Linking improvisational behavior to customer satisfaction: The relational dynamics

dc.contributor.authorHultman, M.
dc.contributor.authorYeboah-Banin, A.A.
dc.contributor.authorBoso, N.
dc.date.accessioned2019-07-24T11:12:14Z
dc.date.available2019-07-24T11:12:14Z
dc.date.issued2018-10
dc.description.abstractPurpose Contemporary sales scholarship suggests that salespersons pursuing customer satisfaction should improvise (think and act on their feet) to find solutions to customers’ emergent problems. A missing link in this literature, however, is the relational context within which improvisation takes place and becomes effective. This study aims to examine how the tone of the salesperson–customer relationship (whether cordial or coercive) drives and conditions salesperson improvisation and its implications for customer satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach The study tests the proposed model using dyadic salesperson–customer data from business-to-business (B2B) markets in Ghana. The relationships are tested using structural equation modeling technique. Findings The study finds that salesperson improvisation is associated with customer satisfaction. It also finds the extent of cordiality between salespersons and their customers predicts but does not enhance the value of improvisation for customer satisfaction. The reverse is true for customer exercised coercive power which is not a significant driver of improvisation but can substantially alter its benefits for the worse. Practical implications By implication, salespersons should improvise more to be able to satisfy customers. However, such improvisation must be tempered with a consciousness of the relationship shared with customers and the level of power they exercise in the relationship. Originality/value Because improvised behavior deviates from routines and may be unsettling for customers, improvising salespersons must first understand whether their customers would be willing to accommodate such deviations. Yet, the literature is silent on this relational context surrounding improvisation. This study, by exploring facilitating and inhibitory relational variables implicated in improvisation, addresses this gap.en_US
dc.identifier.citationHultman, M., Yeboah-Banin, A. and Boso, N. (2018), "Linking improvisational behavior to customer satisfaction: the relational dynamics", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-11-2017-0298en_US
dc.identifier.otherhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-11-2017-0298
dc.identifier.urihttp://ugspace.ug.edu.gh/handle/123456789/31715
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherJournal of Business and Industrial Marketingen_US
dc.subjectCustomer satisfactionen_US
dc.subjectExercised coercive poweren_US
dc.subjectIndustrial sellingen_US
dc.subjectRelationship cordialityen_US
dc.subjectSalesperson improvisationen_US
dc.titleLinking improvisational behavior to customer satisfaction: The relational dynamicsen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

Files

Original bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Linking improvisational behavior to customer satisfaction The relational dynamics.pdf
Size:
367.4 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:

License bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.6 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description: