The salesperson wellness lifestyle, coping with stress and the reduction of turnover
Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing
ISSN: 0885-8624
Article publication date: 25 September 2018
Issue publication date: 12 March 2019
Abstract
Purpose
It is well known that job stress is major cause of salesperson job dissatisfaction and turnover. Salespeople require the resources to cope adequately with a multitude of job stressors, and the purpose of this study is to demonstrate that salesperson wellness promotes the ability of salespeople to use effective coping strategies in the workplace and as a result decrease their intentions of leaving the firm.
Design/methodology/approach
Data including measures of coping strategies and a wellness lifestyle orientation were collected from a sample of 441 full-time professional salespeople in two metropolitan statistical areas of the USA. Structural equation modeling was used to demonstrate the relationship of a wellness lifestyle to coping strategies and in turn the relationship of coping strategies to job satisfaction and turnover intentions.
Findings
The study demonstrated the influence of the wellness lifestyle on salespeople’s ability to cope effectively with job stress. It extends previous research by demonstrating the direct influence of salesperson wellness on coping behaviors and demonstrates the nomological validity of the wellness lifestyle construct by modeling its relationship with job satisfaction and the intent to leave the organization.
Research limitations/implications
The study recommends new research on the synergies that might be produced by simultaneous consideration of the social, physical, and psychological elements of the multicomponent wellness lifestyle. This should be particularly valuable in the context of the Challenger Sale.
Practical implications
Wellness programs may be introduced or improved following an assessment of coping resource weaknesses of the sales force. New employees could be screened by examining their wellness profiles.
Originality/value
Major firms have promoted wellness lifestyle programs for years, but no studies have examined the influence of such programs on coping with job stress by salespeople. The paper demonstrates the value of the salesperson wellness lifestyle by showing that it promotes the most adjustive form of coping strategy, problem-focused coping.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper forms part of the special section “Closed to new submissions challenger sale – future of selling?”, guest edited by Talai Osmonbekov.
Citation
Kraft, F.B., Maity, D. and Porter, S. (2019), "The salesperson wellness lifestyle, coping with stress and the reduction of turnover", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 34 No. 2, pp. 347-359. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-03-2017-0058
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited