Abstract

This study examines salespeople’s attachment styles and regulation strategies for negative emotions, which have considerable influence on their ability to satisfy the needs of their customers and to engage in positive selling behaviors in their frequent interactions with their customers. In particular, for salespeople experiencing frequent interactions with customers, their attachment style can be a very important factor in their relationships with customers. In this regard, this study investigates the effects of salespeople’s attachment styles on their customer-oriented selling behavior and regulation strategies for negative emotions during their interactions with customers as well as the effects of their regulation strategies on their customer-oriented selling behavior. First, in-depth interviews with salespersons are analyzed to identify salespersons' attachment style and negative emotional regulation strategy from the respondent's perspective. Second, the structural equation modeling (SEM) method is used to test the hypotheses of the study. Finally, based on analysis of results, this study suggest that salespeople' attachment style had considerable influence on their regulation strategies for negative emotions as well as on their customer-oriented selling behavior. In addition, their regulation strategies had considerable influence on their customer-oriented selling behavior. This study contributes to the literature by addressing salespeople’s attachment style, which has been overlooked as an antecedent of their customer-oriented selling behavior, that is, another factor that can influence salespeople’s selling behavior.

Key words:  Salespeople, attachment style, regulation strategies for negative emotions, customer-oriented selling behavior.