Business-to-business salespeople and political skill: Relationship building, deviance, and performance

Purpose Artificial intelligence (AI) is a rapidly growing frontier. One promising area for AI is its potential to assist sales managers in providing salesperson feedback. Despite this promise, little work has been done within the business-to-business (B2B) sales domain to investigate the potential impact of AI feedback on critical sales outcomes. The purpose of this research is to explore these issues and respond to calls in the literature to determine how AI can enhance salesperson adaptability and performance. Design/methodology/approach Survey data from a sample of 246 B2B salespeople was used to test the conceptual model and research hypotheses. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings The findings provide broad support for the model. An AI-feedback rich environment and salesperson feedback orientation predicted perceived accuracy of AI feedback which, in turn, strengthened intentions to use AI feedback. These favorable reactions to AI feedback positively related to adaptive selling behaviors, and adaptive selling behaviors mediated the relationships between intentions to use AI feedback and organizational commitment, as well as sales performance. Contrary to expectations, it did not mediate the relationship between intentions to use AI feedback and job satisfaction. Practical implications The managerial implications of this study lie in explaining practical considerations for the implementation and use of AI feedback in the sales context. Originality/value This study extends literature on technology adoption, performance feedback and the use of AI in the B2B sales domain. It offers practical insight for sales managers and those responsible for implementing AI solutions in sales.

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Strategic Alliance Relationships and Performance in the Business-to-Business Market

Business-to-Business Marketing ◽

10.4324/9780429259777-14 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 183-191

Author(s):

Richard Afriyie Owusu ◽

Robert Ebo Hinson ◽

Ogechi Adeola ◽

Nnamdi Oguji

Keyword(s):

Strategic Alliance ◽

Business Market ◽

And Performance ◽

Business To Business

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The Roles of Recruiter Political Skill and Performance Resource Leveraging in NCAA Football Recruitment Effectiveness

Journal of Management ◽

10.1177/0149206312441836 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 40 (6) ◽

pp. 1607-1626 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Darren C. Treadway ◽

Garry Adams ◽

T. Johnston Hanes ◽

Pamela L. Perrewé ◽

Marshall J. Magnusen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Political Skill ◽

And Performance ◽

Resource Leveraging

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Resource-Based View and SMEs Performance Exporting through Foreign Intermediaries: The Mediating Effect of Management Controls

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11123241 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (12) ◽

pp. 3241 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Juan Manuel Ramon-Jeronimo ◽

Raquel Florez-Lopez ◽

Pedro Araujo-Pinzon

Keyword(s):

Export Performance ◽

Management Control ◽

Mediating Effect ◽

Relationship Building ◽

Customer Relationship ◽

Behavior Control ◽

Resource Based View ◽

And Performance ◽

Building Capability ◽

The Impact

Following the resource-based view, this research empirically explores the role of formal and informal management control in mobilizing export resources to develop export capabilities, influencing the export performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in an interorganizational relationship context. Empirical data were collected using a survey administrated online to finance managers in Spanish SMEs which use foreign intermediaries to access export markets. In this setting, evidence mainly suggests, first, that management control systems (MCSs) play a relevant mediating role between the effect of, on the one hand, resources on capabilities, and, on the other hand, resources and capabilities on performance. Second, that MCSs and capabilities play a interrelated double mediating effect between the impact of resources on performance; more specifically, a significant double indirect effect is found (1) between financial resources, behavior control, customer relationship building capability and performance, and (2) between physical resources, behavior control, customer relationship building capability and performance.

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The impact of implicit bias on business-to-business marketing

Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing ◽

10.1108/jbim-01-2019-0019 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 35 (10) ◽

pp. 1517-1525

Author(s):

Kim Stephens ◽

Richard L. Baskerville

Keyword(s):

Process Model ◽

Minority Groups ◽

Implicit Bias ◽

Social Cues ◽

Relationship Building ◽

Content Type ◽

B2b Marketing ◽

Interactive Workshop ◽

The Impact ◽

Business To Business

Purpose Physical social cues can influence the buyer and seller in business-to-business (B2B) marketing. The current behavioural model does not account for the role of implicit bias. The purpose of this paper is to present that relationship and introduce a process model to weaken implicit bias through training with the employment of transformational conversation. Design/methodology/approach With social cues as the predecessor to inferences, there is the potential for implicit bias to derail relationship building in a B2B context. The author’s qualitative field study offers guidance for businesses to make informed decisions about implicit bias training. Findings The study findings show that an interactive workshop following a process model with the addition of transformational conversation can weaken implicit bias. Research limitations/implications The research was conducted with a small cohort of information technology professionals. More research should be done specifically with sellers and buyers in various industries over a longer period of time with periodic follow-up on sales performance and relationship building. Practical implications Minority groups had a combined buying power of $3.9tn in 2018. For sellers to succeed, they have to be able to modulate the implicit biases that interfere with good sales relationships. Originality/value This paper introduces implicit bias as a moderator into the conceptual framework of the behavioural response to social cues in the B2B context and offers a model of implicit bias training using a process model with transformational conversation.

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Building long-term marketing relationships: New perspectives on B2B financial services

South African Journal of Business Management ◽

10.4102/sajbm.v44i4.167 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 44 (4) ◽

pp. 33-46 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

E. Theron ◽

N. S. Terblanche ◽

C. Boshoff

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Financial Services ◽

Empirical Support ◽

Marketing Strategies ◽

Relationship Building ◽

Marketing Relationships ◽

Distinct Individual ◽

Business To Business ◽

Theoretical Foundations

The focus of this study was on the relevance of trust, satisfaction and commitment in maintaining a long-term relationship (intention to stay) with an exchange partner in a Business-to-Business (B2B) context in the financial services industry. The perceptions of 238 B2B clients of a leading South African provider of development capital were investigated. Since support could not be found for the existence of trust, commitment and satisfaction as distinct individual dimensions, this study provides empirical support for the amalgamation of some well-established individual dimensions into broader, more holistic dimensions as drivers of long-term relationship building.Contrary to expectations, B2B banking clients participating in this study appeared to regroup individual dimensions, in a heuristic fashion, to form new dimensions that influenced their attitude towards staying in a B2B relationship. As a result, building long-term marketing relationships seems to be a less complicated process than previously thought. Against this background, the primary contribution of the study is that it highlights the need for marketing practitioners to reconsider their current relationship-marketing strategies. As the findings of the study are inconsistent with conventional wisdom, they also challenge marketing academics to reconsider the theoretical foundations of relationship building in a B2B context.

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Can “Temps” Secure Future Employment? Investigating the Relationship Between Proactive Behaviors and Employers’ Rehiring Decision

Journal of Career Development ◽

10.1177/0894845316652251 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 44 (4) ◽

pp. 297-310 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marie-Ève Lapalme ◽

Olivier Doucet ◽

Andréa Gill ◽

Gilles Simard

Keyword(s):

Performance Evaluation ◽

Information Seeking ◽

Relationship Building ◽

Role Clarity ◽

Contract Renewal ◽

Member Exchange ◽

Seeking Behavior ◽

And Performance ◽

Indirect Relationship ◽

The Relationship

This study examines how the adoption of proactive socialization behaviors by temporary agency workers is related to contract renewal intention of the supervisor in the client organization in which they are assigned. We propose that the adoption of such behaviors will be associated with a favorable performance evaluation from the supervisor in the client organization, and in turn, to his or her contract renewal intention through two mechanisms, namely, role clarity and leader–member exchange (LMX), which refers to the quality of the relationship between the temporary worker and his or her supervisor. Data were collected from 217 worker–supervisor dyads. Results indicate that information-seeking behavior is related to performance evaluation through role clarity. This indirect relationship is however negative, as greater role clarity relates negatively to performance evaluation. Our results also show that LMX acts as a mediator between feedback seeking, boss-relationship building, and performance. Finally, favorable performance evaluation is positively associated with contract renewal intention.

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