When polychronicity affects salesperson performance: The effects of improvisation, role ambiguity, and sales job complexity

Abstract

Polychronicity – an individual's level of preference for doing several things within a given time block – is a key salesperson characteristic with implications specific to increased performance. While a number of articles show that polychronicity positively affects performance, previous research has not explored underlying mechanisms, making it unclear how polychronicity affects outcomes associated with salesperson performance. An additional gap that research has failed to consider is the job-related conditions that favor a positive relationship between polychronicity and its consequences. This research addresses these gaps and suggests that polychronicity affects how individuals perceive their role ambiguity and improvisation which in turn influences their self-assessments of sales performance. Drawing from a person–job fit framework, we also propose that the complexity of sales jobs influences how polychronicity affects performance, improvisation and role ambiguity, and how it moderates the mediating effects of improvisation and role ambiguity. Based on a survey of B2B sale professionals across multiple firms, our findings document that sales job complexity moderates how polychronicity affects performance, improvisation and role ambiguity, and the mediated effects are dependent on sales job complexity. This study offers practical knowledge to B2B salespersons and sales force managers.