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Salespeople's Selling Orientation: Reconceptualization, Measurement and Validity Assessment Salespeople's Selling Orientation: Reconceptualization, Measurement and Validity Assessment Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Wessels, Gunter Frederik Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 26/09/2021 04:24:44 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/202997 SALESPEOPLE’S SELLING ORIENTATION: RECONCEPTUALIZATION, MEASUREMENT, AND VALIDITY ASSESSMENT By Gunter Frederik Wessels _______________________________ Copyright © Gunter Frederik Wessels 2011 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF MARKETING In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WITH A MAJOR IN MANAGEMENT In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2011 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Gunter F. Wessels entitled Salespeople’s Selling Orientation: Reconceptualization, Measurement and Validity Assessment and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management _______________________________________________________________________ Date: November 1, 2011 Robert F. Lusch, Ph.D. _______________________________________________________________________ Date: November 1, 2011 Shankar Ganesan, Ph.D. _______________________________________________________________________ Date: November 1, 2011 Mrinal Ghosh, Ph.D. Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: November 1, 2011 Dissertation Director: Robert F. Lusch 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: Gunter F. Wessels 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 6 LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... 7 ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER 1: THE ELITE SALES PERFORMANCE CONUNDRUM .................... 9 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. 10 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................... 11 Academic Research on Elite Salespeople .............................................................. 12 Few Elite Salespeople Problem ......................................................................................... 12 Defining Elite Salesperson Performance ........................................................................... 13 Commercial Approaches to Profiling Elite Salespeople ....................................... 15 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER 2: NOMOLOGICAL GROUNDING OF THE SELLING ORIENTATION AND CONTRIBUTION ................................................................... 21 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. 22 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................... 23 LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................... 23 Sales Force Variables Affecting Performance .................................................................... 25 The Dominance of Behavioral Factors Associated with Sales Performance ...................... 31 The Contribution of a Selling Orientation Study................................................. 33 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................... 34 CHAPTER 3: SELLING ORIENTATION AND PERFORMANCE OBSERVATION ............................................................................................................. 36 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. 37 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................... 38 Selling Orientation Definition ........................................................................................... 38 Adaptive Selling Behavior and the Selling Orientation ..................................................... 39 RESEARCH METHOD ............................................................................................. 42 Sample: Observation by Depth Interview of Participants ................................................. 42 Sample: Indirect Observation ............................................................................................ 44 Study Methodology ........................................................................................................... 45 Instruments .............................................................................................................. 47 Data .......................................................................................................................... 47 RESULTS ................................................................................................................... 48 Summary of Findings ........................................................................................................ 48 Findings of the accounts of ES performance in the sales task ........................................... 50 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 68 CHAPTER 4: SELLING ORIENTATION SURVEY AND CONSTRUCT VALIDATION................................................................................................................. 71 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. 72 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................... 73 BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................... 74 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued First Field Pretest ............................................................................................................... 75 Item revision ...................................................................................................................... 76 Focus group responses to revised items ............................................................................. 77 Post Focus Group Item Refinement Pretesting .................................................................. 78 DATA COLLECTION ............................................................................................... 80 METHOD OF ANALYSIS AND RESULTS ............................................................ 85 Response Rates .................................................................................................................. 85 Scale Performance Analysis .............................................................................................. 85 Initial Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Higher Order and All First Order Factors .......... 96 Model Modification ......................................................................................................... 101 Regression Analysis of SO and Performance .................................................................. 105 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 110 CHAPTER 5: STUDY SUMMARY AND CONTRIBUTION ................................. 112 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... 113 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................... 114 STUDY SUMMARY ................................................................................................. 115 LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH ....................................................... 116 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 120 APPENDIX A ...............................................................................................................
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