Salesperson Types and their Linkage to Reward Valence, Job Satisfaction, Job Effort, and Propensity-to-Leave: An Empirical Investigation of Retail Salespeople

Abstract

Salespersons are classified into four different types based on the conceptualization of Blau and Boal (1987). Using midpoints of organizational commitment (OC) scores and job involvement (n) scores, this paper divides 192 retail salespeople into institutionalized stars (high OC and high JI), lone wolves (low OC and high JI), corporate citizens (high OC and low JI), and apathetic salespersons (low OC and low JI). An empirical analysis reveals that, as hypothesized, institutionalized stars have the highest levels of reward valence, job satisfaction, and job effort, while apathetic salespersons show the extreme opposite. Lone wolves and corporate citizens show mixed results for reward valence. Interestingly, however, lone wolves, while working harder than corporate citizens, are less satisfied and more likely to leave the company.