Self-efficacy and job satisfaction as predictors of successful performance of sales professionals in business-to-business sales organizations

The purpose of this study was to examine the roles of job satisfaction and self-efficacy on the performance of business-to-business (B2B) sales professionals. It further discussed options for human resource development (HRD) practitioners to measure self-efficacy and job satisfaction to identify highly-qualified sales professionals during the hiring process.;If a deeper understanding can be established on how self-efficacy and job satisfaction relate to business-to-business (B2B) sales performance, HRD professionals can use these indicators during the hiring process. Furthermore, if HRD practitioners have an understanding of how to quantify self-efficacy and job satisfaction, it fills a gap in the existing research around HRD and B2B sales performance. This study is aimed at narrowing those gaps in the literature.;This study attempts to answer the following research question: Does self-efficacy and job satisfaction predict high performing business-to-business sales representatives? Two questions were identified to attempt to answer the research question: (1) What is the relationship between the two predictors: job satisfaction and self-efficacy on sales performance in business-to-business sales (B2B) organizations? (2) To what extent are the demographic variables (age, education, gender and tenure) related to high performance among sales representatives?;A survey was used to collect data. The survey used a "Likert scale" to determine each respondent's level of job satisfaction and self-efficacy. The survey was created using an online survey instrument---Survey Monkey. The survey link was e-mailed to a convenient sample of 115 business-to-business (B2B) sales professionals, which means the results of this study cannot be generalized to the entire population of B2B sales professionals.;The results in this study confirm only part of the research question: that job satisfaction and self-efficacy are predictors of high performing B2B sales professionals. A significant relationship exists between job satisfaction and sales performance; however, the effect of self-efficacy on sales performance was not statistically significant. The results of this study indicate rejecting the hypothesis: "self-efficacy and job satisfaction are predictors of high performing B2B sales professionals."...