The role of sales representatives in cross-cultural business-to-business relationships

Flora F. Gu*, Jeff Jianfeng Wang, Danny T WANG

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

    20 Citations (Scopus)
    82 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    This study responds to the call for the “internationalization of sales research” by collecting data from 160 international buyers spanning 33 countries and regions. Based on survey data, archival sales records and cultural-distance indices, this research examines the performance-enhancing effect of sales rep-owned commitment as well as its antecedents under varying degrees of cultural distance. Our results show a strong and direct impact of rep-owned commitment, independent of the effect of firm-owned commitment, on enhancing performance indicators including sales volume, importers' purchase share, and importers' future purchase intentions. Moreover, we find two important antecedents to rep-owned commitment: benevolence trust and capability trust. Interestingly, cultural distance moderates the effects of benevolence and capability trust on rep-owned commitment: the larger the cultural distance, the stronger the effect of benevolence trust but the weaker the effect of capability trust. We conclude with theoretical and managerial implications to international marketing research and practice.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)227-238
    Number of pages12
    JournalIndustrial Marketing Management
    Volume78
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Apr 2019

    Scopus Subject Areas

    • Marketing

    User-Defined Keywords

    • Cultural distance
    • Exporting
    • International marketing
    • Relationship marketing
    • Sales representatives
    • Trust

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'The role of sales representatives in cross-cultural business-to-business relationships'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this