The influence of psychological climate on the salesperson customer orientation - Salesperson performance relationship

Because salespeople are a primary revenue-generating mechanism for many organizations, it is important that we understand the factors that facilitate or hinder their performance. This study examines psychological climate as a boundary condition of the salesperson customer orientation - salesperson performance relationship. We apply Mischel's (1976) theory, which suggests that the impact of individual differences (such as salesperson customer orientation) is less pronounced when situational conditions (such as psychological climate) are strong. In addition, we introduce the concept of a strong balanced psychological climate to the marketing literature. Our findings suggest that the salesperson customer orientation - salesperson performance relationship is moderated by psychological climate such that the relationship is weakened in strong balanced psychological climates. Implications of this research are discussed.