Exploring Salespersons' Customer Orientation as a Mediator of Organizational Culture's Influence on Buyer-Seller Relationships

Michael R. WilliamsMichael R. Williams received his Ph.D. fromOklahoma State University. He is currently Assistant Professor of Marketing at Illinois State University. Previous to entering academe, Mike accumulated an extensive background in business-to-business selling and sales management and continues to be active as a consultant and trainer to a variety of industry clients. Dr. Williams has published in the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Journal of Global Competitiveness, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Simulation and Gaming: An International Journal of Theory, Design, and Research, and numerous national and international conference proceedings.

Jill S. AttawayJill S. Attaway received her Ph.D. from Louisiana State University. She is currently Associate Professor of Marketing at Illinois State University. Her work experience includes several years in retail management with a major department store chain and work as a consultant for the Small Business Administration and retail accounts. Dr. Attaway has published in the Journal of Nonprofit and Social Sector Marketing, Journal of Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, Developments in Marketing Science, Advances in Consumer Research, and several national and international conference proceedings.

Abstract

This manuscript reports the results of a theoretically-based empirical study which incorporates the paradigm of relationship marketing. The study specifically examines the relationships among three major variables: organizational culture, customer orientation, and buyer-seller relationship development. Both organizational culture and customer orientation are expected to directly effect relationship development. However, customer orientation is hypothesized to mediate the relationship between organizational culture and relationship development. Thus, the influence of organizational culture on relationship development would be through the customer-oriented behavior of a firm's salespeople. The results from a study of 459 buyer-seller combinations confirm the mediational effect of customer orientation between the selling firms' culture and relationship development.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Order Reprints Request Corporate Permissions

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

Request Academic Permissions

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.

Exploring Salespersons' Customer Orientation as a Mediator of Organizational Culture's Influence on Buyer-Seller Relationships

Information for

Open access

Opportunities

Help and information

Exploring Salespersons' Customer Orientation as a Mediator of Organizational Culture's Influence on Buyer-Seller Relationships

Abstract

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Academic Permissions

Related research

To cite this article:

Download citation

Information for

Open access

Opportunities

Help and information

Keep up to date

Your download is now in progress and you may close this window

Login or register to access this feature