Previous research has identified numerous employee’s individual differences that play a role in predicting success in sales work tasks. However, it seems that the role of attitudes towards sales and its relatedness to sales performance has not yet been in-vestigated, which was the aim of this study. This research was conducted on a sample of contact center agents who sell on a daily basis. We collected data on their demo-graphics, personality traits and attitudes towards sales. The information on agents’ objective monthly offer rate and sales performance across six months was provided by the employer. A series of hierarchical linear models showed that men sell more compa-red to women; that success in sales decreases over years of employment; that attitudes predict sales performance and that they are a better predictor then personality traits; and that offer rate does not mediate the relation of attitudes and closed sales. Further-more, the relation between attitudes and sales was not moderated by employee’s gen-der, level of education nor employment duration. These findings are interpreted in light of the theory of planned behavior.

Sales occupation is one of the most frequent in the job market, and selection of successful sales people is typically among the highest priorities of their companies. Research aimed at explaining sales performance shows that traditional psychometric predictors are limited in achieving this goal. Common constructs that are typically related to work behaviour, such as abilities or personality traits, typically show non-significant or low relations with sales performance. Taking that into an account, we developed a new measure for assessing one’s propensity for selling, based on motivational constructs that underlie successful sales job. In the first study, we developed an initial set of items and assessed its content validity using a sample of sales professionals. In the second study, we assessed the scale’s dimensionality, divergent and predictive validity. A sample of 99 contact centre agents were asked to describe themselves using newly developed items and measures of personality and explicit motives. Besides psychometric measures, the data on agents’ objective sales performance was provided by their employer. First, a unidimensional, three-item solution was shown to be the most appropriate in the exploratory factor analysis of initially developed items. Second, an aggregated result of these three items, representing a total scale score, showed to be largely independent of personality and explicit motives measures. Third, propensity to selling, compared to personality and motives measures, showed to be the most important predictor in explaining the variance of objective sales performance. The scale was labelled Propensity to Selling Scale, and its theoretical and practical implications were further discussed.

No abstract