Title: Determinants of sales persons' ethical decision making: the case of real estate agents

Authors: Goitom Tesfom, Nancy J. Birch

Addresses: Eastern Washington University at Bellevue, 3000 Landerholm Circle SE, Mail stop 101, Bellevue, WA 98007, USA. ' Department of Accounting and Information Systems, 668 N. Riverpoint Blvd., Suite A, Spokane, WA 99202-1677, USA

Abstract: Much research on cognitive moral development of sales persons has focused on measuring the level of moral cognitive developments of a certain group of professionals for the purpose of comparing it to results derived from other professionals. This research takes a different direction. Our first objective is to determine the factors that have the most influence on the real estate agents| moral decision behaviour, and second, to determine if any relationships exist between the factors that influence the real estate agents| moral decision behaviour and real estate agents| demographic characteristics. This research is based on a survey of 249 real estate agents.

Keywords: estate agents; sales persons; real estate; decision behaviour; service marketing; determinants; ethical decision making; cognitive development; moral development; professionals; property; relationships; moral decisions; demographic characteristics; Washington State; USA; United States; business governance; business ethics; emerging markets.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBGE.2011.037605

International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, 2011 Vol.6 No.1, pp.28 - 48

Published online: 20 Dec 2010 *

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