Communication apprehension and perceptions of salesperson performance: a multinational perspective

Abstract

While the effect of communication apprehension on a multitude of psychological and performance variables has been studied in many other disciplines, it has not been extensively examined by sales researchers. This article considers communication in the sales transaction from the perspective of communication apprehension, and investigates the role of communication apprehension as an indicator of a salesperson’s performance. Using ordinal logistic regression, an attempt is made to predict a salesperson’s performance based on the four contexts of communication apprehension, in a multicultural sample. The results show a small but significant effect of communication apprehension on the performance of salespersons, and some contexts of communication apprehension are found to be better predictors than others. The findings also indicate that the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension‐24 scale is valid and reliable when used to establish international principles.

Citation

Pitt, L.F., Berthon, P.R. and Robson, M.J. (2000), "Communication apprehension and perceptions of salesperson performance: a multinational perspective", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 68-82. https://doi.org/10.1108/02683940010305315