How Ethical Leadership and Ethical Self-Leadership Enhance the Effects of Idiosyncratic Deals on Salesperson Work Engagement and Performance

Ashish Kalra, Rakesh Singh, Vishag Badrinarayanan, Aditya Gupta

Journal of Business Ethics · 2025 · Volume 196 · Issue 1

Abstract

To meet the shifting needs and preferences of the contemporary sales workforce, sales organizations are deploying idiosyncratic deals (I-deals), or mutually beneficial individualized workplace arrangements between salespeople and the organization. However, research is lacking on how, and under what conditions, I-deals facilitate work engagement and performance among salespeople. In this study, based on analysis of data gathered from 221 business-to-business salespeople, we demonstrate that I-deals are positively related to two foci of salesperson work engagement (i.e., social engagement and change engagement) and salesperson performance. Furthermore, we find that ethical self-leadership, which is driven by ethical leadership, functions as an internal self-governance mechanism that strengthens the impact of I-deals on salesperson work engagement. Based on these results, we delineate novel theoretical and practical implications on the role of I-deals in facilitating effective sales talent management.

Keywords

Idiosyncratic deals, Social engagement, Change engagement, Salesperson performance, Ethical leadership, Ethical self-leadership

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