Pressure selling or customer oriented selling : does Type A behaviour pattern in salespeople affect their selling style? : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University at Palmerston North

Abstract

The current study empirically investigated the effect of type A behaviour pattern on their tendency for salespeople to use either pressure selling, or customer oriented selling. The indirect effect of two sources of Type A behaviour were considered. Firstly, dispositional characteristics in salespeople that seemed to elicit type A behaviour were considered. Secondly the effect of role overload on eliciting type A behaviours from type B salespeople were also considered. The data was analysed with structural equation modelling. Hierarchical regression was used to test for interactions. It was found that both dispositional and stress-related type A behaviours indirectly affected the selling style used by salespeople. Firstly, it was found that dispositional and stress-related aspects of type A behaviour could increase the tendency for salespeople to become depressed. Depression tended to decrease the tendency for salespeople to use customer oriented selling, and increase the tendency for salespeople to use pressure selling. Secondly, although both dispositional and stress related aspects of type A increased the tendency for salespeople to become impatient, only partial support was found for the effect of impatience on increasing pressure selling in salespeople. Thirdly, the "motivated achieving" aspect of type A behaviour tended to increase the likelihood that salespeople would use customer oriented selling, and reduced their tendency to become depressed. No support was found for an interaction between the dispositional and stress-related aspects of type A behaviour in salespeople. The implications of these results were discussed. Recommendations were made for interventions that may reduce the effect of antecedent variables on dysfunctional aspects of type A behaviour pattern in salespeople.