Social values and salesperson performance: An empirical examination

Although social values have been used increasingly in consumer research, their utility in sales management research has received little attention. Using a national sample of industrial salespeople, the authors evaluate several hypotheses, developed from social adaptation theory and a theoretical framework of values domain, regarding the incremental ability of the List of Values (LOV) to predict salesperson performance beyond adaptive selling (ADAPTS) and customer orientation (SOCO). The LOV shows promise as a tool by which salesperson performance can be predicted. Managerial implications are discussed, and suggestions for future research are presented. He received his Ph.D. in 1989 from the University of Oregon. His experience includes five years in sales and sales management with Xerox and Digital Equipment Corporation. His research interests include sales force management and marketing strategy. He has published in theReview of Marketing, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Journal of Business Forecasting, Journal of Marketing Education, and other journals. He received his Ph.D. in 1989 from the University of Oregon. His current research interests include issues in cross-cultural marketing strategy, global and domestic sales force management, and research methodology. His research has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Journal of Marketing Education, and other journals.