Faking it: salesperson emotional intelligence’s influence on emotional labor strategies and customer outcomes

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how salesperson’s emotional intelligence (EI) influences salesperson behaviors (i.e. emotional labor strategies) and the influence these behavioral strategies have on customer’s outcomes. Design/methodology/approach The study develops a conceptual model using past literature and tests hypotheses using a salesperson-prospective customer dyadic sample. To participate in the study, 224 salespeople and their potential customers were recruited from three different companies. Findings Results reveal the importance of conceptualizing the dimensionality of a salesperson’s EI ability, as different dimensions impact customer outcomes differently. Additionally, the importance of salesperson’s authentic emotional labor strategies is highlighted. Practical implications EI is a foundation for successful selling in a business-to-business environment, but it is not a silver bullet. Sales managers and recruiters should use assessment tools to evaluate sales recruit’s EI, but it is also critical to train salespeople to engage in deep acting, creating authentic emotions in the buyer-seller relationship. Originality/value Using a dyadic sample, this study suggests that the dimensions of EI and emotional labor strategies influence customer’s perception of salesperson’s trustworthiness and propensity to continue the relationship with the salesperson differently. Specifically, not all dimensions of salesperson’s EI is found to be positive, and only salesperson’s authentic (deep) emotional strategies are found to influence customer outcomes positively.

The Role of Exporters’ Emotional Intelligence in Building Foreign Customer Relationships

“…Emotions emerge, either automatically or after interpreting a message, when something important to the individual is at stake. These circumstances evoke a set of coordinated behavioral, experiential, or physiological dispositions that may affect the way individuals react to perceived situational opportunities and challenges that emerge from the external social environment (Delpechitre and Beeler 2018). In the case of a mismatch between emotions and a specific situation, a person will try to regulate his or her emotional responses to achieve specific goals (Gross 2002).…”

“…To decrease negative emotions or increase positive emotions, individuals undergo specific emotion regulation processes involving metacognitive and other response mechanisms in which emotionally intelligent processes are translated into action (Matthews, Zeidner, and Roberts 2003). In other words, emotion regulation allows people to manage their emotional responses to better align with the external social environment (Delpechitre and Beeler 2018).…”

“…Notably, there are hints in the pertinent literature that regulating emotions through the proper use of emotional intelligence plays an important role in allowing a relationship to function well, because it can improve its atmosphere by enhancing, for example, communication, adaptation, and understanding (Delpechitre, Beeler-Connelly, and Chaker 2018; Kadic-Maglajlic et al 2016; Matute, Palau-Saumell, and Viglia 2018) while minimizing the negative role of other behavioral factors in the working relationship, such as conflict, destructive acts, and grudges (Ahn, Sung, and Drumwright 2016; Beverland, Chung, and Kates 2009; Chowdhury 2014). The extant literature also indicates that when emotionally intelligent people are involved in relationships with others, these relationships are usually characterized by harmony, satisfaction, and other positive outcomes (Fitness 2006; Lopes et al 2004; Schutte et al 2001).…”

The Construction of Meaning for the Emotional Labor

“…experience (Bhave & Glomb, 2016;Gabriel, Acosta, & Grandey, 2015;Hur, Han, Yoo, & Moon, 2015;Lam, Huo, & Chen, 2017), showing that the choices of emotional labor strategies are directly related to the construction of the service experience. The deep action has been considered one of the most appropriate strategies for the management of emotion because it contributes to the salespeople, so they can receive positive responses from the consumer and increase their level of satisfaction (Delpechitre & Beeler, 2017;Hur, Han, Yoo, & Moon, 2015;Zhan, Wang, & Shi, 2016). The surface action, in turn, when used alone, has been considered ineffective in terms of quality of work performance and consumer satisfaction (Bhave & Glomb, 2016).…”

Relationship Bonds and Service Provider’s Emotional Labor: Moderating Effects of Collectivism

“…Job autonomy (Diefendorff and Gosserand, 2003), emotional requirement (Grandey, 2003), time pressure (Ashforth and Humphrey, 1993) have been identified as the leading factors related to job influencing emotional labor. Some important issues with regard to individual characteristics, the effects of emotional intelligence (Delpechitre and Beeler, 2018), chronological age and work experience (Hur et al, 2014), demographic factor (Schaubroeck and Jones, 2000) of service providers have been identified. Even though scope of study on emotional labor is being expanded, researches on predisposing factors of emotional labor are very limited.…”