The effects of salespersons' behaviors on customers' perceptions of the salespersons and changing these perceptions by nonverbal training.
Item
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Title
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The effects of salespersons' behaviors on customers' perceptions of the salespersons and changing these perceptions by nonverbal training.
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Identifier
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AAI9304725
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identifier
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9304725
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Creator
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Rivera-Valencia, Jose A.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Gary F. Soldow
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Date
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1992
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Business Administration, General | Business Administration, Marketing | Education, Educational Psychology
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Abstract
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The purpose of this dissertation was to provide answers to three basic questions. First, how do consumers describe the more and the less effective salesperson? Second, what nonverbal behaviors were responsible for or related to impressions of the more and the less effective salesperson? Third, can salespersons be trained to control nonverbal behaviors to create impressions associated with the more effective salesperson?;It was hypothesized that dominant-warm salespersons would be perceived as more sales effective. Also, a group of nonverbal behaviors were hypothesized to be related to perceived sales effectiveness and to dominant-warm interpersonal style. Finally, it was hypothesized that nonverbal behaviors might be changed by training experiences, and these would achieve differential changes in nonverbal behaviors affecting customers' impressions.;Hypotheses were tested using two studies. Study I was a correlational study where ninety-six (96) undergraduate students acted as salespersons. Study II was an experimental study where eighty-one (81) undergraduate students acted as salespersons. Sales presentations were videotaped and judged by sixty-four (64) students acting as consumers using the Impact Message Inventory, which measures interpersonal style, and a sales effectiveness scale. Data was collected in Puerto Rico.;Results showed that dominant-warm salespersons were perceives as more effective than salespersons displaying other types of interpersonal styles. Also, a series of nonverbal behaviors were correlated with dominant-warm interpersonal style and perceived sales effectiveness. Using a small sub-set of these variables helped assign salespersons to the more and less effective groups, and predict degree of perceived sales effectiveness.;It was found that training experiences provided improvement in perceived sales effectiveness; although results were not statistically significant. Women were perceived as more sales effective than males.;Results provide support for the importance of nonverbal behaviors in sales encounters and the importance of controlling factors like sex and order of presentation.;Limitations are discussed, in particular, use of students and videotaped sales presentations which might affect external validity, difficulties in random assignment of participants to experimental treatments, use of extreme groups to define effectiveness, and culture of the participants.;Implications for personnel selection, training, and performance evaluation are discussed.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
