Perceiving Emotion in the Buyer–Seller Interchange: The Moderated Impact on Performance

Abstract

This research focuses on the salesperson’s ability to perceive emotions in the buyer–seller interaction. Drawing on the emotional ability literature, the authors develop hypotheses within a conceptual framework of salespeople’s ability to perceive the emotions of customers, and examine how this ability influences the relationships between selling behaviors and performance. Findings indicated that the ability to accurately appraise the emotions of others moderated the practice of adaptive selling and customer-oriented selling on performance. Further analyses revealed that while high perceiving ability has beneficial effects on selling, low perceiving ability not only limits the use of customer-oriented selling but also has a negative impact on sales performance. Both self-reported and supervisor-reported measures of selling performance were used, along with a performance-based measure of emotional perceiving ability. Implications are discussed along with directions for future research.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Blair Kidwell

Blair Kidwell (Ph.D., Virginia Tech), Assistant Professor of Marketing, Gatton College of Business & Economics, University of Kentucky, [email protected].

Richard G. McFarland

Richard G. McFarland (Ph.D., Georgia Tech), Assistant Professor of Marketing, L.L. McAninch Chair of Business Administration, College of Business Administration, Kansas State University, [email protected].

Ramon A. Avila

Ramon A. Avila (Ph.D., Virginia Tech), George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Marketing, Miller College of Business Marketing and Management, Ball State University, [email protected].