Transformational Leadership Effects on Salespeople’s Attitudes, Striving, and Performance
(A2019-5690)

AUTHORS

William Murphy, University of Saskatchewan Edwards School of Business; Ronnie (Chuang Rang) Gao, Trinity Western University

KEYWORDS

sales; leadership; performance

ABSTRACT

Sales managers face many challenges in directing and leading their salespeople. Viewing transformational leadership (TL) as pivotal to gain attitudes necessary for good performance, the primary objective of the present research is to establish a leader behavior (TL) – salesperson’ attitudes – behavior – performance logic. An online survey with 313 salespeople in sales positions for 3+ years provided data analyzed using SEM with AMOS 24 found that: 1) TL has a direct positive effect on both salespeople’s sense of empowerment and self-efficacy and an indirect effect through the mediation of employee vigor; 2) a sense of being empowered and self-efficacy have positive effects on salespeople’s accomplishment striving (AS); 3) AS, in turn, has a positive effect on performance. Overall, the results are a testament to the vital importance of how sales managers engage in managing salespeople due to profound effects on salespeople’ attitudes of TL.