Affective Orientation Research Articles

Emotion in sales performance: affective orientation and need for cognition and the mediating role of motivation to work

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate whether and under what condition does affective orientation (AO) drive salesperson performance (SP) and whether there is a tradeoff between affective orientation and the need for cognition (NFC). Using career stage theory, this research proposes that emotion is important and that the relationship between AO and SP is conditional and mediated.Design/methodology/approachThe hypothesized model is tested using survey data that were collected from 611 attendees at a Midwest regional sales meeting of a national direct selling organization. The model was estimated using 5,000 bootstrapped samples drawn to assess the conditional and indirect effects.FindingsThe findings reveal that AO increases SP when mediated through motivation to work (MW), but only during the salesperson’s initial stage of their career – their first year. In subsequent career stages, AO’s impact on SP diminishes, while NFC’s impact on SP remains significant regardless of career stage.Research limitations/implicationsThe data were collected from a single selling organization.Practical implicationsThis study increases the understanding of the relationship between salesperson emotion (AO) and SP. This informs sales managers that new salespeople interpret information both emotionally and cognitively, which impacts the management of early career salespeople.Originality/valueSales research rarely investigates the role of emotion. This research finds that emotion can be an asset to new salespeople. However, the need for emotion (AO) decreases with experience and no longer has a significant impact on performance after the initial stage.

Need for Cognition and Affective Orientation as Predictors of Sales Performance: An Investigation of Main and Interaction Effects

Two constructs—need for cognition (NFC) and affective orientation (AO)—might be helpful in explaining and ultimately predicting two measures of sales performance: a self-rated behavioral measure and an objective sales measure. Specifically, we hypothesize (1) a positive relationship between NFC and sales performance; (2) a positive relationship between AO and sales performance; and (3) a positive interaction effect between NFC and AO on sales performance. The results of this study revealed both NFC and AO correlated with self-rated behavioral performance but only NFC correlated with both performance measures; suggesting that need for cognition may be the more influential of the two for sales organizations concerned with selling behaviors as well as sales outcomes. The hypothesized interaction effect was not supported.

The role of affective orientation in the five factor personality structure

This study examined how Affective Orientation (AO) is positioned within the Five Factor model of personality to impact communication processes. Being emotionally guided by one's emotions should not be redundant with the lexically‐driven factors, but should demonstrate conceptual overlap in appropriate areas, a prediction which was confirmed. AO related only to Extraversion and Neuroticism (n=234) but not to Conscientiousness, Openness, or Agreeableness. Importantly the Five Factor model accounted for 20% of the AO variance, and AO demonstrated factorial independence, suggesting that Affective Orientation is best described at the facet level of the Five Factor model. Females scored significantly higher than males on AO, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Agreeableness.

Conceptualizing Affect as Information in Communication Production

An affective orientation is the degree to which individuals are aware of and use affect cues to guide communication. Some people appear to be very sensitive to their emotional state, while others attend primarily to factual, logical information in making decisions. Four studies investigated how affective orientation relates to other communication constructs and behavior. Study One developed the measure, a 20-item scale with sound factor structure and internal reliability. Study Two assessed construct validity. Affective orientation (AO) was predictably related to conversational sensitivity and femininity. Divergent validity was supported in that AO was unrelated to communication apprehension, masculinity, self-monitoring, and need for cognition. Study Three determined that AO was related to communication production: As affective orientation increased, so too did the number of emotions participants were able to list in a timed trial. Study Four analyzed the ways high versus low affectively oriented communicators differ in their recall and communication of emotional events. High affective-oriented respondents exhibited shorter latencies prior to speaking and less pausing during the account.