Retail Employees’ Ethical Value and Climate on Multidimensional Job Satisfaction: A Comparative Study with B2B Employees

Abstract

In the retail industry, managing companies’ ethical environments is critical because it is associated with employee satisfaction and performance. Despite the increasing demand to understand the role of salespersons’ ethical climate and value on behavior, only a few studies have focused on this connection. Furthermore, the relative impact of ethical issues (e.g., ethical value and ethical climate) on multidimensional job satisfaction in B2B and B2C sectors remains unexplored. Thus, this study 1) explores the impact of ethical issues (e.g., ethical value and ethical climate) on multi-dimensions of job satisfaction (e.g., satisfaction with management, supervisor, co-workers, and customers) and 2) compares the relationship between job satisfaction across and ethical climate B2B and B2C settings. By using an online survey in the U.S., a total of 492 questionnaires were collected from salespersons in B2B and B2C settings. Structural equation modelling shows that the ethical value influences job satisfaction more significantly among salespeople in the B2B setting, whereas the ethical climate has a greater impact in the B2C setting. Thus, given the importance of sustainability, this study provides practical implications on how to understand employee behavior by adjusting the ethical environment to increase employee satisfaction.