Successful and Unsuccessful Sales Calls: Measuring Salesperson Attributions and Behavioral Intentions

Applying attribution theory to consumer behavior issues is quite common. In the managerial arena, previous research suggests that salespeople's attribution processes affect their expectancies for success and future behavior. However, no published research has developed adequate measures that might be used to examine the full range of attributional responses for sales success or failure and the behaviors that are likely to follow such attributions. The goal of this research is to develop a complete set of attributional and behavioral scales for sales success and failure and validate such scales in a real-world context—among field sales representatives. Following Churchill's (1979) recommended process, the authors develop a complete set of attributional and behavioral intention scales that is applicable to a field sales force setting. The authors then measure 228 financial services representatives' performance attributions for a previous sales interaction; their intended behaviors for a future, similar selling situation; and their personal characteristics. The authors test the validities of the scales and examine the usefulness of applying the scales within a theoretically justified nomological network of relationships.