Andrea Vocino and Nicholas McClaren
The purpose of this study is to show how senior management can create work environments conducive to ethical behavior in organizations through the use of sales managers’…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to show how senior management can create work environments conducive to ethical behavior in organizations through the use of sales managers’ professionalism and professional identification. The study also aims to demonstrate the influence of professional identification in occupations other than those requiring certification.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conceptualizes and tests a model using data collected from a survey panel of 350 sales managers. To test the hypotheses, this study makes use of covariance structured analysis.
Findings
The results demonstrate the importance of developing sales managers’ professionalism as an antecedent to professional identification. The findings also show professional identification positively affects professional ethical values, work-related norms and occupational commitment. This study finds that work-related norms moderate the relationship between professional ethical values and ethical intentions and directly and positively influence ethical intentions.
Research limitations/implications
This study used a panel sampling technique and these findings cannot be generalized to other populations. This study recommends that this study is replicated not only with sales managers but also with other categories of marketers. This study also highlights that more work using methods such as longitudinal panel data and experimentation is required to validate the current findings.
Practical implications
The findings are of particular interest to senior managers and managers of professional associations, as well as other sales practitioners. Because ethical intentions are affected by work-related norms and from an interaction between work-related norms and professional ethical values, senior managers need to ensure both the work activities in which their staff are involved and the professional ethical values of their employees contribute to appropriate ethical intentions.
Originality/value
This study introduces professional identification into the sales ethics literature and theorize relationships among the professionalism of sales managers and their professional identification, work-related norms, professional ethical values, occupational commitment and ethical intentions. This study empirically measures the professionalism of sales managers.
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Nicholas McClaren and Andrea Vocino
The research sought to expand the conceptual understanding of the antecedents of decision-making under ethical conditions. This study aims to better understand the relationships…
Abstract
Purpose
The research sought to expand the conceptual understanding of the antecedents of decision-making under ethical conditions. This study aims to better understand the relationships among need for cognition (NFC), the individual ethical positions of ethical idealism and ethical relativism, organizational and professional socialization, work-related norms and ethical perceptions.
Design/methodology/approach
The study compared the impact of environmental influences (i.e. socialization and work-related norm) and individual temporally stable characteristics (i.e. NFC and ethical position) on ethical perceptions. The research surveyed marketers and tested a hypothesized model using structural equation modeling.
Findings
NFC influences marketers’ individual ethical position, their professional socialization and their work norms. The work norms of marketers are influenced by individual ethical position and organizational socialization, but not by professional socialization. Professional socialization is influenced by ethical idealism and not ethical relativism.
Research limitations/implications
A judgmental sampling technique was used and the findings cannot be generalized to other populations.
Practical implications
This research provides managers with alternative tools to encourage compliance with professional and corporate guidelines. If managers are seeking an enduring positive influence on work norms, they should be as concerned about the thinking of their employees and their employees’ ethical positions as they are with the vocational rules their subordinates adopt.
Social implications
Society will benefit from better understanding the different ways in which the ethical perceptions of individual employees are influenced and the various ways in which managers can contribute to ethically responsible corporations.
Originality/value
Although NFC has been examined in other vocational and decision-making contexts, its influence on individual ethical position, vocational socialization and work-related norms has not been empirically examined in ethical contexts for business decision-making.
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Abdul Haseeb Chaudhary, Michael Jay Polonsky and Nicholas McClaren
Plastic pollution is a widespread problem around the world. However, the problem is more severe and ever increasing in developing countries. The literature suggests that the…
Abstract
Plastic pollution is a widespread problem around the world. However, the problem is more severe and ever increasing in developing countries. The literature suggests that the majority of the work and the solutions that have been proposed to address plastic littering have been undertaken in developed countries. Thus, there is a need to explore the problem in developing countries to better understand the issue and to develop context-specific solutions. We explored the norms perspective using ‘The Focus Theory of Normative Conduct’, individual ethical position and place attachment factors. Interviews were conducted in Pakistan with 16 people who were recently at a beach at which there was a large amount of plastic litter. Results showed that people are influenced by the pro-littering social norms of their friends and neighbours. However, people with strong anti-littering personal norms are not influenced by pro-littering social norms. We also found that people have varying moral position, and their lack of attachment with the public place also influences their littering behaviour. Moreover, people believe that other people litter due to lack of education and awareness, lack of garbage bins and a general level of carelessness. Future research needs to focus on activating an individual's idealist moral position and an individuals' attachment with the place to enhance the activation of anti-littering personal norms which will help reduce littering behaviour. Further still, government needs to set up campaigns at public places to create awareness among people about the impact of littering, and government also needs to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of waste management. Businesses can also play a role by providing waste bins which may be used as a source of promoting their support for reducing litter.
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Alice Cassidy, Yona Sipos and Sarah Nyrose
There is a growing need to train and support educators to introduce or enhance aspects of sustainability into post-secondary curriculum. The authors provide an overview of…
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There is a growing need to train and support educators to introduce or enhance aspects of sustainability into post-secondary curriculum. The authors provide an overview of integration of curricular sustainability development and education as well as related institutional leadership at the post-secondary level. Turning to educational development for sustainability education, the authors share tools and resources to support educators from any discipline, to introduce, integrate, and/or enhance sustainability in their course, program, or initiative. The authors found very few examples of workshops to post-secondary teachers. For one such example, the Sustainability Education Intensive, a three-day workshop that the authors designed and led at the University of British Columbia. The authors summarize the workshop aspects that two years of participants found helpful, and how workshop involvement affected them as sustainability educators. The authors encourage post-secondary institutions to provide support in the form of workshops, resources, and funding to help educators introduce or enhance aspects of sustainability into their courses and programs. Students are asking for this, and, as they are future leaders, it is important that educators address the numerous environmental, social and economic issues that demand attention.
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Shiang‐Lih Chen McCain, Henry Tsai and Nicholas Bellino
The paper aims to examine the antecedents and consequence of casino employees' ethical behavior. In particular, it proposes that both distributive and procedural justice have…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to examine the antecedents and consequence of casino employees' ethical behavior. In particular, it proposes that both distributive and procedural justice have positive influences on such behavior, which in turn positively affects workers' job satisfaction. The paper aims to help casino management pinpoint areas for enhancing and promoting employees' ethical behavior so as to benefit industry stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire was designed based on a literature review and preliminary conversations with 37 casino employees. These were distributed to frontline casino employees working in the slot and table games departments. Exploratory factor analysis and path analysis were employed to test the proposed model.
Findings
The paper shows that casino employees' ethical behavior was positively influenced by both procedural and distributive justice, with the former a slightly stronger motivator. Of the three proposed determinants of casino employees' job satisfaction, distributive justice had the most strongly positive effect.
Practical implications
This paper suggests that action could be taken by management to enhance employees' perception of both distributive and procedural justice to motivate ethical behavior. Furthermore, casino managers should be aware that distributive justice plays a more important role than procedural justice and ethical behavior in enhancing casino employees' job satisfaction. In making decisions, they should consider outcome fairness to demonstrate distributive justice.
Originality/value
Currently, to the best of the authours' knowledge, there is no study linking both distributive and procedural justice with employees' ethical behavior and job satisfaction within a single framework. In addition, there is no research evaluating how organizational justice influences employees' ethical behavior when interacting with customers. This paper fills this gap.