外向者胜出吗?外向性和销售绩效的非线性关系

Too Much of a Good Thing: The Curvilinear Relationship between Extraversion and Sales Performance

一般认为,外向的人更适合从事销售类工作,然而众多研究的结果却呈现高度不一致,这说明外向性和销售绩效间存在较复杂关系。基于来自34个团队的235名B2B销售人员的数据,分析结果表明,外向性和销售绩效之间呈现倒U型曲线关系。具体而言,与高度外向或内向的人相比,中等程度外向的销售人员销售绩效最高。还发现宜人性调节外向性和销售绩效的关系,与高度外向但宜人性水平较低的销售人员相比,高度外向且宜人性水平较高的销售人员,其销售绩效较高。本研究为进一步厘清人格与绩效的关系提供实证依据,对企业的销售人员招募选拔和培训发展,以及对求职者择业都有一定启示。

Although it＇s widely accepted that extraverts are more suitable for sales jobs,extant researches have shown weak and inconsistent relationships between extraversion and sales performance,indicating a far more complicated relationship between them. The current study proposes that the relationship between extraversion and sales performance is curvilinear. Based on 235 B2B sales representatives from 34 sales teams,results support the predicted inverted-U-shaped relationship between extraversion and sales performance. Specifically,the ambiverts achieve higher sales performance than extraverts or introverts do. Further,agreeableness acts as a moderator and mitigates the negative effect of high extraversion on sales performance. Extraverts who are also high in agreeableness achieve higher performance than those less agreeable extraverts. This study provides empirical evidence for the exploration of personality-performance relationship,and offers practical implications for organizations in hiring and training employees and for job seekers in choosing jobs.