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A Study of the Attitudes Towards Unethical Selling Amongst Chinese Salespeople

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Abstract

The latter part of the twentieth century saw the Chinese economy moving towards a socialist market economy rather than a planned system. Despite growing interest in Chinese business ethics, little work has examined ethical issues concerning the Chinese sales force. This study draws from existing work on Chinese and Western business and sales ethics to develop hypotheses regarding the perceptions of unethical selling behaviour of modern Chinese salespeople. A survey of Chinese sales executives is conducted and statistically analysed. Results are compared with those reported in previous US-based research with regard to differences in perceptions of unethical selling behaviour. The results indicate that contemporary Chinese salespeople were more favourably disposed than expected towards unethical selling behaviour, and also more favourably disposed than previously studied US salespeople. Younger Chinese salespeople evaluated unethical behaviours more favourably than older ones. The results are discussed, along with implications for theory, practice and future work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Professor of Marketing and Organizational Research, Aston Business School, Aston University, Aston Triangle, Birmingham, B4 7ET, U.K.

    Nick Lee

  2. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4001, Australia

    Amanda Beatson & Ian Lings

  3. Korea University Business School, Korea University, Anam-Dong, Seongbuk-Gu, Seoul, 136-701, Republic of Korea

    Tony C. Garrett

  4. Aston Business School, Aston University, Aston Triangle, Birmingham, B4 7ET, U.K.

    Xi Zhang

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  1. Nick Lee
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  2. Amanda Beatson
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  3. Tony C. Garrett
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  4. Ian Lings
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  5. Xi Zhang
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Correspondence to Nick Lee.

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All human studies have been approved by the appropriate ethics committee and have, therefore, been performance in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki.

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Lee, N., Beatson, A., Garrett, T.C. et al. A Study of the Attitudes Towards Unethical Selling Amongst Chinese Salespeople. J Bus Ethics 88 (Suppl 3), 497–515 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0302-y

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