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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to examine a customer orientation mechanism through which abusive supervision influences retail salespeople’s job performance; and second, to investigate how abusive supervision’s effects may be moderated by the same leader’s use of contingent punishment and contingent reward.Design/methodology/approachTwo studies provide consistent findings. Study 1 used the field survey data from 129 salespeople in 42 retail stores. The proposed moderated mediation model was estimated using the random coefficient modeling technique. Findings were replicated in Study 2, in which data were collected from a sample of 679 US retail salespeople recruited through M-Turk.FindingsResults from both studies show that abusive supervision reduces salespeople’s job performance through lowering their customer orientation. Furthermore, the use of contingent punishment from the same supervisor buffers abusive supervision’s detrimental effect, whereas the use of contingent reward augments it.Research limitations/implicationsThe issues the authors address in this research have significant implications for the literature of abusive supervision and retail selling. First, the authors contribute to the abusive supervision literature by pointing it out that the negative effect of abusive supervision can spill over to organizations’ external stakeholders, namely, customers. Previous research on abusive supervision has mainly focused on how abused subordinates exhibit hostile acts directed against the supervisor, coworkers and the organization (Tepperet al., 2017), with little attention paid to abusive supervision’s impact on organizations’ external stakeholders such as customers. This research fills the void by placing impaired customer-orientation as a critical consequence of abusive supervision. Second, this research tests a contingent self-regulation impairment model of abusive supervision and advances our understanding about how the same supervisor’s functional leadership behaviors (contingent reward/punishment) may set contingencies for the effect of abusive supervision on employee outcomes. This investigation clears the doubts about whether the use of functional leadership behaviors along with abusive supervision buffers or aggravates the detrimental effect of the latter. Finally, this study’s findings shed new insights to marketing practitioners, especially in understanding how salespeople may vent their stress on the customers when being abused by their supervisors. Without this in mind, supervisors may not be aware of the consequences of their abusive behavior and may even develop an illusion that such a practice worked. This research shows that abusive supervision can lower employees’ customer orientation, which will hurt the company in the long run.Practical implicationsThe findings intend to provide important guidelines for companies to develop effective workshops and training programs to combat the detrimental effects of abusive supervision in the retailing industry. For example, the findings shed new insights in understanding how employees may vent their stress on the customers when being abused by their supervisors. Without this in mind, supervisors may not be aware of the consequences of their abusive behavior and may even develop an illusion that such a practice worked. Another important managerial implication of this research is that the use of contingent reward after mistreating subordinates can backfire. Supervisor abuses, followed by a contingent reward, send an inconsistent signal to the employee that creates confusion and strain. Inconsistent actions from the supervisor also produce ethical tensions that reduce customer-oriented behaviors and a company’s ability to serve the customer (Friend et al., 2020). These training programs are important methods to combat the detrimental effects of abusive supervision in the workforce.Originality/valueThis research draws on the contingent self-regulation impairment model as an overarching framework to unpack the relationship between abusive supervision and salespeople’s job performance. Integrating three research streams (i.e. abusive supervision, leadership reinforcement and retail selling), this study proposes customer orientation as a novel mechanism and sheds light on how abusive supervision interplays with contingent punishment/reward to impact salespeople’s outcomes.

Impression management tactics have recently been identified as effective strategies for coping with work stressors. However, despite the evidence that using a combination of tactics can provide more favorable outcomes than using a single tactic, previous studies have often examined impression management tactics in isolation. Furthermore, many sales organizations view their employees' proactive behaviors as essential for gaining a competitive advantage, but our knowledge about the antecedents of proactivity at work is still limited. To address this knowledge gap, we introduce a theoretical model that explains the joint moderating effects of combining two forms of impression management tactics on the relationship between work-family conflict and salespeople's proactive behaviors. We study 249 salesperson-supervisor dyads, and the results indicate that work-family conflict is negatively related to salespeople's proactive behaviors through emotional exhaustion. In addition, the combination of ingratiation and self-promotion has a buffering effect on the relationship between work-family conflict and emotional exhaustion.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine how a service provider’s offer quality is evaluated (OQ).This study shows that attitude toward the salesperson in a service context (AS) is an important antecedent to OQ.Design/methodology/approachThis study involves three studies, first is a dyadic data analyzed with HLM, second is an experiment and the third an IAT.FindingsThe findings of this study show that active empathetic listening increases offer quality evaluations, regardless of the AS level. However, at lower levels of AS,sales perseverancenegatively affects offer quality evaluations.Originality/valueWhile research suggests that listening is extremely important, there is also research that suggests that perseverance is more important. Considering data from sales people and from consumers, the authors examine when listening and when perseverance is important.

While previous literature provides evidence of the positive relationship between ethical climate and job satisfaction, the possible mechanisms of this relationship are still underexplored. This study aims to enhance scholars’ and practitioners’ understanding of the ethical climate–job satisfaction relationship by identifying and testing two of the possible mechanisms. More specifically, this study fills an existing research gap by examining social and interpersonal mechanisms, referred to in this study as workplace isolation of colleagues and salesperson’s teamwork, of the ethical climate–job satisfaction relationship. This is vital for the selling profession because job satisfaction is known to drive higher levels of salespeople’s performance. The arguments for such mechanisms are built on the foundations of social/psychological contract theory and ethical climate literature. Empirical testing using a large sample of salespeople shows higher levels of ethical climate to decrease workplace isolation and increase teamwork. Findings support hypothesized model where ethical climate positively relates to job satisfaction as partially mediated by workplace isolation and teamwork. Ethical climate is negatively related to workplace isolation and positively to teamwork. Further, findings indicate negative effect of workplace isolation on teamwork and sales performance. Job satisfaction is found to be key factor in driving performance of salespeople.

This study uses dyadic data from 145 salespeople paired with their managers to investigate relationships among servant leadership, ethical work climate (EWC), behavior control, trust in supervisor (TS), and salesperson performance. The manuscript tests a conceptual model based on precepts from servant leadership, the services climate concept, and the EWC notion. Research findings show that servant leadership behaviors from management (SLMB) impact salesperson performance through a mediating process that involves servant leadership perceptions from the salesperson (SLSP) and EWC. Results also show that (1) behavioral control moderates the impact of SLMB on SLSP and (2) TS moderates the impact of SLSP on EWC.

This study examines how conflict and hours worked affect the influence of customer orientation on frontline service employee satisfaction. The conceptual model builds upon the role of personal resources in the job demands-resource model, while integrating perspectives from the work–family conflict (WFC) literature and conservation of resources theory. Results indicate that customer orientation influences employee satisfaction both directly and indirectly through interpersonal conflict with customers (ICC), WFC, and felt stress. The impact of ICC on employee satisfaction was found to be fully rather than partially mediated. ICC increases WFC which then augments job stress and eventually reduces job satisfaction. Moderation analyses show that the negative influence of customer orientation on ICC becomes stronger as hours worked increase to exceptionally high levels; while the positive influence of customer orientation on employee satisfaction becomes weaker as hours worked increase to exceptionally high lev...

Emotional intelligence can positively impact sales outcomes. However, research is needed to enhance our understanding about how salesperson's emotional intelligence affects adaptive selling and customer outcomes. This study uses dyadic data from 150 customers matched with 25 salespeople to investigate relationships among emotional intelligence, adaptive selling (AS) and customer loyalty perceptions. Research findings show that regulation of emotions negatively affects salesperson-owned loyalty (SOL), while it positively moderates the AS-SOL relationship. These findings are critical as they challenge the pervasive conception of the positive impact of regulation of emotions in sales. Results also provide further evidence that SOL is important to the firm as it positively affects loyalty to the service provider and through mediating processes also impacts word of mouth.

Top performing salespeople are attracted to organizations that provide opportunities to make full use of their abilities. Responses from 1450 sales directors from a leading direct selling organization were used to examine salesperson's experienced meaningfulness. Results show that experienced meaningfulness is critical to sales because it impacts salesperson's performance, turnover intentions and felt stress. Further, ethical climate and customer demandingness influence experienced meaningfulness perceptions.

Sales research has recognized the importance of ethical climate perceptions. However, research that examines the influence of ethical climate on how favorably salespeople perceive their organizations is lacking. This is critical because these factors may affect a salesperson’s behavior, life satisfaction, and performance. Using a sample of salespeople from the television broadcasting industry, we derive and test a model involving ethical climate, organization identity comparisons, lone wolf tendencies, life satisfaction, behavioral performance, and outcome performance. Results suggest that salespeople’s perceptions of their company have a significant effect on individual and organizational outcomes. Implications for managers and researchers are discussed.

This paper identifies three potential barriers to career advancement in sales: being excluded from informal networks, a lack of cultural fit, and a lack of mentoring. Using a sample of 241 account executives and managers from an organization in the television broadcasting industry, study results suggest that perceived barriers to career advancement (PBCA) have a significant negative impact on the organizational commitment (OC) of these sales employees. Effects are estimated with path analysis, and the effects of common method bias and job satisfaction are considered. Demographic variables (age, gender, company tenure, job level) are also hypothesized to moderate the relationship between PBCA and OC. The negative influence of PBCA on OC is found to become stronger as company tenure increases. Data also suggest that the negative relationship between PBCA and OC is more powerful among account executives than sales managers/directors. Managerial and research implications are discussed.

Job stress is an integral part of the organizational landscape and particularly severe in the sales profession. A host of studies have looked at felt stress, its antecedents, and consequences. This research examines how employee resistance to change and a manager's decisiveness affect the salesperson's felt stress and turnover intentions. This study shows that the salesperson's resistance to change is positively associated with felt stress. Study results also show that the impact of an employee's resistance to change on felt stress is moderated by a manager's decisiveness. Model hypotheses are tested with responses from 255 bank salespeople in India.

This research examines a model focused on two acute workplace stressors—interpersonal conflict and work overload—and their interrelationships with role stress, emotional exhaustion, job attitude, working smart, job performance, and turnover intentions. The moderating role of working smart on the relationship between work overload and interpersonal conflict is also investigated. A model is tested using responses of sales employees working for four large financial institutions in South America. Findings indicate that work overload and interpersonal conflict mediate the impact of role stress on emotional exhaustion, job attitudes, and behaviors. Our findings also show that work overload plays a significant role in the stressor-strain process. Results are discussed with reference to previous findings and future research.

Sales force retention is frequently deemed a critical organizational objective. Responses from 501 full-time salespeople from a variety of industries were used to test a model that examines the impact of servant leadership on salesperson’s turnover intention. This study shows that servant leadership affects turnover intention through a complex moderated and mediated chain-of-effects that involves ethical level, person–organization fit, and organization commitment. This study also shows that servant leadership gains importance when the organization is perceived by the salesperson as unethical. Managerial implications and directions for future research are also provided.

As the lines blur between when work ends and home life begins, employees, working longer hours and multitasking, increasingly report feeling overwhelmed by their work. This research note investigates the effect of work overload and self-effcacy on important job outcomes—capability rewards and pay satisfaction. Utilizing social cognitive theory, the job demands control model, and the psychological contract notion, this paper provides evidence that role stress and work overload mediate the effect of self-effcacy on capability rewards and pay satisfaction. An empirical study is presented that includes 138 responses from boat and marine products salespeople. Study results and future research are discussed.

This study develops and tests a model that examines the relationships among lone wolf tendencies, task performance, contextual performance, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions with a sample of 331 pharmaceutical salespeople. Results reveal that lone wolf tendencies lead to a lower contextual performance as represented by the dimensions of helping, courtesy, and sportsmanship. Task performance is subsequently reduced. Ultimately, turnover intentions are higher based on lower job satisfaction of salespeople with lone wolf tendencies. Managerial implications of working with lone wolf salespeople are provided.

This study explores why salespeople with equal intrinsic motivation may achieve different levels of performance. Utilizing action control theory, the paper explores the moderating effect of the initiative dimension of action-state orientation on the salesperson’s intrinsic motivation and adaptive selling relationship. An empirical study is presented that included 223 Ecuadorian salespeople and objective performance measures. Findings indicate that salesperson’s initiative strengthens the relationship between intrinsic motivation and adaptive selling. In addition, results show that adaptive selling is a significant antecedent of objective salesperson’s performance. Finally, results reveal that initiative has a significant direct effect on objective performance.

Based on previous research, this study proposes conceptualization and measurement of five distinct ethical levels. The ideas are tested with secondary data obtained from responses of 246 salespeople to a nationwide survey conducted by a leading research firm. Results support a hierarchically indexed measure of ethical level and offer evidence that ethical level relates to a number of important organizational outcomes relevant to long-term viability and success. Specifically, ethical level is positively associated with salesperson well-being, customer and societally related measures, and also with a set of proxies for market and financial performance. This paper brings an important contribution to the sales and ethics literature by demonstrating that a true commitment to ethics is beneficial to salespersons and the firm, and that higher ethical commitment above and beyond codes and enforcement is even more beneficial. A discussion of implications and directions for further research is provided.

PurposeIn the years since Saxe and Weitz developed a scale to measure the selling orientation and customer orientation (SOCO) of a salesperson, research findings on the effect of SOCO on salesperson job performance have shown mixed results. This article aims to synthesize the findings from the empirical studies to identify the direction and the strength of this relationship. In addition, it aims to investigate the moderating effect of customer type (business or end user consumer) and type of job performance measure used (subjective or objective).Design/methodology/approachResearch questions were addressed by a meta‐analysis of 16 studies containing 17 effect sizes from 3,477 respondents.FindingsMeta‐analysis results reveal an attenuated weighted mean effect size (r) of this relationship of 0.14, with a 90 percent confidence interval of 0.04 to 0.23. The disattenuated mean effect size (rc) is 0.16. Findings also reveal that neither customer type nor type of job performance measures moderated the SOCO and job performance relationship.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough diligence was exercised to reduce selection bias, relevant studies may have been excluded from this meta‐analysis.Practical implicationsStudy findings demonstrate that SOCO is an important predictor of salesperson job performance. High performance occurs when salespeople focus their energy on identifying the customer's individual needs and offer products to satisfy those needs.Originality/valueThis is the first published SOCO meta‐analysis.

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.

This study builds on previous research to investigate the integrated effects of ethical climate and supervisory trust on salesperson’s job attitudes and intentions to quit. Responses from 344 sales...

Emotional exhaustion and organizational deviance are getting increased attention because of their negative impact on business in terms of lost productivity, decreased job satisfaction, lower organizational commitment, and decreased performance. In this study, we investigated the combined effect of leadership style and person–job fit on emotional exhaustion using a sample of employees that provide healthcare and social benefits to a large metropolitan county. We also explored how the impact of emotional exhaustion on organizational deviance behaviors is mediated by employee's job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Results indicate that both emotional exhaustion and job attitudes mediate the effects of participative leadership and person–job fit on organizational deviance. Managerial implications are also provided.

This study builds on previous research to investigate the effects of ethical climate on salesperson’s role stress, job attitudes, turnover intention, and job performance. Responses from 138 salespeople who work for a large retailer selling high-end consumer durables at 68 stores in 16 states were used to examine the process through which ethical climate affects organizational variables. This is the first study offering empirical evidence that both job stress and job attitudes are the mechanisms through which a high ethical climate leads to lower turnover intention and higher job performance. Results indicate that ethical climate results in lower role conflict and role ambiguity and higher satisfaction, which, in turn, leads to lower turnover intention and organizational commitment. Also, findings indicate that organizational commitment is a significant predictor of job performance.

This article presents a meta-analysis that includes studies conducted over the past 25 years across 14 countries and a mix of selling and nonselling situations. Findings indicate that the relationship between organizational commitment and job performance is positive and stronger for sales employees than for nonsales employees. Stronger correlations between organizational commitment and job performance are found for collectivist compared to individualistic cultures. The results are discussed in terms of implications for future sales force performance research.

PurposeThis study takes an interdisciplinary research orientation in an attempt to comprehensively investigate the effects of police stress internal to the organization (i.e. role ambiguity, role conflict, supervisor support, group cohesiveness, and promotion opportunities) on organizational commitment, after controlling for the effects of job satisfaction. Existing empirical models have mainly been limited to analyses of the effects of role conflict and role ambiguity on job strain and rely on samples of salespeople, customer satisfaction employees, and retail managers working at private organizations to the neglect of not‐for‐profit organizations.Design/methodology/approachTherefore, the underlying research hypotheses were tested using responses to 150 surveys from police officers of six law enforcement agencies.FindingsResults indicate that in addition to job satisfaction, supervisor's support, group cohesiveness, and promotion opportunities are the best predictors of organizational commitment of law enforcement officers. The results also indicate a significant relationship between organizational commitment and intention to leave.Research limitations/implicationsStudy findings are based on responses of officers from six police agencies in Florida. Results may not be representative of all US police.Practical implicationsResearch findings may help senior police officers in charge of managing the police force design strategies that both enhance police officers', organizational commitment and diminish turnover intentions.Originality/valueThis study empirically tested a model that examines the effects of stressors on commitment and turnover intentions in police settings.