| Abstract: | ABSTRACT Much research in sales management has examined the impact sales manager leadership styles have on salesperson work outcomes. What has not been investigated is what factors may lead an individual to adopt one leadership approach over an alternate. Theorists in organizational behavior posit that personality characteristics may be predictive of the leadership style an individual employs. This paper reports the results of a study that explored whether two key personality variables-extraversion and neuroticism-are related to three prominent leadership styles-laissez-faire, transaction-al, and charismatic. The findings support the overriding hypothesis that the two personality variables are strongly related to and account for a substantial portion of the variance in the three leadership styles. Implications for sales management practice and research are provided. |
