Customer‐oriented selling: Exploring the roles of emotional intelligence and organizational commitment

Professional salespeople are often placed in situations where role conflict and ambiguity are prevalent. They are generally expected to sell a firm's products and services to generate immediate profits, while simultaneously building customer satisfaction and promoting lifetime customers and the long‐term economic viability of the firm. The concept of customer‐oriented selling illustrates the conflict, as salespeople are required to forgo immediate benefits in lieu of long‐term rewards. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships existing between customer‐oriented selling, emotional intelligence, and organizational commitment. The results indicate that a salesperson's customer orientation level is significantly related to emotional intelligence. Implications of the findings indicate that managers should consider using emotional intelligence as a selection and human‐resource development tool, as improvements in emotional intelligence are correlated with greater levels of customer orientation. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Antecedents of adaptive selling among retail salespeople: A multilevel analysis

The literature on adaptive selling behavior has grown rapidly over the years, with heavier emphasis placed on industrial/professional salespeople and less attention given to retail salespeople. This study contributes to addressing this imbalance by examining the effects of two salesperson factors (selling skills and affective commitment) and two company-level variables (empowerment and behavior-based control) on the adaptive selling behavior of retail salespeople. Using data obtained from a two staged sampling procedure (105 companies and 419 salespeople), we employ a multilevel analytical procedure to model the effects of the salesperson and organizational factors on adaptive selling behavior of retail salespeople. The results indicate that selling skills and affective commitment directly influence adaptive selling while empowerment and behavior based control only indirectly influence adaptive selling behavior. Based on the findings of this study, implications for managing retail salespeople as well as limitations and suggestions for future research are presented.     

Individual and contextual influences on the affective commitment of retail salespeople

Abstract

Salesperson characteristics as well as managerial approaches have been found to play an important role in the development of positive attitudes by salespersons towards an organisation. This study integrates these two research areas to investigate the personal and contextual antecedents of affective organisational commitment of retail salespeople. Fit theory and the literature on person–situation interaction provide the theoretical bases for explaining how salesperson selling skills, job liking, and empowerment individually and jointly influence affective commitment. A multilevel modelling approach is used to analyse data from 105 sales managers and 419 salespeople. Findings reveal that salespersons' affective commitment is influenced by their selling skills, degree of job liking, tenure, and empowerment. The results also indicate that the impact of selling skills on affective commitment is higher when empowerment is high. Based on the study's findings, implications for managing salespeople as well as limitations and suggestions for future research are offered.     

Are performance appraisals a bureaucratic exercise or can they be used to enhance sales‐force satisfaction and commitment?

In some sales organizations the performance appraisal is treated as a bureaucratic exercise. As such, sales managers may essentially conduct appraisals in an arbitrary and perfunctory manner. This behavior could be based on the belief that conducting performance appraisals requires considerable amounts of time and effort, generates few rewards, and adds considerably to the manager's level of conflict and stress. The purpose of this research is to examine the relationships existing between performance appraisals, salesperson organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. If various characteristics of performance appraisals that build commitment and satisfaction could be identified, then managers may be more capable of using performance appraisals that yield positive results. A survey of 185 retail salespeople and 58 retail sales managers provided the data required to evaluate the relationship between satisfaction, commitment, and various aspects of performance appraisals. The results of the study indicate that managerially mediated factors may be used to enhance salesperson job satisfaction and organizational commitment. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Examining the link between salesperson networking behaviors,job satisfaction,and organizational commitment: Does gender matter?

Sales professionals are embedded in an array of social interactions through their networking behaviors, yet the literature's understanding of these effects on job-based attitudes is relatively limited. Further, research suggests that men and women, not only network differently, but also often benefit in different ways from networking. This study examines the extent to which gender moderates the relationships between three forms of salesperson networking behaviors, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. The data from a survey of 179 salespeople indicates that networking behaviors are related to job satisfaction and commitment in sales. However, the relationships vary for male and female salespeople. When analyzed separately, job satisfaction relates positively to professional networking for women, while job satisfaction relates positively to peer networking for men. In addition, peer networking directly relates to organizational commitment for women, rather than mediated by job satisfaction.     

Deviant behavior in retail,when sales associates “Go Bad”! Examining the relationship between the work–family interface,job stress,and salesperson deviance

The unique role of retail sales associates combined with retailers desire to establish relational selling, make associates vulnerable to work–family conflict (WFC). Unfortunately, research examining how retail sales associates cope with a WFC is limited. This research investigates relationships between WFC, job stress, and three dimensions of salesperson deviance: organizational, interpersonal, and frontline. Findings indicate that WFC has a significant direct effect on all three deviant behaviors, as well as job stress. Interestingly, the relationship between job stress and deviant behavior is not significant. This finding adds to the debate regarding job stress as a mediator between WFC and deviant behavior or outcome variable.     

Opportunities to improve skills and to teach and train others: employee outcomes in the United States and Japan

Opportunities to improve skills and opportunities to teach or train others may be associated with job satisfaction, work engagement and organizational commitment. The analysis reported in this paper used a subsample of 823 employees within two Japanese and three American worksites. We tested not only the direct relationships of each type of training opportunity (to improve skills and to teach or train others) with each of three outcomes (job satisfaction, work engagement and organizational commitment) but also the potential moderating roles of performance orientation, job security and age. The relationships were assessed separately for Japanese and American respondents. The results highlight the importance of opportunities to improve skills for all three outcomes and of opportunities to teach and train for job satisfaction and work engagement. Performance orientation, job security and age generally were not significant moderators and, when they were, the effects were typically restricted to one country. The consistently positive coefficients for training opportunities should provide insight for cross‐national organizations seeking to identify human resource policies effective across varying cultural, economic and demographic contexts.     

Servant Leadership,Proactive Work Behavior,and Performance Overall Rating: Testing a Multilevel Model of Moderated Mediation

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The goal of this paper is to investigate whether salesperson proactive behavior mediates the relationship between sales manager servant leadership and salesperson overall performance rating by the sales manager. Moreover, it examines whether salesperson customer orientation and political skill moderate the sales manager servant leadership ? salesperson proactive behavior ─ salesperson overall performance. Design/methodology/approach: Empirical analysis is based on dyadic data from 181 industrial salespeople and their sales managers in a range of different industries (including both manufacturing and service industries). To analyze the multilevel moderated mediation process, this investigation uses Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling (MSEM). Findings: Sales manager servant leadership was positively related to salespeople overall performance rating through their proactive behavior except when their customer orientation was low. Moreover, this relationship between sales manager servant leadership and overall performance rating through proactive work behavior was stronger the greater the salespeople consumer orientation and political skill. Research implications: The study suggests that sales manager servant leadership is indirectly related to salesperson overall performance rating through salesperson proactive behavior. The findings also support subsequent research on salesperson values, skills, and behaviors as moderators in the servant leadership – proactive behavior – overall performance rating relationship. Understanding how these salesperson factors interact with sales management leadership to produce organizational outcomes (e.g., stress, engagement, organizational commitment) are questions that sales researchers may wish to pursue via further study. Practical implications: Sales managers should employ servant leadership to stimulate salespeople proactive work behavior. This study clearly indicates the salespeople need to adopt customer orientation and to have political skill. Hence, sales managers need to try to improve the customer orientation and the political skill of their salespeople through selection procedures or training programs. Originality/value: The relationship between sales manager servant leadership and salesperson overall performance through proactive work behavior has not been addressed and tested in the literature to date.     

Causes and Consequences of Abusive Supervision in Sales Management: A Tale of Two Perspectives

Abuse may characterize some most important relationships, and it is estimated that 20 million Americans face abusive work situations on a daily basis. Given this statistic, there is a clear need to investigate this topic within the marketing literature. As a result, the purpose of this study is to explore antecedents and outcomes of abusive supervision in sales management, where the performance‐driven nature of salesperson–sales manager relationships often creates a highly stressful situation. This research looks at several characteristics of sales managers from their perspectives as well as subordinates, and it considers how abuse influences professional and personal lives of both parties. Causes under investigation include leadership style, justice perceptions, negative affectivity, and experiences of abusive leadership by sales managers. Their impact is measured on salesperson and manager job satisfaction and organizational commitment. A model is used to help readers visualize the processes involved with both salespersons and sales managers, and theoretical and practical implications are provided in the close.     

Salespersons' self‐monitoring: Direct,indirect, and moderating effects on salespersons' organizational citizenship behavior

Research into self‐monitoring (SM) confirms that people differ when it comes to how much they observe, regulate, and control themselves in certain social settings and interpersonal relationships. Research also shows that high self‐monitors, as opposed to low self‐monitors, perform better in boundary‐spanning positions that require good communication skills. Therefore, it is a matter of interest to analyze the effects of SM on salespeople's behavior, and on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in particular. It has been proven that this behavior affects the performance of organizations and influences supervisors' evaluations of subordinates. Although a number of studies examine the antecedents of OCB, certain relationships have yet to be looked at. This study proposes and tests a model stating that salespersons' OCB is determined by salespersons' SM, with this relationship being mediated by salespersons' person–organization (PO) fit and job satisfaction. This study also analyzes the moderating effect of salespersons' SM on PO fit to job satisfaction relationships, as well as on job satisfaction to OCB relationships. Data collected from 122 supervisor–salesperson dyads in 35 companies across 9 different sectors confirm the proposed model. In fact, the results show that SM, both directly and indirectly, has a positive effect on OCB due to the way in which it influences salespersons' PO fit and job satisfaction. The results also confirm the moderating role of SM in the relationships between job satisfaction and OCB, and between PO fit and job satisfaction. Certain implications of this study, as well as directions for future research, are also addressed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Under the sway of a mobile device during an in‐store shopping experience

Mobile device technology is transforming the retail shopping experience. Today's consumers are mobile dependent, preferring to consult with their phone, instead of using the salesperson, while shopping at the retail store. In the absence of literature investigating how the salesperson might sell to this omni‐channel, mobile‐connected consumer, this paper proposes a conceptual model and tests its proposed linkages. The empirically tested model presents a dyadic view of the omni‐channel consumer and the salesperson. Uniquely contributing to the omni‐channel and marketing literature, samples from an emerging economy (India) and developed (United States) economy represent the contexts. Specifically, the research examines the salesperson's role in selling to a mobile‐dependent consumer who uses mobile technology to search for information during the sales meeting. Findings show that adaptive selling can affect purchase intention and customer predisposition to comply with salesperson input. Results also reveal how perceived control, mobile dependence, and customer predisposition to comply with mobile device input affect purchase intention. Managerial and research implications specifically appropriate for the omni‐consumer retail setting are offered.     

Ethical work climate,employee commitment and proactive customer service performance: Test of the mediating effects of organizational politics

This study examined the mediating effects of organizational politics on the relationships between ethical work climate and two employee outcomes: affective commitment and proactive customer service performance. Using 200 survey responses collected from six shopping malls, we found that perceived ethical work climate had a direct effect on employee perceptions of organizational politics, affective commitment and proactive customer service performance. Moreover, perceived organizational politics partially mediated the relationship between ethical climate and affective commitment, but not that between ethical climate and proactive customer service behavior. We recommend retailers develop ethical climate to strengthen their competitive advantage.     

The Impact of Caring Climate,Job Satisfaction,and Organizational Commitment on Job Performance of Employees in a China’s Insurance Company

This research uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the direct and indirect relationships among caring climate, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job performance of 476 employees working in a Chinese insurance company. The SEM result showed that caring climate had a significant direct impact on job satisfaction, organizational command, and job performance. Caring climate also had a significant indirect impact on organizational commitment through the mediating role of job satisfaction, and on job performance through the mediating role of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. In addition, job satisfaction had significant direct impact on organizational commitment, through which it also had a significant indirect impact on job performance. Finally, organizational commitment had a significant direct impact on job performance.     

The Strategic Role of the Salesperson in Established Buyer-Seller Relationships

When the ordering function is governed by administrative arrangements and sales are regulated by long-term contracts, managers may question the necessity and the tasks of the sales function within established customer relationships. The authors examine three issues related to the role of the salesperson in established industrial buyer-seller relationships: (1) appropriate measures of salesperson performance within a relationship, (2) behaviors and skills affecting salesperson performance, and (3) the effect of salesperson performance on the relationship. The results from a survey of industrial buyers suggest that the salesperson has a significant and substantial effect on relationship continuity. They also show that the salesperson contributes to perceptions of the supplier's reliability and supplier services. The key attributes of an effective salesperson are ability to resolve conflicts, ability to develop a personal relationship with customers, and ability to facilitate exchange of information between the supplier and buyer firms.     

The role of salespeople in industrial servitization: How to manage diminishing profit returns from salespeople’s increasing industrial service shares

Business-to-business companies often differentiate themselves from competitors by complementing goods with services. While extant literature on servitization points to substantial benefits for companies and underscores the importance of the sales force for successful servitization, it has rarely empirically investigated the negative effects of and barriers to effective selling of servitized offerings at the salesperson level. Drawing on transaction cost theory, we propose that with rising service shares, the specificity of offers and transaction costs grow, partially offsetting the financial benefits. We derive four salesperson factors that moderate the effect of salespeople’s industrial service share on salespeople’s profit. These factors pertain to the extent to which salespeople individualize offers and effectively manage offers’ specificity (adaptiveness, customer valuation skills, experience). We test our conceptualization with data from 220 salespeople and company records. The results are robust to endogeneity and show that service share has a diminishing positive effect on salesperson profit. While salespersons’ offer individualization enforces this harmful effect, salesperson adaptiveness and customer valuation skills show beneficial moderating effects. This study provides valuable insights for researchers and managers into the role of the sales force in servitization and into salesperson factors conducive to realizing the full profit potential of servitized offerings.     

Logistics Service Providers and Their Customers: Gaining Commitment Through Organizational Implants

The current research examines the following question: how can on‐site representatives (i.e., organizational implants) be used to generate greater interorganizational relationship commitment? The relationship marketing literature explores many facets of interorganizational relationships and commitment, but until now, it has not considered the colocation of employees from separate firms. Dyadic survey data were collected from logistics service providers (LSPs) and their customers. The paired dyads were then analyzed using path analysis. Results indicate that organizational implantation can lead to greater levels of outcome interdependence between the organizations, which can then generate greater levels of commitment from the LSP toward the customer. Results also suggest that organizational implantation can lead to greater levels of relational capital and responsiveness, which is shown to generate greater levels of commitment from the customer toward the LSP.     

Factors influencing employee perceptions of customer service climate

This study examines the relationships between certain organizational variables and employees' perceptions of the customer service climate in their organization. In addition, the role of organizational commitment in this process is examined. Results indicate that rewarding employees for service excellence, allowing their voice to be heard by upper management, providing employees with the information and technology needed to do their jobs, providing adequate training to customer contact employees, allowing employees enough time to get their tasks done, and providing a work environment conducive to getting work done are all positively associated with employee perceptions of customer service climate. Based on mediated regression and a LISREL analysis, these relationships are all found to be partially mediated by organizational commitment. These results are consistent with previous customer service research, which has found organizational support and rewards to be positively related to customer service. We extend this literature by showing that organizational commitment may be a key variable linking organizational support and rewards to customer service. Implications of these findings are discussed and suggestions for further research are offered.Lincoln National Corporation     

Fostering creative selling through ethics. An emotion-based approach

Research on salesperson creativity remains as one of the most under-researched topics in the sales literature despite the evidence that encouraging creativity in the sales domain is a source of competitive advantage. This paper aims to fill this research gap by exploring the influence of perceived ethical climate on salesperson creative performance, paying special attention to the role that emotions play in this process. Data provided by 176 supervisor–salesperson dyads confirm that the trust/responsibility dimension of an ethical climate is positively related to salesperson creative selling by increasing salespeople's organizational pride. Similarly, the perception of unethical selling practices negatively affects salesperson organizational pride, reducing the expression of creative behaviors. Moreover, the negative effect of unethical selling practices on creative performance is stronger (more negative) when salespeople's identification with an organization increases. Managerial implications and future research directions are also addressed.     

Empowering salespeople: Personal,managerial, and organizational perspectives

The traditional seven steps of personal selling have remained virtually unchanged since the early 1900s. Meanwhile, the actual roles and duties of salespeople have pushed far into customer relationship management (CRM). Psychologically and professionally, salespeople need greater empowerment for their expanding CRM responsibilities. However, empowerment is a complex process requiring several individual, managerial, and organizational changes for successful implementation. As part of the empowerment process for its salespeople, companies need to provide supporting structures, processes, and incentives for customer‐oriented behavior. At the same time, the Internet and other telecommunications advances in the macroenvironment are accelerating empowerment changes in personal selling—mainly on the customer side of the exchange. To effectively and efficiently carry out their growing yet still poorly defined CRM roles, salespeople need to be comprehensively empowered, trained, motivated, and rewarded. Companies that most effectively empower their salespeople should reap substantial rewards in profitability and loyalty from both their salespeople and customers. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Impact of Customer-Salesperson Guanxi and Customer Dependence upon Salesperson Influence Effectiveness

Abstract

This study aims to explore the underlying impact of customer’s perceived dependence on salesperson (CPDS), customer–salesperson guanxi (C-S guanxi), and the customer’s preference of the salesperson’s influence tactics (SITs) on the salesperson’s influence effectiveness. The relationship between CPDS and C-S guanxi is also discussed. Based on the literature review, this study depicts the possible development paths of C-S guanxi and discusses the isolated impact of C-S guanxi dimensions, i.e., ganqing, renqing, mianzi and xinyong, on the customer’s preference of SITs. Several research propositions, theoretical and managerial implications in the context of personal selling and Chinese society are provided.