The Mediating Role of Sales Behaviors: An Alternative Perspective of Sales Performance and Effectiveness

Abstract

Attempts to understand and improve salesperson performance have generated a considerable amount of research. Much of this research has focused on the relationships and impacts of various personal, organizational, and environmental variables on sales performance. The predominant model underlying much, if not most, of this research since 1979 has been the Walker, Churchill, and Ford (WCF) model. An important but overlooked aspect of the WCF model is the role of sales behaviors with respect to sales performance and sales effectiveness. This paper uses the WCF model to develop a more behavior-oriented view of sales performance. Sales behaviors and their performance are treated as mediating variables between such inputs as motivation, aptitude, and role perceptions and sales effectiveness outcomes.