The role of attachment styles in regulating the effects of dopamine on the behavior of salespersons

Abstract

Two classic strategic orientations have been found to pervade the behavior of modern salespersons: a sales orientation (SO) where salespersons use deception or guile to get customers to buy even if they do not need a product, and a customer orientation (CO) where salespersons first attempt to discover the customer's needs and adjust their product and selling approach to meet those needs. Study 1 replicates recent research and finds that the Taq A1 variant of the DRD2 gene is not related to either sales or CO, whereas the 7-repeat variant of the DRD4 gene is related to CO but not SO. Study 2 investigates gene × phenotype explanations of orientation of salespersons, drawing upon recent research in molecular genetics and biological/psychological attachment theory. The findings show that attachment style regulates the effects of DRD2 on CO, such that greater avoidant attachment styles lead to higher CO for persons with the A2/A2 variant but neither the A1/A2 nor A1/A1 variants. Likewise, attachment style regulates the effects of DRD4 on CO, such that greater avoidant attachment styles lead to higher CO for persons with the 7-repeat variant but not other variants. No effects were found on a SO, and secure and anxious attachment styles did not function as moderators.

How Organizational Cognitive Neuroscience Can Deepen Understanding of Managerial Decision‐making: A Review of the Recent Literature and Future Directions

“…Verbeke et al . 's () first study had 64 salespeople as subjects, their second 73 sales representatives, and they acknowledge that these studies are small. They counter by arguing that they ‘employed a hypothesis‐driven approach, targeting only two genes and based on theory from biology and psychology, which reduces the need for large sample sizes’ (Verbeke et al .…”

“…This led to the inclusion of one extra article in the marketing cluster (Verbeke et al . ), making 34 articles in total. In addition, from the Frontiers in Human Neuroscience special issue, we have included an empirical article related to new developments in scanning methodology (Burgess ) and others that are related to our argument (Butler ; Foxall ).…”

“…They find that ‘the avoidant attachment style has a positive effect on CO [customer orientation] for sales representatives carrying only DRD2 A2 alleles, but no effect occur for sales representatives with at least one DRD2 A1 allele’ (Verbeke et al . , p. 10). In other words, avoidant attachment styles may be beneficial in certain situations such as ‘goal‐directed, motivational, and reward‐related behavior’ (Verbeke et al .…”

“…In other words, avoidant attachment styles may be beneficial in certain situations such as ‘goal‐directed, motivational, and reward‐related behavior’ (Verbeke et al . , p. 10). In more detail, ‘the tension occurring between the need to keep a certain amount of distance between self and customer, and the drive to seek new opportunities leads to a greater application of skills meeting (mutual) needs and greater chance of success’ (Verbeke et al .…”

“…In more detail, ‘the tension occurring between the need to keep a certain amount of distance between self and customer, and the drive to seek new opportunities leads to a greater application of skills meeting (mutual) needs and greater chance of success’ (Verbeke et al . , p. 10). Verbeke et al .…”