Conceptualizing Salesperson Competitive Intelligence: An Individual-Level Perspective

Abstract

Academicians and practitioners alike have agreed on the significance of competitive intelligence in firm performance, strategy development, and the critical role of the sales force in gathering this intelligence. However, the influence that competitive intelligence has on individual salesperson performance has been widely neglected. In order to fill this gap in the literature, this research embarks on the theoretical development of competitive intelligence as an individual-level construct. The differentiating qualities of salesperson competitive intelligence and organizational competitive intelligence are described and a framework presenting the general process of salesperson competitive intelligence is proposed. Finally, links from salesperson competitive intelligence to performance are presented, and the potential negative implications of this intelligence are discussed.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Adam Rapp

Adam Rapp (Ph.D., University of Connecticut), Associate Professor of Marketing, Department of Management and Marketing, Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, [email protected].

Raj Agnihotri

Raj Agnihotri (Ph.D., Kent State University), Assistant Professor of Professional Sales, William Paterson University, [email protected].

Thomas L. Baker

Thomas L. Baker (Ph.D., Florida State University), Associate Professor of Marketing, Clemson University, [email protected].