 0.1Þ. On the basis of these findings, we believe that the exercise of fitting a rival model has 
provided additional support for our conceptual model. 
 
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485 
Table IV. Results of hypothesized model 
 
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Discussion This research is, to our knowledge, the first study that simultaneously identifies and analyses several key 
antecedents and consequences of the ethical behaviour of salespeople. We believe this research makes significant 
contributions to the literature. Firstly, Chonko et al. (1996) highlighted the importance of studying the consequences 
of sales management activities in salespeople’s ethical decision-making. We have responded to their challenge by 
analysing how the RE (H1) and CS (H2) affect salespeople’s ethical behaviour. Our results provide evidence that 
both systems are clear determinants of a salesperson’s ethical behaviour. The first finding contributes to the 
literature by providing further empirical evidence for the significant results obtained by Honeycutt et al. (2001) and 
also overcoming its main limitation: ethical behaviour was approached by a single-item measure, which may not 
have captured the nature of the variable. The second finding represents an initial step in providing empirical support 
for the positive effect of a behaviour-based CS on a salesperson’s ethical behaviour. 
Secondly,  our  results  indicate  that  as  The  AGE  of  salespeople  increases,  they  appear  to  become  more 
conservative  in  their  ethical  behaviour  (H3).  It  is  important  to  take  into  account  that  though  correlated  with  sales 
experience,  age presents opportunities for role-taking resolution of ethical dilemmas in non-business contexts, which 
implies  that  an  older  salesperson  has  been  exposed  to  either  overt  or  implied ethical standards, thus being more apt 
to  accept  those  standards  and  behave  accordingly.  On  the  contrary,  it  seems  that  a  higher  level  of  EDU  does  not 
have  a  direct  impact  on  ethical  behaviour  (H4). A possible explanation is that EDU was measured as years of EDU, 
whereas  the  type  of  EDU  and  more  specifically,  ethical  EDU  may  be  a  more  important  determinant  of  ethical 
behaviour (Izzo, 2000). 
Thirdly,  previous research analyzing the relationship between ethical behaviour and role conflict has led to mixed 
findings  (Chonko  and  Burnett,  1983;  Dubinsky  and  Ingram,  1984). The use of a disaggregated conceptualization of 
role  conflict  has  yielded  clearer  results,  as  our  findings  provide  evidence  of  ethical  behaviour  reducing  a 
salesperson’s  role  conflict-intersender  (H5).  Likewise,  the  results  support  the  notion  of  ethical  behaviour  and  role 
conflict-intersender  as  significant  determinants  of  job  satisfaction  (H7  and  H8).  The  first  finding  (H7)  provides 
further  empirical  evidence  to  Beatty  et  al.’s  (1996)  results  obtained  through  a  qualitative  research  method  and 
represents,  to  our  knowledge,  the  first  quantitative  test  of  a  salesperson’s  ethical  behaviour  enhancing  job 
satisfaction.  The  second  finding  (H8)  implies  that  ethical  behaviour  has  also  an  indirect  effect  on  job  satisfaction 
through  role  conflict  and  provides  additional  support  for  previous  theoretical  arguments  and  empirical  evidence 
favouring  the  negative  effect  of  role  conflict  on  job  satisfaction  (Behrman and Perrault, 1984; Brown and Peterson, 
1994). 
Finally,  ethical sales behaviour does not seem to translate into short-term sales performance (H6), which warrants 
further  discussion  and  analysis.  This  result  can  be  attributed to a number of reasons. First, it is somewhat consistent 
with  previous  empirical  research  that  has  not  found  a  significant  relationship  between  ethical  behaviour  and 
performance  (Honeycutt  et  al.,  1995).  Second,  an  organization’s  RE  may  encourage,  albeit  unintentionally,  the 
unethical  conduct  of  salespeople.  Salesperson’s  behaviour  (including  unethical  behaviour)  that  results  in  increased 
sales  also  increases  agent  commissions,  which  in  turn reinforces the behaviour utilized to obtain those sales (Ferrell 
and Fraedrich, 1991). Hence this type of RE may tend to focus 
 
salespeople’s  efforts  on  activities  with  immediate  payoffs  (Lagace  et  al.,  1991). Past studies have indicated that the 
unethical  behaviour  of  top  producing  salespeople  is  more  likely  to  be  overlooked  by  sales  managers  thus 
perpetuating  such  behaviour  among  top  performance  salespeople  (Bellizzi  and  Hite,  1989).  Third,  ethical 
salespeople  are  more  likely  to  develop  and  maintain  long-term  buyer-salesperson  relationships  through  the 
development  of  trust  (Hawes  et  al.,  1989),  but  not  necessarily  to  increase short-term sales; which is consistent with 
Dubinsky  et  al.’s (1992) comments: “...at least in the short run, questionable conduct may engender selling success”. 
In  addition,  ethical  behaviour  may  lead  to  higher  sales  only  when  salespeople  are  dealing  with  their  relational 
customers  as  opposed  to  transactional  customers.  Relational  customers  could  reward  the  ethical  behaviour  of  the 
salesperson by continuing to place orders. 
Managerial implications We believe our findings have strong managerial implications because they suggest that 
variables under management control (compensation and CS) are more important in terms of explaining salespeople’s 
ethical behaviour as compared to demographic variables not directly controllable by the company (AGE and EDU). 
Companies need to foster a salesperson’s ethical behaviour not only because of the positive consequences to the 
salesperson in terms of higher job satisfaction and lower role conflict-intersender, but also because unethical sales 
behaviour can cause disputes with customers, possibly even resulting in litigation. 
We  encourage  corporations  to  create  an  environment  where  the  potential  for  unethical  behaviour  is  quite  low. 
Accordingly,  we  suggest  that  sales  managers  should  take  time  to communicate with their salespeople, assisting and 
guiding  them  to  accurately  view  their day-to-day sales activity from an ethical perspective; then not reward them on 
a  100  per  cent  commission  based  on  the  sales  made  and  evaluate  their  various  activities,  not  just  the  outcomes 
achieved  (sales  volume).  We  do  not  imply  that  companies  should avoid incentive programs, rather they could use a 
combination  of  base  salary  plus  incentive  pay  in  the  form  of  commissions,  bonuses  or  both  based  not  only  on  the 
sales  performance,  but  also  on  how  well  long-term  objectives  such  as  customer  satisfaction have been achieved. In 
addition,  since  older  salespeople  seem  to  behave more ethically than younger ones, training program content should 
be  adjusted  to  meet  the  needs  of  different  age  groups.  For  example,  younger  salespeople  should  be  given  material 
that  emphasizes  the  importance  of  company  ethical  norms  and  values.  Finally,  these  recommended  managerial 
actions  can  be  reinforced  by  some  form  of  ethical  code  or  rules  to  guide  salespeople’s  ethical  behaviour  and  this 
code of ethics can be incorporated into the training program. 
Limitations and suggestions for future research To improve generalization of the findings, future research should 
broaden the sample by including a variety of industries. This study has been restricted to Spanish financial services 
salespeople and replication studies in other countries and other industries should prove useful. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  three  items  used  to  measure  ethical  sales  behaviour  may  not  capture  all  the  important 
aspects  of  this  construct,  yet  it  is  generally  acknowledged  that  “it  is  impossible  to  sample  the  entire  domain  of 
ethical behaviour” (Robertson and Anderson, 1993, p. 638). Since salespeople were asked to evaluate their ethical 

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behaviour,  there  may  have  been  a  tendency  for  respondents  to  deny  socially  undesirable  traits  (e.g.  unethical 
behaviour)  given  the  likelihood  of  a  social  desirability  bias  (Nederhof,  1985). However, if there were to be a bias it 
may  be  shared  by  all  respondents  (Churchill  et  al.,  1985).  Moreover,  this  approach  to  measuring  ethical  sales 
behaviour  has  been  successfully  implemented  in  previous  research  (Howe  et  al.,  1994;  Honeycutt  et  al., 2001) and 
has  an  advantage  over  using  projective  techniques  in  that  self-reported  behaviour  is  being  measured,  reducing  the 
possibility of interpretations changing across different observers (Korner, 1965). 
In  addition,  since  the  data  were  collected  cross-sectionally  using  self-report  measures,  the potential for common 
methods  variance  exists.  Following  Podsakoff  and  Organ  (1986),  we  tested  for this bias using Harman’s one-factor 
approach.  A  principal  components  analysis  (unconstrained  number  of  factors  with  varimax  rotation)  on  the 
23-questionnaire  items  (variables  measured  with  one  item were not included) yielded eight factors with eigenvalues 
greater  than  1.0,  accounting  for  80  per  cent  of  the  total  variance.  Given  the  emergence of several factors and given 
that  the  first  factor  accounted  for  only 24 per cent of the total variance, common methods bias does not appear to be 
present in the dataset (Podsakoff and Organ, 1986). 
Our  findings,  which  validate  the  important  role  of  the  RE  and  CS  in  fostering  ethical  behaviour,  can  serve  as  a 
useful  starting  point  for  this  stream  of  research  that  may  include  other  relevant  organisational  variables  such  as 
perceived  organizational  support,  socialization,  training  and  market  orientation.  In  addition,  continuing  research  is 
needed  to  further  analyse  the  relationship  between  ethical  sales  behaviour  and  other  relevant  behaviours  that  may 
take  place  during  the  interaction  with  the  customer.  For  example,  previous  research  has  found  that  ethical  sales 
behaviour  was  highly  correlated  to  organisational  citizenship  behaviour  (Turnipseed,  2002)  and  customer  oriented 
selling (Roma ́n et al., 2002). 
We  have  considered  ethical  sales  behaviour  in  dealing  with  customers.  One  potential  area  for  future  research 
would  be  to  consider  ethical  behaviour  related  to  other  stakeholders  such  as  peers,  employers  or  competitors.  This 
would  also  allow  additional  research  to  examine  the  relationship  between  ethical  behaviour  and  performance 
in-depth  by  taking into account other dimensions of sales performance such as using technical knowledge, providing 
information,  controlling  expenses  and  making  sales  presentations  (Behrman  and  Perrault, 1982). Moreover, the use 
of  longitudinal  data  could  help  in  understanding  this  relationship.  Ethical  intention  was  not measured in this study; 
however,  additional  research  should  attempt  to  explain  the  roles  of  ethical  perception  and  ethical  intention  in 
explaining ethical behaviour. 
Notes 
1. Since the questionnaire was administered in Spanish, the questionnaire was drafted originally in English and translated into 
Spanish. The questionnaire was then translated back into English and checked for consistency with the original to ensure that any 
idiomatic or colloquialistic wording was minimized (Douglas and Craig, 1983). 2. Bagozzi and Baumgartner (1994) 
recommended that three sub-scale composites be developed as multiple indicators of scales with more than five items. 
Consequently, maximum likelihood factor analysis with an oblique rotation was used to guide the development of three 
summated sub-scale composites of CS (Lastovicka and Thamodaran, 1991). Then, the three indicators of the control system 
(CS1, CS2 and CS3) were used in the confirmatory factor analysis. 
 
 3. The term availability for banking products/services is referring, for example, to the period of time the customer has to wait 
between ordering a credit card and actually being able to use it, or the gap between having a bank loan approved and the money 
being available. 4. In samples larger than 200 Hair et al. (1998) suggest using the normed chi-square (x 2/df), 
which indicates a good fit when its value ranges from 1 to 2. 
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empirical study of salespeople Marketing Science, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 17-23. 
495 
Appendix 
Ethical  sales  behaviour  (scale:  the  statements  below describe various ways you may act with your customers. For each statement 
please indicate to what extent you behave that way...: 1 1⁄4 “never” 10 1⁄4 “always”) 
ESB1. If I am not sure a product is right for a customer, I will still apply pressure to get him to buy a ESB2. I stretch the truth 
about the competition in order to make my product more attractive to the customer 
ESB3. I lie about the availability of the product in order to make the sale Reward system (scale: percentage of fixed salary in 
compensation plan...) 
RE1. Present pay period RE2. Last pay period Control systemb 
Subjective Input Evaluation (CS1) (scale: how heavily do you think your manager relies on these kinds of measures in 
evaluating your performance...: 11⁄4“doesn’t use at all” to 10 1⁄4 “uses extensively”) 
Attitude Ability Effort Absence of A Bottom-Line Orientation (CS2) (scale: evaluate each statement to reflect to what degree you 
agree or disagree with them...: 1 1⁄4 “I strongly disagree” to 10 1⁄4 “I strongly agree”) 
When management rates my performance, they take a lot of things into consideration Management decides who is good by 
looking strictly at each salesperson’s behaviour Management leaves us alone as long as our results are ok Extent of Supervision 
(CS3) (scale: evaluate each statement to reflect to what degree you agree or disagree with them...: 1 1⁄4 “I strongly disagree” to 
10 1⁄4 “I strongly agree”) 
My boss makes sure everyone knows what to do and how to do it Management here stays very well informed of salespeople’s 
activities We are subject to very little direction from our company’s management Role Conflict-Intersender (scale: indicate to 
what degree do the following things happen in your job...: 1 1⁄4 “never” to 10 1⁄4 “always”) 
RCI1. I receive incompatible requests from two or more people RCI2. I do things that are apt to be accepted by one person and 
not accepted by others Performance (scale: evaluate your performance...: 1 1⁄4 “needs improvement” to 10 1⁄4 “outstanding”) 
P1. Produce a high market share for the company in my territory P2. Quickly generating sales of new company products P3. 
Identifying and selling to major accounts in my territory P4. Exceeding all sales targets and objectives in my territory during the 
year Job satisfaction (scale: evaluate each statement to reflect to what degree you agree or disagree with them...: 1 1⁄4 “I strongly 
disagree” to 10 1⁄4 “I strongly agree”) 
JS1. I frequently think about quitting this job JS2. I am satisfied with the kind of activities I perform everyday JS3. Generally 
speaking, I am very satisfied with this job Notes: aItems in italic are reverse-scored. bA high score indicates a greater degree of 
behaviour-based control system 
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Table AI. Scale items