Invigorating the spirit of being adaptive: Examining the role of spiritual leadership in adaptive selling

Abstract

This study investigates the role of spiritual leadership in shaping salesperson adaptive-selling behavior, a crucial factor for enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. Despite its significance, research on the leadership-adaptive selling link remains limited. Grounded in the conservation of resources theory, this study predicts that spiritual leadership is positively associated with adaptive selling. The present work also examines the mediating and moderating roles of salesperson trait resilience and salesperson political skill, respectively. Our results based on data from 505 supervisor-salesperson dyads corroborated our predictions. Specifically, the results reveal that spiritual leadership positively impacts adaptive selling directly and via resilience. Further, our findings illustrate that salespeople high on political skill benefit more from spiritual leadership to enhance their resilience and adaptive selling. This study provides actionable insights for managers to foster their salespeople’s resilience and promote adaptive selling to improve organizational effectiveness.