The role of grit, engagement and exhaustion in salesperson productive procrastination

Abstract

Purpose Due to the fact that most individuals tend to engage in some form of procrastination, it is important for organizations to investigate this phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of family–work conflict, grit, engagement and emotional exhaustion on productive procrastination for business-to-business salespeople. These specific antecedents are used to better understand what leads a salesperson to engage in productive procrastination in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach Using a Qualtrics panel, 305 business-to-business salespeople were surveyed to investigate what factors lead a salesperson to engage in productive procrastination. These salespeople were from a variety of industries to increase generalizability. All measures were taken from the extant literature. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Findings Using the job demands-resources model as the framework, the results indicate that the type of engagement has a differential impact on a salesperson’s usage of productive procrastination such that cognitive engagement has a negative impact while emotional engagement has a positive impact on productive procrastination. Emotional exhaustion and family–work conflict lead to productive procrastination but grit minimizes productive procrastination usage. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to explore the positive aspects of procrastination among salespeople. Specifically, this study focuses on productive procrastination and its antecedents. Relevant managerial implications that can help organizations better understand productive procrastination are discussed and examples are provided.