Individual perceptions of leadership emergence in the B2B sector and its impact on perceived team sales performance

Abstract

Self-managed teams are becoming more prevalent in sales. In such teams, leadership emergence plays a key role, as leaders are often not explicitly appointed but take on leadership implicitly. Previous research has focused primarily on antecedents that predict leadership emergence, paying less attention to conditions under which leadership emergence positively or negatively affects outcomes. Given the high demands placed on sales teams, understanding leadership emergence and its outcomes in the team selling context is of great importance. Using data from 185 sales team members of a business-to-business company, the authors present a conceptual framework that draws on the job demands-resources model. Results show a direct positive effect of salespeople’s individual perceptions of leadership emergence on perceived team sales performance. This effect depends heavily on perceived customer demandingness and competitive intensity. The strong practical relevance of leadership emergence in sales teams has important managerial implications.