Working smarter: The effects of motivational orientations on purchasing task selection and retail buyer performance

Retail buyers' motivational orientations can influence which tasks they select in order to perform their jobs and which kinds of buying mistakes they may be likely to make. Research reported here found that intrinsically motivated buyers were more likely to use diverse sources of information, to seek and recommend new vendors, to have more positive relationships with vendors and sales personnel, and to make fewer “Type 2” buying errors. Discussion focuses on managerial and theoretical contributions of the findings.