Influence of substantive corporate social responsibility attribution on salespeople’s value-based selling: a resource perspective
ISSN: 1750-614X
Article publication date: 10 April 2023
Issue publication date: 8 February 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing upon the conservation of resources theory, this study aims to investigate whether, how and when salespeople’s substantive attribution of the organization’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects value-based selling (VBS). The authors argue that salespeople’s substantive CSR attribution increase value-based selling through two mechanisms (i.e. by lowering emotional exhaustion and increasing empathy), and treatment by customers can increase or decrease the strength of these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
B2B salespeople working in various industries in China were recruited through snowball sampling to participate in the study. There were 462 volunteers (57.58% women; aged 30–55; tenure ranging from six months to 15 years) who provided valid self-report questionnaires.
Findings
Hierarchical multiple regression supported the association between salespeople’s substantive CSR attribution and VBS. The results showed that salespeople’s emotional state (i.e. emotional exhaustion and empathy) mediated the association between substantive CSR attribution and VBS. As expected, salespeople’s experiences of customer incivility weakened the mediating effect of emotional exhaustion; contrary to expectations, customer-initiated interpersonal justice weakened the mediation effect of empathy.
Originality/value
This study makes a unique contribution to the existing marketing literature by first investigating the role of salespeople’s attribution of CSR motives in facilitating their VBS, which answers the call to identify factors that predict VBS. In addition, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the authors are the first to test salespeople’s emotions as a mechanism of the link between their CSR attributions and selling behaviors.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding: The Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71972185), the Project of the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (Grant No. 2022JJ40652), “High-End Think Tank” Project of Central South University (Grant No. 2020znzk04).
Citation
Yan, A., Jiang, B. and Zang, Z. (2024), "Influence of substantive corporate social responsibility attribution on salespeople’s value-based selling: a resource perspective", Chinese Management Studies, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 375-404. https://doi.org/10.1108/CMS-06-2022-0203
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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