Can ethical leadership hinder sales performance? A limited resource perspective of job embeddedness

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to borrow from a limited resource view of job embeddedness to argue that ethical leadership can hurt salespeople’s growth of sales performance by a latent growth model. Design/methodology/approach: This work surveyed 825 salespeople in Greater China at three points over six months to test the latent growth model. Findings: The findings reveal that as salespeople perceive more ethical leadership at the initial point, they may show more increases in job embeddedness behavior development that lead to decreases in social capital and human capital behavior development, which consequently decreases sales performance over time. Originality/value: These findings unearth a novel idea that ethical leadership may erode growth of sales performance over time.