Abstract
<p>A customer’s perception of salesperson opportunism reflects the extent to which a customer believes that a salesperson is intentionally self-interest seeking with little regard for the consequences to the customer. While the marketing literature is rich with research examining salesperson opportunism from the managerial perspective, the consumer’s perspective is underdeveloped. The customer’s perception is important, such that it has implications for purchasing intentions, as well as satisfaction with the salesperson and retailer. In this research, a conceptual framework of a customer’s perception of salesperson opportunism is developed. Further, propositions are set forth which provide scope, and allow for future empirical testing, of this domain. The implications of the framework and fruitful areas of potential research are discussed.</p>
Highlights
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 4.5 million retail salespeople employed in the U.S as of March 2017 (Occupational Employment 2017). Friestad and Wright (1994) suggest that customers are aware that these retail salespeople are attempting to persuade their purchase behavior, but it is unclear the extent to which customer perceive that the salesperson is attempting to persuade while taking undue advantage of the customer
While salespeople and their retailers likely shield the customer from the specific incentives being offered to a salesperson and the motives directing a salesperson’s behavior, the customer has likely developed a general perception of salesperson opportunism (e.g., Buell & Norton, 2011; Friestad & Wright, 1994)
A customer’s perception of salesperson opportunism is defined here as the extent to which a customer believes that a salesperson is intentionally self-interest seeking with little regard for the consequences to the customer (e.g., Handley & Angst, 2015; John, 1984; Williamson, 1975; Zeng, Chi, Dong, & Huang, 2017)
Summary
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 4.5 million retail salespeople employed in the U.S as of March 2017 (Occupational Employment 2017). Friestad and Wright (1994) suggest that customers are aware that these retail salespeople are attempting to persuade their purchase behavior, but it is unclear the extent to which customer perceive that the salesperson is attempting to persuade while taking undue advantage of the customer. The expansive sales performance literature has addressed the characteristics of a salesperson that lead to salesperson success, such as trustworthiness (Campbell, Davis & Skinner, 2006), ability to develop a rapport (Doney & Cannon, 1997), and adaptive selling skills (Park & Holloway, 2003) as viewed from the perspective of the salesperson, firm, or colleague Despite this valuable research, there has been little focus on the customer’s perception of the salesperson and its outcomes on salesperson and retailer success. This research suggests that the focal construct impacts the extent to which a customer utilizes their persuasion knowledge (Buell & Norton, 2011; Friestad & Wright, 1994) This relationship is contingent upon explicit cues regarding a salesperson’s ability to behave opportunistically towards a customer. There is a discussion of implications and limitations, as well as areas of fruitful future research
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