A New Direction for Sales Ethics Research: The Sales Ethics Subculture

Sales ethics have been investigated from both an individual and an organizational perspective. The sales force and sales managers often operate as boundary spanners in an external environment, putting them in a very visible role for ethical behavior. Propositions and a framework to understand the sales ethics subculture supports a research agenda. Support is provided to better delineate the sales ethics subculture and its characteristics. New directions are suggested for future sales ethics research to go beyond individual and organizational factors and investigate the sales ethics subculture itself as a key determinant of ethical behavior. This review makes a strong case from a managerial perspective for specialized ethics training in an organization’s sales units.