How Implicit Ethics Institutionalization Affects Ethical Selling Intention: The Case of Taiwan’s Life Insurance Salespeople

This study examines the mediating role of felt accountability and cost–benefit consideration in the relationship between implicit ethics institutionalization and ethical selling intention. The research hypotheses are developed and tested with data collected using a scenario‐based questionnaire. The...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Tseng, Lu-Ming (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer 2019
In: Journal of business ethics
Year: 2019, Volume: 158, Issue: 3, Pages: 727-742
Further subjects:B financial ethics
B Cost–benefit consideration
B Felt accountability
B Ethical selling intention
B Implicit ethics institutionalization
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:This study examines the mediating role of felt accountability and cost–benefit consideration in the relationship between implicit ethics institutionalization and ethical selling intention. The research hypotheses are developed and tested with data collected using a scenario‐based questionnaire. The research design proposes two types of ethical dilemmas. In the first dilemma, the insurance salespeople are told that the dishonest selling behavior will lead to a profitable outcome. In the second dilemma, the insurance salespeople are informed that the honest selling behavior will lead to an unprofitable outcome. The findings show that implicit ethics institutionalization is positively related to felt accountability, cost–benefit consideration and ethical selling intention, while felt accountability and cost–benefit consideration could partially mediate the relationship between implicit ethics institutionalization and the insurance salespeople’s ethical selling intention. The study highlights the importance of implicit ethics institutionalization in sales ethics and helps researchers and practitioners to better understand the mediators of felt accountability and cost–benefit consideration through which implicit ethics institutionalization benefits ethical selling intention.
ISSN:1573-0697
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10551-017-3723-z