| This paper presents a process model of the effect of retail salesperson customer orientation on buying behavior and customer satisfaction in the retail specialty store market. The analysis involved identifying, measuring, and testing the role of retail specialty store salespeople in influencing buying behavior and customer satisfaction, moderated by customer and product characteristics. The model successfully predicted retail specialty store purchases when salespeople with low sale orientation interacted with customers who had prior product and store experience, a high reliance on others for normative values, and a generally negative attitude toward retailing. High salesperson customer orientation coupled with low sale orientation was found only to successfully predict customer satisfaction. The model provides a behavior-based performance evaluation tool for retail sales management programs. |
