Abstract
Two classic strategic orientations have been found to pervade the behavior of modern salespersons: a sales orientation (SO) where salespersons use deception or guile to get customers to buy even if they do not need a product, and a customer orientation (CO) where salespersons first attempt to discover the customer's needs and adjust their product and selling approach to meet those needs. Study 1 replicates recent research and finds that the Taq A1 variant of the DRD2 gene is not related to either sales or CO, whereas the 7-repeat variant of the DRD4 gene is related to CO but not SO. Study 2 investigates gene × phenotype explanations of orientation of salespersons, drawing upon recent research in molecular genetics and biological/psychological attachment theory. The findings show that attachment style regulates the effects of DRD2 on CO, such that greater avoidant attachment styles lead to higher CO for persons with the A2/A2 variant but neither the A1/A2 nor A1/A1 variants. Likewise, attachment style regulates the effects of DRD4 on CO, such that greater avoidant attachment styles lead to higher CO for persons with the 7-repeat variant but not other variants. No effects were found on a SO, and secure and anxious attachment styles did not function as moderators.
Highlights
Organizations are especially interesting social environments as they differ from everyday social groups such as found in family life, friendship, or hobby clubs
We replicated recent findings concerning the relationship between the DRD4 and DRD2 genes and customer orientation (CO) and sales orientation (SO), respectively (Bagozzi et al, 2012)
HYPOTHESES DRD2 moderation We propose that the effects of variants of the DRD2 dopamine receptor gene on CO will depend on the degree of avoidance attachment style
Summary
Organizations are especially interesting social environments as they differ from everyday social groups such as found in family life, friendship, or hobby clubs. People undertake both long and short-term strategies to fit into their group and interact with others outside their group to meet the needs of their organization. Consistent with the emerging organizational cognitive neuroscience (OCN) framework (Senior et al, 2011), we seek to understand the biological processes— hard-wired neurological and endocrine processes conserved over millions of years in different species—that might help us understand how people operate in organizations, those whose job requires them to deal with others outside their organization to meet their organization’s mission. We seek to explain the strategic orientation that salespersons take in their relationship with customers. Sometimes the terms hard and soft selling are used to describe these orientations, where the latter generally leads to long-term relationships, whereas the former, given its one-sided exploitive nature, is typically short-lived
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