Abstract
Although it has been generally reported that high-pressure sales tactics can have negative effects on both the customer and the salesperson/firm (e.g., Chu et al. 1995), the amount of attention devoted to the subject in the marketing literature is less than optimal. As such, our understanding of factors, such as salesperson credibility, that can contribute to consumer perceptions of sales pressure could also benefit from more research effort. Additionally, with the millennial generation playing an ever-increasing role in the consumer population, the need exists to examine the role of consumer entitlement in this relationship. Using a sample of 326 consumers, this research seeks to address these gaps in the literature.
While the majority of the literature on source credibility has been relative to social influence, very few have examined credibility within the personal selling context (Sharma 1990). The basis of persuasion is the same for either, so the theories applied to social influence and advertising should reasonably be expected to be applicable to selling situations. Consumer perceptions of salesperson credibility have been found to be higher in less important purchases, than in extremely important ones (Belonax et al. 2007). Generally speaking, the more important a purchase is, the more potential pressure will be felt during its process. Extending this finding to the current study, one could argue that if salesperson credibility is perceived to be lower in more important, potentially more pressure-filled purchases, it should then be negatively related to a consumer’s perceptions of sales pressure. That is, more perceived sales pressure should be expected when salesperson credibility is low.
In their effort to introduce the personality variable of entitlement in a retailing context, Boyd and Helms (2005: 273) have defined consumer entitlement as “the extent to which the buyer perceives himself or herself to be a special customer of the firm.” In concert with the conceptualization of Boyd and Helms (2005), Fisk and Neville (2011) found that “the behaviors of entitled customers seem to reinforce the notion that these individuals perceive themselves as superior to others” (p. 394). Empirical research has found that Americans are experiencing unprecedented levels of narcissism (Twenge 2006). The youngest members of the millennial generation (often referred to as the “entitlement” cohort) have been characterized as “possessing a greater sense of entitlement” than its older millennial cohort members (Debevec et al. 2013). Additionally, there has been a trend of declining resilience among younger Americans (Gray 2015) that will likely result in a heightened sensitivity to feel pressure from less than credible salespeople.
Hypothesis 1, predicting that salesperson credibility is negatively related to consumer perception of sales pressure, was confirmed through a significant beta of −.528. Meanwhile, hypothesis 2, predicting that consumer entitlement would moderate the negative relationship of credibility and perceived sales pressure, was also confirmed. The interaction between salesperson credibility and consumer entitlement was graphed, and the simple slopes were tested per Aiken and West (1991). The results provided additional support for the interaction effect as the impact of low salesperson credibility on perceptions of sales pressure was at its strongest for those high in entitlement. When the salesperson was perceived as credible by the consumer, however, there was significantly less sales pressure perceived by the consumer regardless of his/her level of entitlement.
These results serve to further underscore the importance of a salesperson’s credibility in the eyes of the customer. A salesperson’s credibility can effectively nullify the negative moderating impact of consumer entitlement, as well as the degree of perceived pressure felt by the customer. Sales training should focus on not only technical expertise in the form of product knowledge but also impression management (i.e., people skills) in an effort to ensure that their salespeople are perceived to be credible in the eyes of their customer.