Ethical Ideologies and Older Consumer Perceptions of Unethical Sales Tactics

Demographic differences among consumer groups have become increasingly important to the development of marketing strategies. Marketers depend heavily on the sales force to implement strategies at the consumer level and, not surprisingly, different groups may view the salesperson’s role differently. Unfortunately, unethical sales practices targeted at various consumer groups, and especially at seniors, have been utilized as well. The purpose of this study is to provide initial empirical evidence of the ethical ideological make-up of four age segments outlined by Strauss and Howe (1991, Generations: The History of America’s Future 1584–2069, Morrow, New York) and to examine the propensity for these groups (seniors, in particular) to respond differentially to potentially unethical sales tactics. Data were collected from 179 respondents representing the four generational age groups. MANOVA revealed that the seniors in this study were distinct with respect to ethical ideology and less accepting of unethical sales tactics. Managerial implications are discussed for sales organizations to maximize their effectiveness across consumer groups. Rosemary P. Ramsey (Ph.D., University of Cineinnati) is Professor of Marketing in the Raj Soin College of Business at Wright State University, Dayton, OH, USA. Rosemary spent several years as a marketing and sales practitioner in the private sector, primarily for NCR Corporation. She is interested in relationship development as it pertains to buyer-seller interactions, salespersons with their sales managers, and team dynamics. She has been on the faculty at University of Kentucky and University of South Florida. She was in administration at Eastern Kentucky University, Cleveland State University, and Wright State University. She is published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, among others. She was recently honored by Who’s Who among America’s Teachers and Who’s Who in Executives and Professionals. Greg W. Marshall (Ph.D., Oklahoma State University) is Professor of Marketing and Strategy in the Roy E. Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College, Winter Park, FL, USA, Greg’s research centers on the areas of sales force selection, performance, and evaluation; adoption and successful use of technology by salespeople; sales force diversity; decision making by marketing managers; and intraorganizational relationships. He is Editor of the Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice. His industry experience includes thirteen years in selling and sales management, product management, and retailing with companies such as Warner Lambert, Mennen, and Target Corporation. He is a frequent consultant and trainer in the area of strategic marketing. Greg serves on the editorial review boards of the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Research, and Industrial Marketing Management.He is co-author of the books, Sales Force Management 9e and Relationship Selling and Sales Management 2e, both published by McCraw-Hill, and Marketing: Real People, Real Choices 5e, published by Prentice Hall. Mark W Johnston (Ph.D., Texas A&M University) is the Alan and Sandra Gerry Professor of Marketing and Ethics at the Roy E. Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College, Winter Park, FL, USA. Mark has conducted a number of seminars around the world on a variety of topics including ethical issues in marketing, sales force motivation, managing turnover in the organization, sales training issues, and improving overall sales performance. He has served as a marketing consultant to a number of organizations around the country. A partial list of his research includes publications in theJournal of Marketing Research, Jotunal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Business Research, and Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management. He is co-author of the books Sales Force Marnagement 9e and Relationship Selling and Sales Management 2e, both published by McGraw-Hill. Dawn R, Deeter-Schmelz (Ph.D., University of South Florida) is Chair and O’Bleness Professor of Marketing at Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA. Her research interests include customer service teams, sales management and buyer-seller relationship issues, business-to-business e-commerce, and scale development. She has published in Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Journal of Marketing Education, and Journal of Business Logistics, among others. In a marketplace where the consumer is King ... understanding the fundamental needs, values, icons and historical experiences of the various generations is more critical than ever. Generational mindsets and feelings are major factors in determining ...an effective marketing strategy. —Fishman (2004), p. 4     

Improving sales performance through ethics: The relationship between salesperson moral judgment and job performance

This study examines the relationship between salespeople's moral judgment and their job performance. Results indicate a positive relationship between moral judgment and job performance when certain characteristics are present. Implications for sales managers and sales researchers are provided. Additionally, directions for future research are given. Charles H. Schwepker, Jr. is Associate Professor of Marketing at Central Missouri State University. His research interests are in sales, sales management, marketing ethics and consumer behavior. His articles have appeared in the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice and Industrial Marketing Management, as well as various national and regional proceedings. Thomas N. Ingram is Professor of Marketing and Department Chair, Marketing Department, Colorado State University. His primary research interest is in personal selling and sales management. His articles have appeared in the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, among others. He is the coauthor of Sales Management: Analysis and Decision-Making, 2nd ed. (The Dryden Press, 1992) and coauthor of Marketing: Principles & Perspectives (IRWIN, 1995).     

Work–family conflict in the sales force redux: A compendium of influencers

Abstract

Selling is a primary function of channels of distribution with sales managers and salespeople markedly influencing channel success. Recently, salesperson work–family conflict has become a major concern, owing to its potential for adversely affecting sales force performance and thus impairing associated channel success. It has been extensively investigated in industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology, but sales scholars’ interest in it remains in the incipient stage. Whether findings from non-sales contexts are portable to a selling milieu remains an empirical question. This article presents an array of organizational- and managerial-related, individual job-related, individual person-related, technology-related, and contemporary selling environment-related factors that have been found to be or are logically associated with salesperson work–family conflict. The article thus seeks to facilitate sales researchers’ and practitioners’ efforts in undertaking empirical work and assisting salespeople to manage such conflict. To date, no previously published work has engaged in this charge.     

Effect of Ethical Climate on Turnover Intention: Linking Attitudinal- and Stress Theory

Attitudinal- and stress theory are used to investigate the effect of ethical climate on job outcomes. Responses from 208 service employees who work for a country health department were used to test a structural model that examines the process through which ethical climate (EC) affects turnover intention (TI). This study shows that the EC–TI relationship is fully mediated by role stress (RC), interpersonal conflict (IC), emotional exhaustion (EE), trust in supervisor (TS), and job satisfaction (JS). Results show that EC reduces (RS) and increases TS. Lower stress levels result in lower EE, higher JS, and lower TI. Also, supervisor trust (TS) reduces IC and EE. The structural model predicts 53.9% of the variance of TI. Jay Prakash Mulki is an Assistant Professor at Northeastern University. He has extensively published in the sales management area. His articles have been published in the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Journal of Business Research, and Psychology and Marketing. Jorge Fernando Jaramillo is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Texas at Arlington. His research interests include marketing strategy and sales force management. Dr. Jaramillo’s research has appeared in multiple journals including the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Business Research, and the Journal of Marketing Education. William B. Locander is the founding Director of the Davis Leadership Center at Jacksonville University. He is a former President of the American Marketing Association and has served as an examiner of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice. Dr. Locander has published in several business journals including the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Business Research, and the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management.     

The Ethics of Online Retailing: A Scale Development and Validation from the Consumers’ Perspective

While e-commerce has witnessed extensive growth in recent years, so has consumers’ concerns regarding ethical issues surrounding online shopping. The vast majority of earlier research on this area is conceptual in nature, and limited in scope by focusing on consumers’ privacy issues. This study develops a reliable and valid scale to measure consumers’ perceptions regarding the ethics of online retailers (CPEOR). Findings indicate that the four factors of the scale – security, privacy, non-deception and fulfillment/reliability – are strongly predictive of online consumers’ satisfaction and trust. The results offer important implications for e-retailers and are likely to stimulate further research in the area of e-ethics from the consumers’ perspective. Sergio Román is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Murcia (Spain). He has been a Visiting Scholar at the University of Arizona. His articles have appeared in the Journal of Business Research, International Marketing Review, International Journal of Market Research, European Journal of Marketing and Journal of Marketing Management. His research interests are focused on personal selling and sales management, international marketing and business ethics.     

A Study on Ethically Problematic Selling Methods in China with a Broaden Concept of Gray-marketing

This paper expands the definition of gray-marketing to include some ethically problematic marketing activities and techniques used in personal selling in China. Based on this, a conceptual model of gray-marketing for a particular type of selling in which both the sellers and the buyers exhibit problematic ethics in an exchange and the associated hypotheses are developed and tested. The findings show that, first, the respondents have different ethical evaluations of different marketing practices used in personal selling such as giving and accepting gifts, buying and accepting meals, and offering and accepting kickbacks. Some of these practices may not be considered unethical. Second, in terms of ethical assessment, gray-marketing practiced by buying agents is more unacceptable than when practiced by sales agents. Third, a person’s ethical evaluation of gray-marketing behavior, empathy for gray-marketing, and belief that gray-marketing has serious consequences, significantly affects his inclination to use gray-marketing. This paper concludes with a discussion of some possible applications of our research findings. Both authors contributed equally to this work. Guijun Zhuang (Ph.D., City University of Hong Kong) is a professor of marketing in the School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, the People’s Republic of China. His current research interests include marketing channel behaviors, relationship marketing, and consumer choice. He has published in European Journal of Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, and many leading marketing and management journals in China. Alex S.L. Tsang (Ph.D., City University of Hong Kong) is an assistant professor at the Department of Marketing, Hong Kong Baptist University. His research currently focuses on cross-cultural consumer behavior, marketing in China, and marketing communication. He has published in Journal of Business Research, European Journal of Marketing, and Business Horizons, among others.     

A retrospective review of the first 35 years of the International Journal of Research in Marketing

The International Journal of Research in Marketing (IJRM) publishes groundbreaking research on a range of topics related to marketing. Academics, scholars, and practitioners value the journal for its original and well-executed content. Using bibliometrics, this study summarizes the journal’s first 35 years in terms of its publication trends, authorship patterns, citation structure, and themes, as well as the clustering of IJRM’s articles published between 1984 and 2018. This study identifies the IJRM’s most influential articles, most prolific contributors and their affiliations, and frequently used keywords and reveals their semantic associations along with factors influencing citations of the IJRM corpus. As the first objective assessment of the journal’s first 35 years, the review also suggests some potential avenues to target future submissions.     

Power-Base Effects on Salesperson Motivation and Performance: A Contingency View

Purpose: The sales literature shows that motivation is a key determinant of salesperson performance. The literature also suggests that how managers use social power will have an effect on important organizational outcomes, including salesperson performance. This study examines the five bases of social power that sales managers use (reward, coercive, legitimate, referent, and expert) as moderating influences in the salesperson motivation (extrinsic and intrinsic)—salesperson performance linkage.

Methodology/approach: Data was collected from 128 salespeople using a cross industry survey. Eight hypotheses were developed and tested using SmartPLS (partial least squares).

Findings: The authors found support for five of eight hypotheses. Results and significant findings suggest that sales managers can impact sales performance in extrinsically motivated salespeople by using coercive and legitimate power. For intrinsically motivated salespeople, sales managers can impact sales performance by using coercive, legitimate, and referent power.

Research implications: Related to social power theory, the study suggests that salesperson performance is dependent upon a salesperson’s combined motivation orientation and the base of power used by the sales manager. The study also sets the stage for subsequent research on how managerial power can be studied as a moderator for other personal salesperson characteristics (e.g., self-esteem, self-efficacy, locus of control) and salesperson performance. In addition, understanding how these other personal characteristics interact with managerial bases of power to produce other organizational outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction, organizational commitment) are questions that sales researchers may wish to pursue via further study.

Practical implications: For practicing sales managers, the research study can provide guidance as to how they may tailor their use of power to best impact salesperson performance. For a manager to understand the motivational makeup of each salesperson, open communication and dialogue must occur at the onset of their relationship. Having the knowledge of what drives each salesperson, a manager can modify their leadership style (and choice of power base) to suit the situation. Customizing these sales management approaches may also have long-term benefits for the organization as studies show that doing so can lead to reduced levels of turnover as well as increased levels of performance.

Contribution of the article: This study is important to sales research, theory, and practice. The authors contribute to the selling and sales management literature by extending motivation and social power theories into the sales domain by showing that managerial power may be a key moderating determinant between a salesperson’s motivation and his/her sales performance. For practicing sales managers, we provide some insight and guidance for understanding how to throttle or moderate their use of various social power bases when dealing with individual salespeople who may differ in their motivation orientation, age, and degree of selling experience.     

Correlates of salespeople's ethical conflict: An exploratory investigation

Much have been written about marketing ethics. Virtually no published research, however, has examined what factors are related to the ethical conflict of salespeople. Such research is important because it could have direct implications for the management of sales personnel. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study that examined selected correlates of salespeople's ethical conflict. Implications for practitioners and academic are also provided. Alan J. Dubinsky is visiting Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Minnesota. He was previously Assistant Professor of Marketing at Southern Methodist University and Territory Manager for Burroughs Corperation. His publications have appeared in several journals, including Journal of Retailing, Journal of Advertising, California Management Review, MSU Business Topics, Business Horizons, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Thomas N. Ingram is Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Kentucky. He was formerly Product Manager and then Sales Manager with EXXON Company, U.S.A. and Mobil Chemical. His publications have appeared in Journal of Marketing Research, California Management Review, Business Horizons, Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. He is also coauthor of a personal selling textbook (Macmillan, 1984).The autors gratefully acknowledge the University of Kentucky Research Foundation for its financial support of this project.     

Double-Loop Sales Adaptation: A Conceptual Model and an Empirical Investigation

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to conceptualize and discuss the phenomenon of a double-loop sales adaptation in sales and its practical application. The resultant framework is developed from existing academic literature on adaptation in sales and marketing and inspired by the concept of double-loop learning.

Methodology/approach: The study adopted an abductive approach, iterating between the empirical world of two service firms and the theoretical world. The developed framework is refined with interview-based feedback from key informants in business-to-business organizations.

Findings: This article develops a framework for double-loop sales adaptation, which combines adaptations of selling behavior with a sales mindset.

Contribution: Although previous research recognizes adaptation as a central aspect of relationships, the link between adaptation and sales mindset has arguably been inadequate in the literature. Accordingly, this study focuses on sales adaptation occurring at the two levels of behavior and mindset.

Implications for practice: The proposed framework provides sales practitioners with a model for adaptation in their customer relationships. By distinguishing between two sorts of adaptation, managers can optimize resource allocation to both benefit the company and strengthen the relationship among parties.     

The Transition from Product to Solution Selling: The Role and Organization of Employees Engaged in Current Business

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This research investigates how to manage and organize existing employees when launching a solution sales strategy, specifically addressing whether it is possible to migrate existing sales representatives active in product sales to solution sales, and whether it is possible to combine the roles.

Methodology/approach: A case-based approach was applied to a multinational firm, engaged in business-to-business sales that simultaneously launched a solution sales strategy in 17 countries. In-depth interviews with 29 managers and sales representatives were performed to inductively identify why some countries succeeded in the launch, while others did not.

Findings: Because of fundamental differences in approach between solution and product sales, those countries where the solutions and product businesses were separated performed better. The difference in required capabilities and mindset meant that migrating sales representatives from product to solution sales is problematic.

Research implications: This research offers evidence of differences in mindset and approach between different marketing and sales strategies, extending the conclusions to how these differences affect the possibility of migrating existing sales representatives when launching a new selling strategy. Whether to separate service and product sales has been debated. The present results indicate that separating the current product business from the new solution business facilitates the successful implementation of the new strategy. In the case company, the solutions represent a mixture of product and services, suggesting that the problem is not the difference between products and services, but rather different selling strategies and approaches that require different capabilities.

Practical implications: When launching a solution sales strategy, the solution business should be separated from the current product business at both the organizational and personnel levels. Solution sales necessitates a particular approach and capabilities, making it unadvisable to transfer sales representatives and managers to the new solution business based solely on previous product sales success. Instead, a new skill profile must be developed taking account of the requirements of a demand-driven solution strategy.

Originality/value/contribution: Consensus is lacking as to whether to separate product and service businesses. This article extends the debate to the field of solution

sales, demonstrating that separation is needed to succeed in launching a solution sales strategy. Furthermore, this research extends our knowledge of the difference in approaches between different selling strategies, covering the possibility of successfully migrating existing sales representatives to a different selling strategy.     

Ethical and Moral Dilemmas Associated with Strategic Relationships between Business-to-Business Buyers and Sellers

While ethical and moral issues have been widely considered in the general areas of marketing and sales, similar attention has not been given to the impact of strategic account management (SAM) approaches to handling the relationships between suppliers and very␣large customers. SAM approaches have been widely␣adopted by suppliers as a mechanism for managing␣relationships and partnerships with dominant customers␣– characterized by high levels of buyer–seller inter-dependence and forms of collaborative partnership. Observation suggests that the perceived moral intensity of␣these relationships is commonly low, notwithstanding the underlying principles of benefiting the few (large, strategic customers) at the expense of the many (smaller customers and other stakeholders), and the magnitude of the consequences of concessions made to large customers, even though some such consequences may be unintended. Dilemmas exist also for executives implementing strategic account relationships regarding such issues as information sharing, trust, and hidden incentives for unethical behaviour. We propose the need for greater transparency and senior management questioning of the ethical and moral issues implicit in strategic account management. Nigel F. Piercy (Nigel.Piercy@wbs.ac.uk) is Professor in Marketing and Strategic Management, Warwick Business School, The University of Warwick, UK. He holds a PhD from the University of Wales and a higher doctorate (DLitt) from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. His current research interests focus on strategic sales and account management. His work has been published in many journals including Organizational Dynamics, the Journal of World Business, the British Journal of Management, the Journal of Marketing, and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Nikala Lane (Nikala.Lane@wbs.ac.uk) is Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Strategic Management, Warwick Business School, The University of Warwick, UK. She holds a PhD from the University of Wales and was previously Senior Research Associate at Cardiff University. Her research interests are focused on gender and ethics issues in sales and marketing management. Her work has been published widely in the international literature, and includes articles in the Journal of Management Studies, the British Journal of Management, the Journal of Business Ethics, and the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management.     

Coercion in the selling of credit life insurance

Credit life insurance, which repays some or all of a borrower's outstanding debt in the event of death, has been a controversial subject for many years. Critics assert that, despite regulations that limit tied sales, pressure on loan officers to generate fee income through cross selling creates an incentive for coercion of borrowers. Allegedly, some sales techniques leave the consumer with the false impression that the purchase of credit insurance was necessary to obtain the loan. This article measures the frequency with which creditor efforts to sell credit insurance transform the sales message from persuasive to coercive. A methodology is developed for measuring the impact of coercive selling pressure applied to borrowers at the point of sale. Data used to measure the effect of coercive pressure are taken from an extensive survey of borrowers conducted during 1993. Not only are public policy concerns about coercion in the selling of credit insurance addressed, but more generally the article offers a methodology to quantify the influence of the customer's point-of-sale experience on the decision to purchase any financial service. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The Selling Cycle

Abstract

The selling cycle, a measure of calendar time from the initiation to the completion of a sale, is a significant factor in planning and assessing sales force deployment. Empirically-based analyses of the selling cycle are nonexistent, however. This paper reports an exploratory study of selected relationships involving the length of the selling cycle in various selling situations and in different types of sales organizations, and then concludes with management implications and further research ideas.     

The professionalisation of selling and the transformation of a family business: Kenrick & Jefferson, 1878–1940

Abstract

This article shows that innovation in sales management at a West Midlands SME in the early twentieth century matched contemporary best practices, and that it occurred in parallel with significant developments in sales education at both the University of Birmingham and the region’s colleges. In looking not only at a smaller company than those examined previously by historians of selling but also at what is referred to as the surrounding sales ecosystem, the article contributes to our understanding of a more dynamic sales environment, supported by a more purposeful educational provision, than has hitherto been understood to have existed.     

Preliminary Investigation of Entertainment Strategies Involving Alcohol: Implications for Professional Sales Education and Training in Business Markets

Purpose: With increased numbers of business to business (B to B) firms hiring professional sales students, it is important that both sales educators and sales managers understand entertainment’s influence and its potential consequences in the professional sales environment. This study examines the perceived role entertainment plays in today’s sales process and the importance of integrating entertainment topics into sales education and sales training. The purpose of this study is to update the sales entertainment literature, record its current importance in the age of sales systemization, and propose entertainment strategies and guidelines that can be shared in both corporate sales training programs and university professional sales curricula.

Methodology/approach: Partial least squares (PLS) methodology (SmartPLS 2.0) was used to examine the model and assess the relationships between the constructs and their indicators. Data was first gathered via online and in person surveys distributed to a total of 59 sales executives. To determine whether there were significant differences between path coefficients, PLS multi-group analysis was used (PLS-MGA) to compare sales practitioners’ response to sale educators and sales students. This method was used because conducting pair-wise group comparisons can result in family-wise error.

Findings: Results indicate significant positive relationships exist between entertainment orientation, internal bonding activities, and sales performance. The results confirm the path coefficients for the 3 groups, sales practitioners, sales educators, and sales students, did not differ significantly. Therefore, all groups rated external entertainment as being important to achieve sales performance and internally for bonding with co-workers.

Originality/value/contribution: The responses of B to B sales professionals, sales educators, and sales students are compared regarding their perception of entertainment in developing and managing sales relationships. Based upon the findings, sales professionals are provided with insight about the perceived role entertainment plays

in today’s selling environment and offered recommendations for collegiate classrooms and corporate on-boarding sessions that improve the knowledge of and ability to successfully manage entertainment of internal and external customers.     

The Quest to Improve the Human Condition: The First 1 500 Articles Published in Journal of Business Ethics

In 1999, the Journal of Business Ethics published its 1 500th article. This article commemorates the journal's quest "to improve the human condition" (Michalos, 1988, p. 1) with a summary and assessment of the first eighteen volumes. The first part provides an overview of JBE, highlighting the journal's growth, types of methodologies published, and the breadth of the field. The second part provides a detailed account of the quantitative research findings. Major research topics include (1) prevalence of ethical behavior, (2) ethical sensitivities, (3) ethics codes and programs, (4) corporate social performance and policies, (5) human resource practices and policies, and (6) professions – accounting, marketing/sales, and finance/strategy. Much remains to be done.     

An Investigation of Ethics Officer Independence

In this paper, we examine whether ethics officers are able to perform their assigned duties independently of organizational management. Specifically, we investigate whether inherent conflicts of interest with company management potentially hinder the ability of ethics officers to serve as an effective monitor and deterrent of unethical activity throughout the organization. As part of our analysis, we conducted 10 detailed phone interviews with current and retired ethics officers in order to determine whether practicing ethics officers feel the need for additional independence protection from management. We propose that the current system in which ethics officers report to management must be changed in order for ethics officers to effectively perform their jobs. Specifically, we maintain that ethics officers should (1) be hired by, (2) be fired by, and (3) report directly to the corporate board of directors rather than company management. Such a change in the reporting environment would greatly enhance the independence of ethics officers. W. Michael Hoffman, Ph.D., is the founding Executive Director of the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley College. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, has authored or edited 16 books, and has published over 70 articles. In addition, Dr. Hoffman was the first Executive Director of the Ethics Officer Association and currently is the advisor to its board of directors. John D. Neill, Ph.D., CPA, is a professor of accounting at Abilene Christian University and has previously published articles in numerous journals including the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Accounting Literature, Accounting Horizons, Journal of Applied Business Research, the Financial Analysts Journal, and the Journal of Accounting, Ethics, and Public Policy. O. Scott Stovall, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of accounting at Abilene Christian University and has published articles in the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Applied Business Research, Management Accounting Quarterly, and The Journal of Accounting Case Research.     

A personal construct analysis of adaptive selling and sales experience

Customer orientation is a key to successful marketing strategies. In personal selling, customer orientation has been shown to be related to the quality of the customer-salesperson relationship (Saxe & Weitz, 1978). Adaptive selling (Weitz, Sujan, & Sujan, 1986) is a theoretical perspective that suggests sales performance is related to salespeople's ability to shift their customer orientation, by adapting their behavior to different customers in different situations. This article presents personal construct theory (Kelly, 1955) as a framework for understanding how sales personnel perceive and adapt to customers. An interview technique known as laddering (Gutman, 1982; Hinkle, 1965) is used to elicit these constructs from sales personnel. Results of the interviews are compared across levels of sales experience. Consistent with the Sujan, Sujan, and Bettman (1988) findings relating sales effectiveness and breadth of knowledge structures, we find that the number of years of sales experience is related to the breadth of constructs obtained from the laddering interviews. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.