Self-oriented competitiveness in salespeople: sales management implications

Wyatt A. Schrock, Douglas E. Hughes, Yanhui Zhao, Clay Voorhees, John R. Hollenbeck

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science · 2021 · Volume 49 · Issue 6

Abstract

We explore the complexity of salesperson competitiveness and the concept of self-oriented competitiveness (SOC). Study 1 develops and validates a measure of SOC within a nomological network of achievement-related and personality constructs. Study 2 leverages a field experiment with a corporate sales force to explore alternative financial incentive structures facilitating performance across salespeople possessing different types of competitiveness. Using a contingency approach to leadership behavior and a multilevel field study with salesperson–sales manager dyadic data, Study 3 shows that other-oriented competitiveness (OOC) and SOC lead to conditionally distinct salesperson behaviors and differential performance outcomes. Collectively, the three investigations suggest that SOC is a unique construct having important sales management and future research implications.

Keywords

Trait competitiveness, Leadership behavior, Helping behavior, Sales contest, Working smart, Salesperson performance, Person–environment (P–E) fit

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