How Salespersons' Use of a Power Base Can Affect Customers' Satisfaction in a Social System: An Empirical Examination

The effects of salespersons' use of a power base on customers' satisfaction was investigated. Data were collected from 178 intermediary customers in a marketing channel. A maximum likelihood, ordered logit estimation was conducted to detect the relationship between customers' satisfaction and the salesperson's use of a particular power base. Contrary to previous power studies, the salespersons' application of a referent power base played the largest role in ensuring customers' satisfaction, followed by reward, expert, and legitimate power. The salespersons' use of a coercive power base had an inverse effect on customers' satisfaction.