Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 2017

Publication Source

Marketing Management Journal

Abstract

A great deal of emerging research explores the antecedents and outcomes of salesperson creativity. However, relatively fewer scholarly endeavors have delved into assessing the social antecedents of salesperson creativity. Addressing this issue, the current research focuses on the link between one critical social antecedent in sales research, namely that of networking behaviors, and creativity among salespeople. Specifically, we include customer and professional networking behaviors and study their direct, interactive, and curvilinear effects on salesperson creativity. Empirical findings show that professional networking as well as customer networking are positively related to salesperson creativity. Further, we demonstrate the non-linear effects of professional networking on the salesperson’s creativity. Finally, we report that the salesperson’s creativity is positively related to adaptive selling. These findings suggest that salesperson networking behaviors must be examined and carefully leveraged to gain tactical advantages.

Inclusive pages

31-47

Document Version

Published Version

Comments

This article is made available for download with the permission of Ashish Kalra and the Marketing Management Association. Permission documentation is on file.

Publisher

Marketing Management Association

Volume

27

Issue

1

Peer Reviewed

yes


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