Predicting salespeople’s performance, cross-selling and up-selling: interactions between personality, satisfaction with the rewards system and leader–member exchange

Purpose The present study investigated the moderating role of satisfaction with the rewards system and leader–member exchange (LMX) in the relationships between two narrow personality traits (achievement-striving from conscientiousness and activity level from extraversion) and overall sales performance, cross-selling and up-selling. Design/methodology/approach The sample of the study consisted of 381 salespeople in the insurance industry who completed all scales at one point in time. Confirmatory factor analysis, reliability analysis, descriptive statistics and correlations were computed in R. The moderation analyses were also conducted in R using observed variables. Findings Both achievement-striving and activity level were positively related to sales performance and cross-selling. The relationships with up-selling were not significant. Satisfaction with the rewards system moderated the relationships with cross-selling. The associations between both narrow personality traits and cross-selling were the strongest when satisfaction was low. LMX only moderated the relationship between activity level and cross-selling. The link between these two variables was the strongest when LMX was low. Practical implications Results support the use of personality tests that measure narrow traits for the selection of salespeople. When there are no ways to select salespeople based on personality traits, organizations can find solutions to increase satisfaction with the rewards system or to implement LMX interventions. Originality/value This study explores the psychological complexity of the personality–performance relationship by highlighting specific conditions in which personality predicts sales performance.