The effects of salespeople’s customer orientation and adaptive selling behavior on their performance have been frequently studied in the marketing literature. However, most of the studies were conducted in the developed world. Given the role that different cultural environments may play, the assumed relationships among the constructs need to be studied in different cultural contexts to explain performance. The objective of this study is to examine pharmaceutical salespersons’ customer orientation and adaptive selling behavior on their performance in a different cultural environment. Using personal interviews, data were collected from Turkish pharmaceutical salespeople to examine the hypothesized relationships. Results indicate that customer orientation was significant in respect to sales performance, satisfaction, and adaptive selling behavior. Furthermore, adaptive selling behavior was significantly related to sales performance and customer orientation but not to satisfaction.
Adaptive selling behaviors (ASBs) of salespersons and their customer orientation have been investigated widely by researchers and practitioners over the past two decades. These behaviors enable salespeople to tailor their messages to fit customers’ needs and preferences. Adaptive selling, in particular, involves understanding the selling situation and altering sales behavior in response to customers’ expressed needs and wants, ultimately leading to higher levels of customer orientation.1 On the other hand, according to Siguaw,2 ‘…an empathetic relationship between the salesperson and the customer may also result from the process of adaptive selling’, thus suggesting that adaptive selling may be considered both an antecedent and consequence of customer orientation.3
A majority of the published empirical studies on salespersons’ ASB and customer orientation have been based on studies in the US and other Western nations.3,4 With rapid globalization, the urgency of developing and sustaining competitive advantage, both domestically and internationally, requires management to understand the factors affecting a salesperson’s performance, especially in international environments.5–7 Moreover, greater regional economic integration and the emergence of many new global organizations will require salespeople to be better managed in different environments. Consequently, understanding whether the theories and measures developed mostly in the Western countries would apply to countries that are different – economically, politically, and culturally – can be valuable to both marketers and researchers.
Published research on the performance of salespersons in the emerging economies is unfortunately limited, despite the fact that these countries represent promising markets of the future.8 Thus, when the national culture in the US is characterized as highly individualistic and low in avoidance of uncertainty, customers in the US might be more receptive to customized sales presentations, where ASB is important for improving sales performance. What remains unclear is whether the salesperson’s adaptiveness would lead to similar outcomes in countries that are culturally different.9
Several researchers have addressed the relationship between culture and personal selling practices.10,11 Specifically, culture is likely to be reflected in salespeople’s behaviors, ambitions, goals, motivations, selling effort, guidance from sales management, and planning practices.12 Supporting this argument, Dwyer13 reported significant differences among practices of insurance sales representatives from five countries. Although a few studies examined the effects of national culture on different aspects of consumer decision making,14 our knowledge is especially limited about the importance and value of adaptive behavior of salespersons in different cultures.9 Deshpande et al.15 also note ‘a growing recognition that globalization of markets has created the need for cross-cultural testing and cross-national generalizations of hypotheses about marketing … ’. Accordingly, Herche, et al.16 argue that thoughtful application of existing approaches to sales research in other countries should enrich the literature, build richer theory, and allow the validation of the influence of environmental variables on personal selling.
The objective of this study is to investigate the implications of ASB and customer orientation of pharmaceutical salespeople in an emerging country, namely Turkey. Specifically, we attempt to replicate the meta-analytical model developed and tested by Franke and Park3 in the Turkish pharmaceutical selling environment. What makes the results of this study interesting and valuable is whether the rapidly changing Turkish economic environment (encouraging greater Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the presence of multinational companies (MNCs)) will support Western models of personal selling or whether its cultural influence characterized by high levels of collectivism and low levels of tolerance for ambiguity17 will play a greater role. We suspect that the relationships identified in the Franke and Park3 model should mostly hold in Turkey due to significant integration of the Turkish economy and business practices to that of Western countries. The remainder of this article is organized as follows. First, we provide a literature review on ASB and customer orientation. Next, we summarize the study’s context, including data collection and measures used. Finally, we offer conclusions and managerial implications of our study.
Market environment in Turkey
With extensive trade relations with the West, many of Turkey’s traditional cultural traits may have been experiencing a transition. Thus, it is our conjecture that personal selling models of the West may find resonance in Turkey. In fact, pharmaceutical companies have increasingly begun to focus on their marketing activities because of the highly competitive nature of the industry and because there are many competing products offered by different manufacturers. These manufacturers rely largely on medical professionals such as physicians and pharmacists to prescribe their products (as in the West) by providing necessary information and persuading them. The single most effective way pharmaceutical companies feel they can convince physicians to prescribe their products has been the use of pharmaceutical sales representatives.18 Similar strategies have also been adopted in Turkey, influenced largely by the presence of the MNCs. Thus, we expect that models already tested in the West will be replicated in the context of Turkey.
During the past three decades, the Turkish economy has changed significantly from being agricultural and heavy industry based to a more diversified economy that is more export and services oriented. Although the Turkish economy has dealt with significantly high inflation and boom-and-bust cycles that resulted in financial crisis in the banking sector, high unemployment, and declining gross domestic product (GDP), the new austerity packages and structural reforms that have been in place since 2001 are considered the major factors for getting the Turkish economy back on track (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3432.htm).19
Some of the major macroeconomic policies that Turkey adopted resulted in reductions in budget deficits, reduced public debt, floating exchange rates, privatization, more favorable conditions for investment, and entitlement reforms. In addition, the central bank gained more independence and the banking sector was restructured to create stability in financing activities by assessing credit risk more objectively and making it available for those with good credit ratings. Simultaneously, Turkey strengthened its relations with the European Union (EU), harmonized its tax and regulatory environment, and stabilized the political environment which contributed to increased investor confidence.20 Most of the structural reforms put in place have been mainly targeted to improve transparency, financial reforms freed up availability of credit and liquidity, and changes in the investment policies along with customs union with EU created a favorable environment for export-oriented manufacturers to invest in Turkey.21 Changes in the legal and regulatory environment have lowered corporate taxes, eliminated barriers, and opened up the market for competition. Labor markets have been restructured to become more flexible and competitive.
As a result, the Turkish market currently enjoys an open and increasingly liberalized trade and investment climate.21 It is considered one of the emerging markets with more than a trillion dollar economy and is ranked among the top 17 economies in the world. To this end, the Turkish economy has become increasingly more similar to the Western markets in terms of intense competition, reduced tax and regulatory burden on corporations, political stability, monetary and fiscal policies free from political pressures, and consumers that have additional purchasing power due to the availability of credit. Furthermore, commitment to free international trade has been visible on all fronts. With significant emphasis placed on international trade, Turkey has become the world's 32nd biggest exporter with $154.2 billion worth of exports in 2012. Furthermore, Turkey has imported more than $225.6 billion during the same period. In total, Turkey's international trade amounted to $379.8 billion or 48.5% of its overall GDP. This compares with roughly 25% for the US and 60% for Canada.22 Therefore, we argue that although there are significant cultural differences, market environment and conditions in Turkey mimic that of Western markets.
The role of personal selling in pharmaceutical industry
Pharmaceutical companies have increasingly focused on their marketing activities. It is a highly competitive industry because there are a number of competing products availed by different manufacturers for similar uses and these manufacturers need to persuade the medical professionals to prescribe their products. Their marketing efforts mainly focus on informing the physicians and pharmacists about new and existing products and provide the necessary information about their uses. Among several other marketing activities, the single most effective way pharmaceutical companies can convince physicians to prescribe their specific drugs has been the use of pharmaceutical sales representatives.18 The pharmaceutical industry, hence, has a long history of using personal selling and this is evidenced by the sizable sales force expenses of the industry – nearly 50% of the marketing expenses23 that may have increased in recent times.
The role of the sales representatives is argued to vary by different industries, market structures, products, and customer types. In pharmaceutical sales, sales representatives provide physicians with important data (such as composition of the drug, side effects, and proper dosage) and the physicians depend on such information due to rapid changes taking place in the field. At the same time, sales representatives get feedback from the physicians about a drug’s use.24 Moreover, salespeople’s success also depends on the relationships they have built with the physicians.25,74 In regard to relationship quality between the pharmaceutical sales representative and the physician, researchers noted that salesperson’s expertise and ethics significantly influenced physicians’ trust in the salesperson.26 In this context, sales representatives assist the decision-making process of physicians while at the same time they try to build long-term relationships with the physicians. Hence, customer-oriented selling and adaptive selling become important in developing and maintaining successful relationships. Our study contributes to the existing literature by investigating customer-oriented selling and ASBs of Turkish pharmaceutical sales representatives.
Theoretical background and hypotheses
Since the objective of this study is to replicate a model tested in the West, our theoretical deliberations will be brief and succinct because of the theoretical basis for the conceptualization of the model has been provided in the Franke and Park3 study.
Adaptive selling behavior
Weitz et al.1 defined adaptive selling as ‘… the alteration of sales behaviors during a customer interaction or across customer interactions based on perceived information about the nature of the selling situation’. Similarly, Spiro and Weitz27 defined adaptive behaviors as those consisting of ‘collecting information about a prospective customer, developing a sales strategy, evaluating the impact of these messages, and making adjustments (in the sales presentation) based on this evaluation’ (p.61). Weitz28 argued that salespeople have unique opportunities to adapt to their customers in the process of presenting their products/services in a most appealing manner.
Researchers have also noted that adaptive selling may not only depend on salespeople’s selling abilities and motives but also on the guidance provided to them by their management. Therefore, models related to salesperson performance have generally included sales management variables, salesperson characteristics, and adaptive selling practices.1 Based on the results of a meta-analysis, Franke and Park3 concluded that ASBs have stronger effects than customer-oriented selling on salesperson performance. Table 1 provides a list of published research and their conclusions on the relationship between ASB and performance during the past two decades. It is also important to examine the indirect effects of adaptive selling on sales performance, especially through the link of customer orientation. Since Wietz 28 first conceptualized the relationship between ASB and performance, a number of studies have examined the relationship and reported mixed results. Table 1 shows that although a majority of the studies reported results supporting this relationship, some studies found no evidence of such relationship. For instance, involving pharmaceutical salespeople, Weilbaker29 reported that ASB was positively related to some measures of performance but not to others. Similarly, Goolsby et al.30 found an inconsistent relationship between ASB and dimensions of performance, highlighting the need for further research to examine the complex link between ASB and sales performance.
ASB: adaptive selling behavior; Source: Adopted from Park and Deitz.9
Customer orientation
Customer-oriented selling is a major stream of research reflecting ‘the practice of the marketing concept at the level of individual salespersons and customers’.31 Customer orientation is generally defined as the implementation of the marketing concept, where the salespeople need to determine customers’ needs and satisfy them.32 Based on this perspective, customer orientation requires that salespeople learn as much as possible about their customers’ needs, behaviors, and communication styles in order to deliver satisfaction. Hence, the role of the salesperson becomes very similar to a consultant, or a customer advocate, where they have expanded roles in terms of determining types of customers to target, deciding on which products to concentrate, and determining how to allocate their resources. Customer-oriented salespeople tend to focus on long-term customer satisfaction and not on immediate sales.33 In contrast, sales-oriented salespeople tend to focus on the immediate sale while potentially sacrificing long-term satisfaction. Boles et al.34 argue that sales orientation occurs when salespeople are primarily engaged in selling activities emphasizing getting ‘the sale’. Moreover, sales-oriented salespeople may not be able to match their firms’ offerings to customers’ needs because they might only focus on the product that they believe customer should buy.35 The main objective of sales orientation is to satisfy expressed customer preferences. While customer orientation places an emphasis on listening to customers and engaging in dialog, sales orientation encourages opportunistic36 means (e.g. I paint too rosy a picture of my products to make them sound as good as possible), if these are necessary to make the sale.37
The literature provides evidence on the benefits of customer orientation, suggesting that it leads to better long-term performance in comparison to the sales orientation approach.38–43 Empirical research also indicates a strong correspondence between customer orientation and customer perceptions of a salesperson, their satisfactions, and trust.31,35,44–46 Schwepker35 found that the relationship between customer orientation and salesperson’s job performance holds for both business-to-business and retail sales. On the other hand, Franke and Park3 concluded that customer orientation increased self-rated job performance of salespeople, which might be largely due to the fact that salespeople who are high in customer orientation believe that they are doing a better job and are more satisfied with their job than salespeople who are low in customer orientation. Although customer-oriented selling does not consistently lead to increased sales or other criteria that managers value in the short run, it is likely that it would positively affect customer relationships and result in more satisfied customers and long-lasting relationships, all of which can contribute to increased sales performance in the long run. Based on the literature, the following hypotheses are proposed for pharmaceutical salespeople in the context of an emerging market:
Hypothesis 1: Salespeople with high levels of customer orientation will have increased levels of sales performance.
Hypothesis 2: Salespeople with high levels of customer orientation will demonstrate high levels of adaptiveness.
Hypothesis 3: Salespeople with high levels of ASB will have increased levels of sales performance.
Hypothesis 4: Salespeople with high levels of adaptiveness will demonstrate high levels of customer orientation.
Gender and experience effects
The literature also provides support for possible gender and experience effects on both adaptive behavior and customer orientation. Female salespeople might be more interested in a long-term relationship than male counterparts and might create better conditions for ASB.3,64,73 Similarly, adaptive selling requires crucial knowledge and sales skills which are reflected in accumulated experiences. Experienced salespeople, thus, might be better in analyzing and understanding customer needs and identifying ways to satisfy those needs. Hence, in consonance with Franke and Park,3 the following hypotheses are formulated:
Hypothesis 5: Female salespeople will demonstrate higher levels of ASB than their male counterparts.
Hypothesis 6: Female salespeople will demonstrate higher levels of customer orientation than their male counterparts.
Hypothesis 7: Salespeople with higher levels of sales experience will demonstrate higher levels of adaptive selling.
Hypothesis 8: Salespeople with higher levels of sales experience will demonstrate higher levels of customer orientation.
Links to job satisfaction
Sujan et al.47 argued that salespeople using adaptive selling will enjoy the selling experience. In general, job satisfaction is closely related to the way employees feel about their work. Keillor et al.47 reported high levels of customer orientation and job satisfaction among high performing salespeople. Customer-oriented salespeople indicated that the process of satisfying customers’ needs was inherently gratifying.48 Similarly, Franke and Park3 reported that both ASB and customer orientation increases self- rated job satisfaction. Therefore, we test the following hypotheses:
Hypothesis 9: Salespeople employing greater adaptive selling will have higher levels of job satisfaction.
Hypothesis 10: Salespeople high on customer orientation will have higher levels of job satisfaction.
Hypothesis 11: Greater job satisfaction will lead to higher levels of performance (and/or its obverse).
Methodology
Measurement and questionnaire
The questionnaire consisted of four sections. The first section assessed the pharmaceutical salesperson’s tendency to adapt his or her selling approach to the circumstances measured by the ADAPTS scale which consists of 16 statements.27 Sujan et al.49 suggested that different conceptualizations of sales performance and adaptive selling might have led to conflicting findings with respect to the relationships between ASB and performance. For instance, after investigating how time of measurement and the variables used to measure sales performance impact the results, Chonko et al.50 found that performance measures and the timing of performance measure influenced the relationship between sales performance and a number of predictor variables; thus, researchers should exercise caution in the use of performance measures. We adopted one of the most commonly used measures of ASB – ADAPTS scale – for measuring a salesperson’s ASB. The second section of the questionnaire was designed to determine the pharmaceutical salesperson’s customer orientation, which is measured by the SOCO scale.31 The SOCO scale consists of 24 statements that describe different ways a salesperson behaves during a contact with a customer or prospect. The third section of the questionnaire included a number of subjective measures of salesperson performance, as well as job satisfaction. The final section of the questionnaire included demographics and socio-economic questions for classification purposes.
Originally the ADAPTS measure was assumed to be a unidimensional scale but our findings show that it has several unique factors. We do not believe that this presented any validity problems because other researchers in the literature have argued that using ADAPTS as a unidimensional scale runs the risk of confounding results.51 Following their suggestions, we measured ASB by using only seven items from the 16-item scale. This yielded an adaptive behavior scale that was highly reliable (α = 0.92). The inter-item correlations are shown in Table 2.
Inter-item correlations and factor loadings of seven items of the original ADAPTS scale
A9: it is easy for me to modify my sales presentation if the situation calls for it
4.30
2.03
0.58
0.59
0.60
0.50
0.78
A14: I try to understand how one customer differs from another
4.63
2.12
0.64
0.57
0.60
0.49
0.55
0.79
A15: I feel confident that I can effectively change my planned presentation when necessary
4.62
2.04
0.69
0.63
0.73
0.65
0.65
0.68
0.88
7-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7); All correlations are significant at p<.000; Cronbach’s α = 0.92; Factor explains 69.4% of the variance.
Reverse score.
As mentioned earlier, the original SOCO scale developed by Saxe and Weitz31 consisted of 24 statements. Later studies suggested that a shorter version of the scale measures customer orientation without significant loss of information.52 Following their suggestions, we used an 8-item scale to measure customer orientation; the results provided a high reliability coefficient (α = 0.93) (Table 3).
Data collection and sampling
The questionnaire was first constructed in English using existing constructs in the literature derived from studies conducted in Western countries. We then translated the questionnaire into Turkish and back translated it by two independent bilinguals to assure translation equivalence. Salespeople and college students were used for face-to-face pre-tests to thoroughly check for wording, understanding, and clarity of the instructions and scale adequacy. Where needed, the wording in the questionnaire was modified as suggested by the pre-tests. We conducted our study on the pharmaceutical industry. A group of MBA students from one of the largest universities in south-central Turkey was recruited to conduct the interviews. These MBA students were trained and given specific instructions by the authors regarding questionnaire administration. These trained students then went back to their companies to administer the questionnaires to pharmaceutical salespeople. Although some of them were salespeople themselves, they did not participate in the study by completing the questionnaires; rather they played the role of interviewers.
Prior to final administration, the survey was pretested once more using a small sample of 50 pharmaceutical salespersons from the companies that agreed to participate in the study. The final questionnaire was accompanied by a cover letter signed by the researchers, encouraging salespersons’ participation in the study and ensuring confidentiality of their responses.
The sampling plan was designed to include as many pharmaceutical salespeople as possible from the south-central region of Turkey (specifically, the cities of Mersin, Adana, and Antalya). There were 22 pharmaceutical companies operating in the region and we intended to contact most of their salespeople for the study. Sixteen of these companies were joint ventures and the remaining six were Turkish companies. We estimated that approximately 700 sales representatives were employed in these 22 companies and managed to distribute 480 questionnaires using the recruited MBA students. Respondents were instructed to complete the surveys and return them in sealed envelopes to contact persons in their organizations, to maintain confidentiality and to facilitate data collection. They were given two weeks to complete and return the surveys. Repeated reminders were sent through a short notice placed in their mailboxes to increase the completion rate. This approach generated a total of 328 usable responses, accounting for 68% response rate and representing 49% of the population. Table 4 shows the number of salespeople employed in these companies in the region where we conducted the study along with the valid responses obtained from each company.
Inter-item correlations and factor loadings of eight items of the original SOCO scale
S18: I try to get customer to discuss their needs with me
7.21
1.84
0.79
S21: I try to influence customer by information rather than by pressureb
6.97
2.18
0.64
0.86
S24: I try to help customers achieve their goals
7.00
1.86
0.66
0.68
0.87
S25: I answer a customer’s question about products or services as correctly as I can
7.50
1.80
0.62
0.69
0.75
0.85
S28: I try to figure out what a customer’s needs are
7.22
2.23
0.68
0.75
0.77
0.75
0.91
S29: A good salesperson has to have the customer’s best interests in mind
6.79
2.29
0.53
0.56
0.55
0.52
0.58
0.71
S30: I try to bring a customer with a problem together with a product/service that helps him/her solve that problem
7.20
1.98
0.55
0.61
0.66
0.62
0.72
0.50
0.80
S38: I decide what products/services to offer on the basis of what I can convince customers to buy, not on the basis of what will satisfy them in the long runb
7.18
2.11
0.65
0.79
0.72
0.69
0.82
0.59
0.67
0.89
9-point scale ranging from never (1) to always (9); All correlations are significant at p < .000; Cronbach’s α = 0.93; Factor explains 72.2% of the variance.
Reverse score.
Analysis and results
Table 5 shows the sample characteristics. Two-thirds of the respondents were male and more that 75% had college degrees. About a fifth of the salespeople who participated in the study had a degree in business and economics. Most had a monthly net income less than 2000 TL ($1 = 1.21 TL).
Sample participants from different companies
Ownership
Company name
Number of salespeople by city
Number of responses obtained
Adana
Mersin
Antakya
Total
Foreign
Abbot
10
4
2
16
6
Foreign
AstraZeneca İlaç Sanayi<
14
7
5
26
26
Foreign
Bayer
6
4
4
14
7
Foreign
BMS
12
4
2
18
6
Foreign
Boehringer Ingelheim İlaç Sanayi
6
3
2
11
5
Foreign
Eczacıbaşı-Zentiva
26
10
4
40
14
Foreign
Gsk
16
5
3
24
8
Foreign
Lundbeck İlaç Sanayi
5
3
2
10
3
Foreign
Merck Sharp Dohme İlaç Sanayi
22
6
3
31
11
Foreign
Novartis İlaç Sanayi
26
10
6
42
12
Foreign
Pfizer İlaç Sanayi
21
9
5
35
16
Foreign
Roche
11
6
4
21
10
Foreign
Sanofi Aventis İlaç Sanayi
46
14
12
72
26
Foreign
Solvay İlaç Sanayi
5
2
2
9
2
Foreign
Whyte
9
4
4
17
9
Foreign
SANDOZ
14
6
3
23
14
Domestic
Abdi İbrahim
45
19
14
78
30
Domestic
Mustafa Nevzat
32
14
6
52
19
Domestic
Sanovel
50
16
13
79
30
Domestic
FAKO
25
12
7
44
28
Domestic
ALİRAİF
16
10
6
3
>
16
Domestic
İBRAHİM ETHEM
18
12
6
36
30
TOTAL
730
328
Sample characteristics (n = 328)
Characteristics
Frequency
Percentage
Age
169
51.
>
• 20–29
136
41.
>
• 30–39
5
1.5
• 40–49
0
0
• 50+
Gender
• Male
255
77.
>
• Female
62
18.9
Marital Status
• Married
130
39.
>
• Single
174
53.
>
• Divorced
17
5.1
Number of children
• None
80
24.4
• 1
34
10.4
• 2
10
3.0
• 3+
1
0.3
Education
• High school
25
7.6
• Some college
11
3.4
• College
256
78.
>
• Graduate
26
7.9
Major area
• Business
51
15.5
• Economics
30
9.1
• Engineering
88
26.8
• Science
36
10.9
• Other
50
15.2
Monthly net income (YTL)
• Less than 1000
80
25.3
• 1000–1500
70
21.3
• 1001–2000
33
10.1
• 2001–2500
18
5.5
• 2501–3000
8
2.4
• 3001–3500
2
0.6
• 3500+
16
4.9
Variable income base (%)
• 10–20
88
26.8
• 20–30
34
10.4
• 30–40
27
8.2
• 40–50
8
2.4
• 50+
2
0.6
To examine the structural relationships, we used AMOS to estimate the hypothesized effects. Figure 1 shows the structural model tested and results are reported in Table 6.
Conceptual model for hypothesized relationships of adaptive selling and customer orientation.
Model fit indices: Chi-square = 2.37, p > .10, RMSEA = 00, NFI = 1.02.
Model fit indices: Chi-square = 503.50, p < 0.000, GFI = 0.899, RMSEA = 0.069, CFI = 0.930.
Table 6 shows the comparative findings of Franke and Park3 study versus our results. In general, there is quite a bit of similarity between the findings and the direction of the relationship. We also split the data into foreign versus domestic companies to see if there were any differences among salespeople depending on where they worked. Results indicated no differences among findings based on domestic versus foreign environment. Our results indicated that the overall fit indices of the structural model are reasonable (chi-square/degree-of-freedom ratio is below 2.0 and GFI = 0.90), confirming that the structural model fit the data reasonably well. The proportions of variance, the endogenous variables accounted for were as follows: R2Adaptive selling = 0.181; R2Customer orientation = 0.078; R2Performance = 0.242; and R2Satisfaction = 0.382. Table 6 shows that the paths from Customer orientation (CO) to sales performance (H1) and ASB (H2), ASB to sales performance (H3) and CO (H4) are significant as hypothesized. While the gender–ASB relationship (H5) was not confirmed, the gender–CO relationship (H6) path was significant with a negative coefficient (dummy coding 0 for female and 1 for male), indicating that female salespeople had higher levels of customer orientation. Furthermore, the results indicate that higher experience levels led to higher levels of adaptiveness (H7), while it had no significant relationship with customer orientation (H8). Finally, adaptive selling did not have any relationship with satisfaction (H9), but we found a positive relationship between customer orientation and satisfaction (H10).
Discussion and conclusion
This study examined pharmaceutical salespersons’ customer orientation and ASB on their performance in the context of an emerging market, where Western influence has been quite substantial. There has been rapidly changing economic, political, and competitive environments in Turkey. Some of the most visible changes that have been taking place during the past two decades are in the areas of privatization, tax reform, deregulation, abolishment of anti-competitive barriers, reduction of monopolies, agricultural reforms, and the efforts made to meet the very explicit expectations of the EU with regard to on-going membership talks. These reform efforts, aimed to structure and strengthen the fundamentals of the market economy, will create a more favorable environment for the entrepreneurs to take initiative. It is argued that the Turkish economy has gained significant economic competitiveness and efficiency as a result of the Customs Union with EU since 1996.53 Turkey also has a long tradition of trade and business with Western nations. Although there are significant similarities between Turkish and Western economies, the cultural environment in Turkey differs from that of Western nations. Cultural differences mainly stem from the national culture. Turkey is high on collectivism, high on uncertainty avoidance (UAI), and high on power distance (PD), which is evidenced by a very low score on Hofstede’s dimension of individualism (IDV) and high score of UAI and PD. IDV score of Turkey is around 35 as compared to World average of 44. UAI score of Turkey is around 85 as compared to World average of 64. PD score of Turkey is around 66 as compared to World average of 55. These scores indicate that a more collectivist society is manifested in a close long-term commitment to the member ‘group’ that being a family, extended family, or extended relationships (http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstedeturkey.shtml).54
Using well-established measurement scales and an existing model,3 we replicated and tested the role of customer orientation and ASB on Turkish pharmaceutical salespeople’s performance. The results of our study indicated similar findings obtained by Franke and Park3 and provided additional support to the relationships found among these constructs by researchers in Western markets. Customer orientation was significant in regard to sales performance, satisfaction, and ASB. Furthermore, ASB was significant in regard to sales performance and customer orientation but not significant in its relationship to satisfaction. Finally, we found support for the relationship between a salesperson’s experience and ASB as well as between gender and customer orientation.
Our findings reinforce the consistently positive relationship between customer orientation and ASB and performance in a culturally different environment. Our findings also suggest that adaptive selling practices and customer orientation of industrialized nations have seemingly made inroads into the Turkish pharmaceutical industry. This transformation occurred possibly through the sales training programs and managerial coaching and mentoring activities. In fact, according to the literature, the use of adaptive selling approach requires greater training and related inputs for salespeople55 to enable them to ‘work smarter’. Adaptive selling should be considered ‘effective’ in the long run if its use results in benefits that outweigh the costs. According to Weitz et al.,1 adaptive selling should be particularly cost effective when (1) salespeople have a variety of customers with different needs, (2) the sales situation is of high value and importance, (3) the company provides required resources and support, and (4) the salespeople are highly skilled and capable to adapt.
Another reason for finding similarities between Turkey and Western nations may be due to the fact that salespersons who enter the selling profession may, by nature, be more individualistic than the average person. This contention needs to be tested in future studies. Moreover, the relationship between strong customer orientation and satisfaction should not be overlooked with respect to retaining successful salespersons and minimizing turnover. Our results indicate that the more customer oriented the salespeople are, the more satisfied they are with their job. This is especially important when the results of this study show that experience is linked to the use of adaptive selling and adaptive selling is linked to performance. That is, the more experienced the salespeople are, the more likely that they will be using adaptive selling, which ultimately has a positive influence on their performance. Therefore, experienced salespeople are the crucial piece of the puzzle for salespeople success and they can also play a crucial role in sales force training and mentoring. We believe this study provided a test for extending the generalizability of previous research to a culturally different environment.
Limitations and future research
It is important to reflect on some of the limitations of this study. First, it was conducted using a convenience sample from a single industry and region. While we have obtained a reasonable sample size, our findings should be reinforced using additional studies. Second, we used measurement scales developed in the Western countries to measure the constructs and examine their relationships in a culturally different environment that has seemingly assimilated the practices of the developed world. Although such use of accepted scales are common in the literature, scales specifically designed for a particular cultural environment could have resulted in alternative model parameters for Turkey. Third, this study focused on pharmaceutical salespeople (i.e. a single industry) and their ASB. Its generalization to other sales situations or industries in this market is limited, particularly because the pharmaceutical industry in Turkey is dominated by large global organizations whose organizational culture and salespeople training methods could have resulted in a sales force that shows similar behaviors to their Western counterparts. Future studies should select personal selling environments that are more isolated from globalization to see the potential effects of cultural factors on their ASB. Finally, similar to other studies, we used self-reported measures of salespersons’ performance. Future studies should incorporate additional measures of sales performance (e.g. customers’ view, sales managers’ evaluations, actual sales, market shares, etc.).
Footnotes
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they do not have any conflicts of interest.
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