Relationship selling: The effects of sex, gender, and family role on sales role conflict and performance

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate sales representatives' personal factors--sex, gender, family role and family characteristics--within the context of a high relationship sales task in order to determine their association with sales role conflict and salesperson performance. The association between sales role conflict and salesperson performance is also examined.;Relationship selling is a behavioral approach exhibited by some sales representatives to cultivate the buyer/seller relationship. Firms that sell products that are intangible, difficult for the customer to evaluate, or subject to brand-switching are likely to employ a high relationship sales task to maintain a competitive advantage.;A multi-method, four stage research process was used to investigate the research questions. The sample consisted of 105 sales representatives from three companies in three diverse industries. The results of the naturalistic inquiry, quantitative hypotheses tests (using ANOVAs), and ethnographic analysis were compared to arrive at final conclusions and implications for future research and sales management practices.;Test results concluded that sales representatives engaged in a high relationship sales task who are female, have modern family roles, have no children, or have all female offspring, reported lower levels of sales role conflict. Furthermore, in the context of a high relationship sales task, sales representatives with lower sales role conflict reported higher sales person performance. These results offer an explanation for previously conflicting research exploring the association between sales role conflict and sales force performance. Also, existing sales management models can now be modified to reflect the demographic and social changes in the U.S. sales force. Because of validity questions raised about several of the scales used in the research, recommendations for future research focuses on naturalistic research methods.;Regarding managerial implications, the results suggest that in a relationship sales task, who is hired is more important than the training that occurs after the hire. In addition, individuals engaged in a high relationship sales task are more likely to respond better to salary compensation as opposed to sales contests or straight commissions which promote competition.