Neuroticism and the sales profession

IF 3.4 2区管理学 Q2 MANAGEMENT

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes Pub Date : 2024-07-03 DOI:10.1016/j.obhdp.2024.104353

Johannes Habel , Selma Kadić-Maglajlić , Nathaniel N. Hartmann , Ad de Jong , Nicolas A. Zacharias , Fabian Kosse

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

While neuroticism is known to change throughout people’s lives, the specific causes of these changes remain poorly understood. One underexplored question is whether specific professions and associated job characteristics can foster neuroticism. Drawing on Cybernetic Big Five Theory (CB5T), we propose business-to-business (B2B) sales jobs entail frequent experiences of uncertainty, which over time increase salespeople’s neuroticism. Four studies with ∼1,700 B2B salespeople and ∼24,000 non-B2B-salespeople provide evidence that working in B2B sales jobs is positively associated with neuroticism. B2B sales job characteristics that are related to uncertainty and thus potentially explain the positive association of sales and neuroticism are complex customer needs, long sales cycles, complex sales targets, tough customer negotiations, and high shares of incentives in compensation plans. These results contribute to establishing CB5T as an explanatory framework for changes in neuroticism within the work environment. They also offer important implications for employees and managers.

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神经质与销售职业

众所周知，神经质在人的一生中会发生变化，但人们对这些变化的具体原因仍然知之甚少。一个尚未得到充分探讨的问题是，特定的职业和相关的工作特征是否会助长神经质。根据控制论五大理论（CB5T），我们提出企业对企业（B2B）销售工作需要频繁经历不确定性，随着时间的推移，这会增加销售人员的神经质。对 1,700 名 B2B 销售人员和 24,000 名非 B2B 销售人员进行的四项研究证明，从事 B2B 销售工作与神经质正相关。B2B销售工作的特点与不确定性有关，因此有可能解释销售与神经质的正相关关系，这些特点包括复杂的客户需求、较长的销售周期、复杂的销售目标、艰难的客户谈判以及薪酬计划中较高的奖励份额。这些结果有助于确立 CB5T 作为工作环境中神经质变化的解释框架。这些结果也为员工和管理者提供了重要的启示。

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来源期刊

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes Multiple-

CiteScore

8.90

自引率

4.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes publishes fundamental research in organizational behavior, organizational psychology, and human cognition, judgment, and decision-making. The journal features articles that present original empirical research, theory development, meta-analysis, and methodological advancements relevant to the substantive domains served by the journal. Topics covered by the journal include perception, cognition, judgment, attitudes, emotion, well-being, motivation, choice, and performance. We are interested in articles that investigate these topics as they pertain to individuals, dyads, groups, and other social collectives. For each topic, we place a premium on articles that make fundamental and substantial contributions to understanding psychological processes relevant to human attitudes, cognitions, and behavior in organizations. In order to be considered for publication in OBHDP a manuscript has to include the following: 1.Demonstrate an interesting behavioral/psychological phenomenon 2.Make a significant theoretical and empirical contribution to the existing literature 3.Identify and test the underlying psychological mechanism for the newly discovered behavioral/psychological phenomenon 4.Have practical implications in organizational context