Unethical sales practices in retail banking

Abstract

Purpose: This study examines the salesperson-driven unethical behavior toward consumers in the retail banking context. Design/methodology/approach: Consumer posts on an online social platform were analyzed using content analysis. Cluster analysis and word association analyses were conducted to analyze the posts across ethics dimensions, customer intentions and banking services. Findings: Complaints about salesperson-driven unethical behavior were classified into three clusters: disrespect, fee deception and other deception. Four themes of consumer intentions emerged from data: expecting an action regarding the staff, fixing the problem, exiting the bank, or just expressing the problem on the social platform. There was a significant difference among clusters in terms of intentions. The deception clusters had a stronger association with fixing the problem, while the disrespect cluster had a stronger association with consumers’ willingness to express their complaints and requests regarding corrective actions for the salespeople. Practical implications: Banks must differentiate their service recovery approach depending on the problem. While a refund can be more appropriate for recovering deception, a corrective action regarding misbehaving sales staff is expected by the customers for the disrespect problem. Originality/value: This study contributed to the need for current research on personal selling practices and salesperson ethics in banking services. The unethical sales practices were linked to customer intentions, and several associations were found. An unethical sales behavior framework that can be used in future research was represented.