Dare to thrive: how personalized idiosyncratic deals shape salesperson polychronicity and emotional labor in turbulent B2B markets?

Purpose Despite growing reliance on personalized work arrangement in business-to-business sales, little is known about how such arrangements shape salespeople’s multitasking capabilities and emotional regulation. Drawing on conservation of resource theory, this study aims to examine how Idiosyncratic deals (I-deals) function as contextual resources that foster salesperson polychronicity, and, in turn, shape emotional labor strategies and service recovery performance. Design/methodology/approach Using survey data collected from 348 salesperson–manager dyads and analyzed via SmartPLS 4. Findings The results demonstrate that I-deals significantly enhance salesperson Polychronicity. Moreover, polychronicity positively associated with deep acting and negatively associated with surface acting. The results further confirm that deep acting positively influences service recovery performance, whereas surface acting exerts a negative effect. Moderation analysis further reveals that manager trust strengthens the positive relationship between salesperson polychronicity and deep acting, but does not significantly moderate the relationship between polychronicity and surface acting. Originality/value Although earlier studies have examined I-deals or individual traits largely in isolation, limited attention has been paid to how personalized organizational resources (I-deals) interact with individual capabilities (polychronicity) to shape salesperson behavior.