The Ethical Perceptions of Salespeople and Sales Managers Concerning the use of Gps Tracking Systems to Monitor Salesperson Activity

Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) tracking systems are starting to be used by sales organizations to monitor salespeople as they drive their company cars in their territories. This paper examines and compares ethical perceptions of salespeople and sales managers regarding the use of GPS tracking technology. The results of a survey of salespeople and sales managers suggest both sales managers and salespeople perceive the use of such systems as ethical, provided the salesperson is aware of the system's installation and use. The results also indicate that while salespeople perceive the personal use of a company car as unethical, most are likely to use a company car for personal reasons anyway. These results offer support for the contention that GPS tracking systems may be needed to reduce unethical use of company cars. Additional results and implications for sales managers are provided.