Antecedents of adaptive selling behaviour: a study of the Korean cosmetic industry

Abstract

PurposeThis paper examines the antecedents of adaptive selling behavior empirically from the salespeople's, customers', and firms' perspectives.Design/methodology/approachSurvey design was used for this study. Data from 219 salespeople and their visiting customers in selected cosmetics companies in Korea are used to test the conceptual model using structural equation modeling.FindingsFindings show that intrinsic motivation, empathy, and product knowledge are germane to adaptive selling behavior among salesperson-level factors. Similarly, among the customer-level factors, the length of the relationship between salespeople and customers positively affects adaptive selling behavior. Also, while supervisory empowerment among the organizational-level factors significantly predicts adaptive selling behavior, supervisory control has a negative effect on adaptive selling behavior. The study finds that emotional intelligence and customer value demandingness do not significantly affect adaptive selling behavior.Originality/valueEven though there is extant research on adaptive selling behavior, our research differs from previous research because our research focuses on door-to-door personal selling channels. Furthermore, this study departs from previous research because it uses customer-reporting of the salespeople and salespeople's self-reporting responses.

Salesforce output control and customer-oriented selling behaviours

“…This result also emphasises the need for sales managers to use more output sales control because it increases salespeople's autonomy. This finding is consistent with the findings of Amenuvor et al. (2021a), who contend that by implementing controls such as output control, salespeople are empowered to engage in customer-directed selling behaviours such as adaptive selling behaviour.…”

“…This result also emphasises the need for sales managers to use more output sales control because it increases salespeople's autonomy. This finding is consistent with the findings of Amenuvor et al (2021a), who contend that by implementing controls such as output control, salespeople are empowered to engage in customer-directed selling behaviours such as adaptive selling behaviour. Furthermore, this finding supports the claims of Wang and Netemeyer (2002) and Joshi and Randall (2001) that salespeople's perceptions of the organisation may be influenced by their recognition and experience of autonomy, which may influence their customer-oriented selling behaviours.…”

“…The behaviour of salespeople, who are viewed as an important link between customers and the company and play an important role in developing and providing value to customers, is critical to the success of most organisations (Amenuvor et al, 2021a). In many organisations, however, salespeople work in the field on their own with little supervision (Lai-Bennejean and Beitelspacher, 2021).…”

“…The behaviour of salespeople, who are viewed as an important link between customers and the company and play an important role in developing and providing value to customers, is critical to the success of most organisations (Amenuvor et al. , 2021a).…”

The Effect of Door-to-Door Salespeople’s Individual Sales Capabilities on Selling Behavior and Performance: The Moderating Effect of Competitive Intensity

“…Strong salespeople are concerned with short-term sales, but the organization is more concerned with long-term customer relationships. Long-term relationship awareness is particularly important for salespeople in the personal selling market, which values customer relationships, as well as for sales organizations that use customer relationship indicators as performance indicators to encourage salespeople's customer-oriented selling behavior [36]. The following hypothesis is proposed based on the foregoing: H1a.…”