Ethical Behavior in Sales Organizations: Key Dimensions

Abstract

The ethical behavior of salespeople is especially important in today’s environment of increased customer awareness, shortened product life cycle and stiff competition. A salesperson’s ethical behavior plays a critical role in forming, maintaining and sustaining long-term customer relationships. Therefore, sales organizations can gain competitive advantages by focusing on instilling and embodying ethical values throughout the organization. This is normally done by: fostering and sustaining an ethical climate through the creation, communication and enforcement of codes of ethics; punishing unethical behavior; and implementing an effective compensation plan.

Keywords: Sales compensation, Ethics, Organization Culture, Firm Valuation, Fixed Pay, Variable Pay