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

Abstract

Abstract:

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.

Key words: big five personality, extraversion, sales performance, curvilinear relationship

Liu Yue, Bai Xinwen. Too Much of a Good Thing: The Curvilinear Relationship between Extraversion and Sales Performance[J]. , 2016, 28(7): 112-119.

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