How Machiavellian Personality Affects Ethical Decision-making

The salesperson manages the relationship between the buyer and the seller,and establishes,develops,and maintains a network of customers that enables the company to thrive and flourish.The completion of its work is determined by sales performance,which leads to the fact that the decision made by the salesperson should balance two aspects--ethics and utilitarian.As a result,it is necessary for companies to incorporate ethics and responsibilities into decision-making process,and guide the salesperson to make ethical decisions,and bring as much legal benefits as possible for the company at the same time,otherwise the company will suffer huge losses due to the immortal decision made by the salesperson.To draw a conclusion,the exploration and revealing of the root causes and production mechanisms of the unethical decision made by the salesperson has become more and more important.Based on the review of existing research results,Machiavellianism is selected as the entry point of this research,Moral disengagement and Ethical leadership are used as contingency variables,and the promotion mechanism of salesperson's Ethical decision-making is explored.Research hypothesis and research models are proposed based on that and questionnaires are used to conduct empirical research.Through the statistical analysis of 345 valid samples,the following conclusions are drawn:(1)Machiavellianism has a negative predictive effect on Ethical decision-making,which is manifested in that the Moral disengagement is able to negatively predict the three stages of Ethical decision-making,i.e.,Ethical recognition / Ethical judgment / Ethical intention.(2)Machiavellianism has a positive predictive effect on Moral disengagement;(3)Moral disengagement has a negative predictive effect on Ethical decision-making,which is manifested in that the moral disengagement is able to negatively predict the three stages of Ethical decision-making,i.e.,Ethical recognition / Ethical judgment / Ethical intention.(4)Moral disengagement plays a partial intermediary role in the process of the negative prediction of Machiavellianism in Ethical decision-making,that is to say,Moral disengagement mediates the process of the negative prediction of Machiavellianism in the stages of Ethical judgment / Ethical intention.(5)Ethical leadership can effectively suppress the negative prediction of Ethical judgment/ Ethical intention,but it will strengthen the positive prediction of moral disengagement on Ethical recognition.(6)Ethical leadership can restrain abd adjust the intermediary effect of moral disengagement in the prediction of Machiavellianism,Ethical judgment / Ethical intention.Based on the empirical research conclusions,this paper provides companies suggestions for the management of salespersons from three aspects,i.e.,selection,education and employment,and also provides some theoretical support for future research in this field.