Gritting their teeth to close the sale: the positive effect of salesperson grit on job satisfaction and performance |
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Authors: | Riley Dugan Bryan Hochstein Maria Rouziou Benjamin Britton |
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Institution: | 1. School of Business, University of Dayton, 300 College Park, Dayton, OH 45469-2271, USA;2. Culverhouse College of Commerce, University of Alabama, Box 8702, Tuscaloosa, AL 35406, USA;3. Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University, 401 21 Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37240 USA |
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Abstract: | This research is the first to examine the effect of “grit” – defined here as perseverance in pursuit of long-term goals – on salesperson performance and job satisfaction in a business-to-business (B2B) sales context. While more commonly studied in the psychology and education literatures, grit has heretofore been underexplored in sales research, a notable omission given its importance in predicting performance outcomes across multiple domains. In response, we demonstrate that gritty salespeople perform better and enjoy greater job satisfaction than their less gritty counterparts. Moreover, we show that competitiveness and self-efficacy help to develop grit and reveal important moderating effects; grit is highest when salespeople are self-efficacious and socially astute. Moreover, the results also suggest that need for power attenuates the positive effect of grit on performance, revealing a potential “dark side” of grit. We then provide some future research ideas involving grit in an effort to encourage further exploration of this construct in sales research. Finally, we conclude by offering cautions to future researchers as they decide whether to examine this interesting construct in a sales context. |
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Keywords: | grit salespeople performance job satisfaction competitiveness self-efficacy social astuteness need for power |
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