Salesperson resistance to change: an empirical investigation of antecedents and outcomes

• Published in: International journal of bank marketing Vol. 30; no. 7; pp. 548 - 566
• Main Authors: Jaramillo, Fernando, Mulki, Jay Prakash, Onyemah, Vincent, Rivera Pesquera, Martha
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bradford Emerald Group Publishing Limited 05.10.2012
• Subjects: Bank marketing; Costs; Customer relationship management; Employees; Organizational change; Product design; Product development; R&D; Research & development; Salespeople; Self interest; Social exchange theory; Social interaction; Studies; Success; Mexico; Customer responsiveness; Change management; Customer satisfaction; Resistance to change; Salesperson performance; Employees behaviour; Mexico; Financial services; Sales force
• ISSN: 0265-2323; 1758-5937
• DOI: 10.1108/02652321211274318

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate why salespeople resist change and the impact of resistance to change on customer responsiveness and performance outcomes.Design methodology approach - Survey responses derived from 233 salespeople from three large financial institutions in Mexico are used to test relationships involving salespersons' resistance to change.Findings - Salespeople are more likely to resist change if they believe that change increases their workload. They are less likely to resist change when they have higher levels of job autonomy and self-efficacy. Resistance to change has a negative impact on customer responsiveness and salesperson's performance.Research limitations implications - This study makes an important contribution to the literature by identifying factors that explain salesperson's resistance to change. Study findings rely on salesperson survey responses collected in one country and industry. Future research is needed to assess the generalizability of findings and causality of the proposed relationships.Practical implications - Resistance to change affects the salespersons' capacity to respond to customer demands and ultimately undermines performance. Managers can help reduce resistance to change by providing salespeople with greater job autonomy and by explaining how change affects their workload.Originality value - To the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper linking salesperson resistance to change to job performance.