The influence of ethical climate on marketing employees' job attitudes and behaviors

In this study, two data sets were used to test the validity of the Babin, Boles, and Robin (Babin BJ, Boles JS, Robin DP. Representing the perceived ethical work climate among marketing employees. J Acad Mark Sci 2000;28(3):345-358.) measure of ethical work climate and its relationship with role stress, pay satisfaction, supervisor satisfaction, organizational commitment, performance, and turnover. The results indicated that ethical work climate is a multidimensional construct and that its dimensions influence marketing employees' job attitudes and job behaviors. Facets of job satisfaction and organizational commitment mediated the relationship between ethical work climate and turnover intentions and turnover.     

The effects of ethical climate on organizational identification, supervisory trust, and turnover among salespeople

This study examined how an ethical work climate influences salespersons' organizational identification, supervisory trust, organizational commitment, turnover intentions, and turnover. Using a sample of 393 salespeople, the results found that facets of an ethical work climate are related directly to supervisory trust and organizational identification. One aspect of an ethical work climate, ethical norms, was related directly to turnover. These results indicate that an ethical work climate can directly affect salespersons' job attitudes and outcomes. The results indicate the importance of measuring ethical work climate from a multi-dimensional perspective.     

Ethical Pressure, Organizational-Professional Conflict, and Related Work Outcomes among Management Accountants

This study examines the effects of ethical pressure on management accountants' perceptions of organizational-professional conflict, and related work outcomes. It was hypothesized that organizational pressure to engage in unethical behavior would increase perceived organizational-professional conflict, and that this perceived conflict would reduce organizational commitment and job satisfaction, and increase the likelihood of employee turnover. A survey was mailed to a random sample of Certified Management Accountants to assess perceptions of the relevant variables. The results of a structural equations model indicated that, as hypothesized, ethical pressure was associated with higher levels of perceived organizational-professional conflict. Also as hypothesized, higher levels of conflict were associated with lower levels of organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Finally, lower levels of commitment and satisfaction were associated with higher turnover intentions.     

Reducing employee turnover intention: a customer relationship management perspective

Research examining ways to prevent employee turnover has observed varied and often inconsistent findings, yet this remains a challenge to many firms, particularly call centers. This study therefore examines the impact of customer relationship management (CRM) dimensions on employee job satisfaction and intention to quit. A two-step methodological approach utilizing data from the Malaysian call center industry was used. The study conducted preliminary qualitative investigations (from literature and a focus group), and survey data were then used to test the conceptual model via structural equation modeling. The findings establish that a properly initiated and implemented CRM strategy will engender employee job satisfaction thereby resulting in significantly reduced intention to quit. The study identifies the key CRM dimensions that can be useful for call center managers in enhancing employee job satisfaction and averting employee turnover intentions. Implications for marketing theory and practice as well as areas for future research are discussed.     

The Virtuous Influence of Ethical Leadership Behavior: Evidence from the Field

This study examines a moderated/mediated model of ethical leadership on follower job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment. We proposed that managers have the potential to be agents of virtue or vice within organizations. Specifically, through ethical leadership behavior we argued that managers can virtuously influence perceptions of ethical climate, which in turn will positively impact organizational members’ flourishing as measured by job satisfaction and affective commitment to the organization. We also hypothesized that perceptions of interactional justice would moderate the ethical leadership-to-climate relationship. Our results indicate that ethical leadership has both a direct and indirect influence on follower job satisfaction and affective commitment. The indirect effect of ethical leadership involves shaping perceptions of ethical climate, which in turn, engender greater job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment. Furthermore, when interactional justice is perceived to be high, this strengthens the ethical leadership-to-climate relationship.     

Examining the Boundaries of Ethical Leadership: The Harmful Effect of Co-worker Social Undermining on Disengagement and Employee Attitudes

In recent years, scholars have sought to investigate the impact that ethical leaders can have within organisations. Yet, only a few theoretical perspectives have been adopted to explain how ethical leaders influence subordinate outcomes. This study therefore draws on social rules theory (SRT) to extend our understanding of the mechanisms linking ethical leadership to employee attitudes. We argue that ethical leaders reduce disengagement, which in turn promotes higher levels of job satisfaction and organisational commitment, as well as lower turnover intentions. Co-worker social undermining is examined as a moderator of the relationship between ethical leadership and disengagement, as we suggest that it is difficult for ethical leaders to be effective when co-worker undermining prevails. To test the proposed model, questionnaires were administered to 460 nurses in Romanian hospital settings over three time points separated by two-week intervals and the hypotheses were tested using generalised multilevel structural equation modeling (GSEM) with STATA. The findings revealed that ethical leadership has a beneficial effect on employee attitudes by reducing disengagement. However, the relationship between ethical leadership and disengagement was moderated by co-worker social undermining, such that when undermining was higher, the significance of the mediated relationships disappeared. These results suggest that while ethical leaders can promote positive employee attitudes, their effectiveness is reduced in situations where co-worker undermining exists.

     

Ethical leadership in Chinese organizations: Developing a scale

In light of a series of ethical scandals in China in recent years, this research aims to develop a reliable and valid scale to measure ethical leadership, namely the “ethical leadership measure (ELM).” Our results show that ELM is strongly and positively correlated with scales for authentic leadership, ethical leadership, idealized influence, and a recently-developed leadership virtues questionnaire (LVQ); and negatively correlated with laissez-faire leadership and passive management by exception. ELM is also found to be positively related to followers’ job satisfaction, affective commitment, trust in leader, organizational citizenship behavior, and moral identity, and negatively related to followers’ intention to quit.     

Differences in Turnover Predictors between Multilevel and Single Level Direct Selling Organizations

Turnover among its salespeople is a significant issue for direct selling firms because attrition impacts the size and continuity of revenue generation by a firm's sales force. While turnover rates in direct selling are high overall, turnover rates and intentions to quit differ significantly between multilevel (ML) and single level (SL) forms of direct selling organizations. This study examines whether specific demographic and behavioural/attitudinal characteristics of direct salespeople correspond to differences in turnover between ML and SL salespeople. For many demographic variables there are significant differences between ML and SL salespeople, but none of these differences correspond to differences in quitting intentions. There are also significant differences between ML and SL salespeople on the behavioural and attitudinal variables studied. Analysis revealed that the relationship between some of these variables and quitting intentions differed substantially between ML and SL salespeople. These variables included job satisfaction, organizational commitment, perceived image of direct selling in the marketplace, and the importance of the job characteristics of work rewards and career growth. Specific managerial implications follow from these findings.     

The End of Corporate Social Responsibility: Crisis & Critique,by Peter Fleming and Marc T. Jones

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Given the ever-increasing pressure put on sales organizations to improve performance, behave ethically and establish long-term customer relationships, this study seeks to better comprehend ethical leadership’s part in doing so. It proposes that perceived ethical leadership indirectly influences salesperson performance through trust in manager and ethical ambiguity.

Methodology/Approach: A survey of business-to-business salespeople was taken. Hypotheses are tested using structural equation modeling.

Findings: The results show that perceived ethical leadership influences salesperson performance through the mediating roles of trust in manager and ethical ambiguity. Salespeople’s perceptions of their supervisor’s ethical leadership behaviors positively impact their trust in manager and negatively influences their ethical ambiguity. In turn, trust in manager positively influences sales performance while ethical ambiguity negatively influences sales performance.

Research Implications: The results from testing the hypothesized model support mechanisms by which ethical leadership behavior may affect business-to-business salesperson job performance. It appears that ethical leadership works through ethical ambiguity and trust in manager to impact salesperson behavior performance, rather than directly impacting salesperson performance. Importantly the findings add to the literature an important consequence of ethical leadership, ethical ambiguity. This research likewise adds to the literature on role, and more specifically ethical, ambiguity by finding that reducing salesperson ethical ambiguity has a positive impact on salesperson behavior performance.

Practical Implications: This study finds that one important mechanism for reducing ethical ambiguity is for sales supervisors to practice ethical leadership. By reducing ethical ambiguity, sales managers can improve business-to-business salesperson performance. In addition, use of ethical leadership by sales managers can positively influence the business-to-business salesperson’s trust in manager, which subsequently leads to greater sales performance.

Originality/Value/Contribution: The results of this study add to our knowledge of ethical leadership by further developing its consequences. It also sheds light on a vastly under-researched construct, ethical ambiguity. Finally, it further validates the important role that trust in manager plays in the organization.     

Causes and Consequences of Abusive Supervision in Sales Management: A Tale of Two Perspectives

Abuse may characterize some most important relationships, and it is estimated that 20 million Americans face abusive work situations on a daily basis. Given this statistic, there is a clear need to investigate this topic within the marketing literature. As a result, the purpose of this study is to explore antecedents and outcomes of abusive supervision in sales management, where the performance‐driven nature of salesperson–sales manager relationships often creates a highly stressful situation. This research looks at several characteristics of sales managers from their perspectives as well as subordinates, and it considers how abuse influences professional and personal lives of both parties. Causes under investigation include leadership style, justice perceptions, negative affectivity, and experiences of abusive leadership by sales managers. Their impact is measured on salesperson and manager job satisfaction and organizational commitment. A model is used to help readers visualize the processes involved with both salespersons and sales managers, and theoretical and practical implications are provided in the close.     

辱虐管理对下属工作绩效和离职意愿的影响: 领导认同和权力距离的作用

与以往基于社会交换、社会心理和社会比较视角的研究不同,本文基于社会认定视角,考察了下属对领导的认同在辱虐管理与下属工作绩效和离职意愿关系中的中介作用,以及下属权力距离导向在这一过程中的调节作用。以296名下属及其直接上司为研究对象,结果发现：(1) 辱虐管理会降低下属对领导的认同,并通过领导认同的中介作用对工作绩效和离职意愿产生影响;(2) 下属权力距离导向会调节辱虐管理与领导认同的关系,表现为对低权力距离导向的下属来说,辱虐管理对领导认同的负向影响相对更强。本文从新的理论视角解释了辱虐管理的作用,揭示了辱虐管理影响下属工作绩效和离职意愿的内在机制和作用条件。     

The Influence of CSR and Ethical Self-Identity in Consumer Evaluation of Cobrands

In a multi-source study, we examine how frequent change interacts with ethical leadership to reduce turnover intentions. We argue that ethical leaders enhance employees’ state self-esteem, which explains the moderating effect of ethical leadership. Results from 124 employee-coworker-supervisor triads revealed that ethical leadership moderated the relationship between frequent change and turnover intention such that the relationship was positive only when ethical leadership was low. The moderating relationship could be shown to be mediated by employees’ state self-esteem.     

Transformational leadership,group affective tone,and group member social inferences: A leadership complementarity perspective

We investigated how the complementarity between transformational leadership behaviours and group potency predicts changes in group affective tone and subsequent group members' social inferences (job satisfaction, trust in supervisors, and turnover intentions). We analyzed two waves of data from 135 skilled professionals working in 29 groups within a Canadian government agency. Transformational leadership behaviours did not directly relate to changes in group affective tone. However, group potency moderated the relationship between transformational leadership behaviours and group affective tone, as well as the indirect relationships between transformational leadership behaviours and group members' social inferences via group affective tone, such that the relationships were stronger for low-potency groups. These results suggest transformational leadership may work best when complementing a group's sense of its own perceived capability.     

Does Ethical Leadership Lead to Happy Workers? A Study on the Impact of Ethical Leadership,Subjective Well-Being,and Life Happiness in the Chinese Culture

Business ethics has been emphasized throughout the past decade and organizations are aware of the influence it has on the organization’s performance. As a result, ethical leadership is important as it influences the employees profoundly. This study aims to address this issue and explore the influence ethical leadership has on employees by examining job satisfaction, subjective well-being at work, and life satisfaction. Two groups of independent data were collected and a multi-group analysis was conducted before pooling together for a two-step structural equation modeling test. The results revealed that ethical leadership has a negative direct effect on employee well-being which offers significant findings for the meaning of ethical leadership in the Chinese culture. Useful managerial implications are provided for managers and supervisors at the end of this study.     

敢做还是要做：伦理型领导对员工揭发意愿的影响

虽然有助于减少组织不道德行为,但源于各种担心和顾虑,致使人们往往对揭发行为持比较消极的态度。文章从社会学习等理论视角对中国情境下伦理型领导如何影响员工揭发意愿进行了探讨。基于339份调查数据的实证分析结果表明,伦理型领导正向影响员工的揭发意愿,道德勇气正向影响揭发意愿,责任分散负向影响揭发意愿,道德勇气和责任分散在伦理型领导与揭发意愿关系中分别具有部分中介效应。最后,对研究结论、意义、不足与未来研究方向进行了讨论。     

Individual Moral Development and Ethical Climate: The Influence of Person–Organization Fit on Job Attitudes

This research examines how the fit between employees moral development and the ethical work climate of their organization affects employee attitudes. Person–organization fit was assessed by matching individuals' level of cognitive moral development with the ethical climate of their organization. The influence of P–O fit on employee attitudes was assessed using a sample of 304 individuals from 73 organizations. In general, the findings support our predictions that fit between personal and organizational ethics is related to higher levels of commitment and job satisfaction and lower levels of turnover intent. Ethical P–O fit was related to higher levels of affective commitment across all three ethical climate types. Job satisfaction was only associated with ethical P–O fit for one of the three P–O fit variables and turnover intentions were significantly associated with two of the ethical P–O fit variables. The most consistent effect was found for the Conventional – Caring fit variable, which was significantly related to all three attitudes assessed. The weakest effect was found for the Preconventional – Instrumental fit variable, which was only predictive of affective commitment. The pattern of findings and implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

The Relationship of Downward Mobbing with Leadership Style and Organizational Attitudes

The present study investigates (1) the relationship of different leadership styles (transactional, transformational, authoritarian, paternalistic) with mobbing behaviors of superiors (i.e., downward mobbing) and (2) organizational attitudes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intention) of mobbing victims. Data were collected from 251 white-collar employees. Path analysis findings showed that transformational and transactional leadership decreased the likelihood of mobbing, whereas authoritarian leadership increased it. Paternalistic leadership was mildly and negatively associated with mobbing. Regarding the consequences of mobbing for employees’ organizational attitudes, the same analyses suggested that higher perceptions of downward mobbing was significantly associated with lower job satisfaction, lower affective commitment, higher continuous commitment, and higher turnover intention.     

Positive Job Response and Ethical Job Performance

Although many studies have linked job attitudes and intentions to aspects of in-role and extra-role job performance, there has been relatively little attention given to such job responses in the context of employees’ ethical/unethical behavior. The purpose of this study was to investigate a possible relationship between positive job response (conceptualized as job satisfaction and intention to stay) and behavioral ethics. Ninety-two matched manager-employee pairs from a regional branch of a large financial services and banking firm completed survey instruments, with each employee providing information about his or her job attitudes and intentions and each manager assessing the ethical/unethical performance of his/her employees. Respondents also provided additional information required for our analyses. The results indicated that positive job response among subordinates was associated with higher supervisory ratings of the subordinates’ ethical job performance. The managerial implications of the findings for managing ethical behavior are explored.     

Modeling Information Ethics: The Joint Moderating Role of Locus of Control and Job Insecurity

Information unethical behavior is concerned with ethical behavioural conflicts in the use of information, information technologies, and information systems (Kuo and Hsu, 2001). This study examines the combination of locus of control (LOC) and job insecurity (JI) as a joint moderator on the decision making process for information ethical behavioral intentions. A conceptual model is proposed to see the joint moderating role of LOC and JI. In the model, ethical behavioral intentions are influenced directly by ethical attitude, personal values, and perceived behavioural control. Simultaneously, personal values also indirectly influence ethical behavioral intentions through the mediation of ethical attitude. The causal relationships are moderated by the joint moderator. Notably, the moderating effects were simultaneously examined using data from undergraduates in the MIS department of a college. The influences of the ethical attitude and personal values on ethical behavioral intentions are found to be similar for those with external locus of control and insecurity perception (Confusionists) and those with internal locus of control and security perception (Controlists). Furthermore, the influences of personal values on ethical attitude, and of perceived behavioural control on ethical behavioral intentions, are both greater for Controlists than Confusionists. Implications of the empirical findings are discussed.     

Exploring the Process of Ethical Leadership: The Mediating Role of Employee Voice and Psychological Ownership

The study of ethical leadership has emerged as an important topic for understanding the effects of leadership in organizations. In a study with 845 working adults across multiple organizations, the relationships between ethical leadership with positive employee outcomes were examined. Results suggest that ethical leadership is related to both psychological well-being and job satisfaction in employees, but the processes are different. Employee voice mediated the relationship between ethical leadership and psychological well-being. Feelings of psychological ownership mediated the relationship between ethical leadership and job satisfaction. A discussion of theoretical and practical implications concludes the article.