The Ethical Perceptions of Salespeople and Sales Managers Concerning the use of Gps Tracking Systems to Monitor Salesperson Activity

Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) tracking systems are starting to be used by sales organizations to monitor salespeople as they drive their company cars in their territories. This paper examines and compares ethical perceptions of salespeople and sales managers regarding the use of GPS tracking technology. The results of a survey of salespeople and sales managers suggest both sales managers and salespeople perceive the use of such systems as ethical, provided the salesperson is aware of the system\u27s installation and use. The results also indicate that while salespeople perceive the personal use of a company car as unethical, most are likely to use a company car for personal reasons anyway. These results offer support for the contention that GPS tracking systems may be needed to reduce unethical use of company cars. Additional results and implications for sales managers are provided

Using Sales Competition Videos in a Principles of Marketing Class to Improve Interest in a Sales Career

Purpose of the Study: This study describes an easily conducted teaching innovation to enhance introductory marketing students’ perception of sales and selling. Sales jobs are plentiful; yet, many marketing students do not pursue sales courses or sales careers. Our purpose is to describe a classroom intervention that improves students’ intent to pursue a sales career. Method/Design and Sample: This study tests the classroom inclusion of an actual student sales competition video from the National Collegiate Sales Competition (NCSC) to provide visual as well as verbal learning stimuli. Following a 45 minute lecture on sales, students were exposed to the 20-minute final round winning NCSC video. During the video, the instructor stopped the video 12 times to relate specific aspects of the video role-play to the lecture. Students completed a pre- and post-intervention survey of the Intent to Pursue Sales Career Scale (ITPSC). Results: Results show that the educational intervention positively impacted students’ perceptions of a sales career, salespeople, salesperson ethics, sales knowledge, and intent to pursue a sales career. The largest student perception increases were within the sales knowledge dimension. Value to Marketing Educators: Graduates with degrees in marketing, business, and other areas often begin their careers in entry level sales positions. Sales skills are transferable and have utility in marketing and other careers. Instructional innovations designed to enhance student interest in a selling career, and that also advance sales training, have tremendous value. The use of an exemplar video from a sales competition is an easy way to accomplish these goals

A Review of Empirical Studies Assessing Ethical Decision Making in Business

This article summarizes the multitude of empirical studies that test ethical decision making in business and suggests additional research necessary to further theory in this area. The studies are categorized and related to current theoretical ethical decision making models. The studies are related to awareness, individual and organizational factors, intent, and the role of moral intensity in ethical decision making. Summary tables provide a quick reference for the sample, findings, and publication outlet. This review provides insights for understanding organizational ethical decision constructs, where ethical decision making theory currently stands, and provides insights for future empirical work on organizational ethical decision making

Collegiate Competition and the Propensity for Gender Bias

Since the dawn of time gender has played a starring role in human behavior. The behavioral implications of an individual’s sex have permeated research findings in a wide variety of academic disciplines. This preliminary investigation will explore the concept and definition of gender, gender bias, and gender stereotype on actions and conduct. Specifically, this inquiry will determine the scope and types of gender bias/stereotypes that exist in the business world with a primary concentration on the area of professional sales. The ultimate objective is to discover the type and level of influence a person’s gender contributes to evaluation, performance and judging in student sales competition

Association between Selected Oral Pathogens and Gastric Precancerous Lesions

We examined whether colonization of selected oral pathogens is associated with gastric precancerous lesions in a cross-sectional study. A total of 119 participants were included, of which 37 were cases of chronic atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia, or dysplasia. An oral examination was performed to measure periodontal indices. Plaque and saliva samples were tested with real-time quantitative PCR for DNA levels of pathogens related to periodontal disease (Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythensis, Treponema denticola, Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans) and dental caries (Streptococcus mutans and S. sobrinus). There were no consistent associations between DNA levels of selected bacterial species and gastric precancerous lesions, although an elevated but non-significant odds ratio (OR) for gastric precancerous lesions was observed in relation to increasing colonization of A. actinomycetemcomitans (OR = 1.36 for one standard deviation increase, 95% Confidence Interval = 0.87–2.12), P. gingivalis (OR = 1.12, 0.67–1.88) and T. denticola (OR = 1.34, 0.83–2.12) measured in plaque. To assess the influence of specific long-term infection, stratified analyses by levels of periodontal indices were conducted. A. actinomycetemcomitans was significantly associated with gastric precancerous lesions (OR = 2.51, 1.13–5.56) among those with ≥ median of percent tooth sites with PD≥3 mm, compared with no association among those below the median (OR = 0.86, 0.43–1.72). A significantly stronger relationship was observed between the cumulative bacterial burden score of periodontal disease-related pathogens and gastric precancerous lesions among those with higher versus lower levels of periodontal disease indices (p-values for interactions: 0.03–0.06). Among individuals with periodontal disease, high levels of colonization of periodontal pathogens are associated with an increased risk of gastric precancerous lesions