Paternalism in the marketplace: Should a salesman be his buyer's keeper?
The marketplace has become increasingly sophisticated. Products and services are more complex resulting in greater customer reliance on salespersons for guidance. The salesperson's role presumes superior knowledge with respect to the buyer because he is consulted as an expert on the quality and...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Springer Science + Business Media B. V
1988
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| In: |
Journal of business ethics
Year: 1988, Volume: 7, Issue: 5, Pages: 337-339 |
| Further subjects: | B
Professional Ethic
B Relevant Information B Mutual Advantage B Economic Growth B Mutual Exchange |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The marketplace has become increasingly sophisticated. Products and services are more complex resulting in greater customer reliance on salespersons for guidance. The salesperson's role presumes superior knowledge with respect to the buyer because he is consulted as an expert on the quality and uses of his product. Thus, it is important that a tacit professional ethic for sales be established to protect customers from possible exploitation. The purpose of this article is to propose a realistic professional ethic for sales — “limited paternalism.” Limited paternalism implies that a salesman should “be his buyer's keeper” in the sense that he should serve the interests of his customers by identifying their needs, while disclosing all relevant information about products or services in order to facilitate mutual exchange to mutual advantage. |
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| ISSN: | 1573-0697 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/BF00382535 |