Jane Z. Sojka

Training Tomorrow's Leaders: Enhancing the Emotional Intelligence of Business Graduates

Abstract Educational institutions have traditionally focused primarily on the importance of IQ with less attention given to other types of intelligence. Yet many reserchers are begining to argue that intrapersonal and interpersonal competencies, or emotional intelligence, may be more important for success in life than IQ. It is important, then, for business schools to consider ways to incorporare emotional intelligence skills into each students “toolbox” for enhanced career success. This article reviews the developing literature on emotional intelligence and discusses a model for incorporating emotional intelligence into the curriculum through the use of assessment tools and experiential exercises.

Enhancing the Emotional Intelligence of Salespeople

In today’s rapidly changing sales environment, successful salespeople must acquire skills that give them a competitive advantage. Emotional intelligence (EI), defined as perceiving, interpreting, and reacting to one’s own and others’ emotions, is offered as one critical skill that will allow salespeople to guide their behavior and think in ways that can enhance their sales performance. In this paper, we review emotional intelligence and discuss how it is related to existing theories of sales performance. Research propositions are then developed based on the Walker, Churchill, and Ford (1977) sales performance model. Strategies for sales practitioners are proposed, and additional opportunities for future research are identified.

Personality Traits and Sales Performance: Exploring Differential Effects of Need For Cognition and Self-Monitoring

Identification of personality traits effective in predicting sales success has become increasingly critical. Two theoretically grounded traits—need for cognition and self-monitoring—were investigated as possible predictors of sales performance. Analysis of data collected from 956 salespeople revealed that both need for cognition and self-monitoring were related to differences in self-rated sales performance. Managerial implications and directions for future research are proposed.

Student Perceptions of Sales Careers: Implications for Educators and Recruiters

While sales careers offer tremendous job potential, they are frequently overlooked by graduating college students. Previous research suggests that negative sales stereotypes have influenced students’ desire for sales careers. In this paper we revisit student attitudes toward sales careers to identify student segments most likely to have positive and realistic views of sales careers. We found that marketing majors or students who have taken two or more sales classes view sales careers more positively than other business students. Non‐marketing majors or students exposed to sales careers either through internships/work experience or having family members in sales did not exhibit positive attitudes toward sales. We also observed some interesting gender differences on attitudes toward sales. We suggest that corporate recruiters may want to focus their recruiting efforts on marketing majors or students who have taken sales classes to identify students with positive and realistic views of sales careers: resulting in better employee task fit, lower job turnover, and reduced costs of recruitment.

The Relationship between Processing Styles and Self-Control Behavioral Characteristics

Recent research suggests that cognitions and affect may operate independently or simultaneously during the decision process. The purpose of this exploratory research is to understand cognitive and affective processing styles by examining the self-control traits which may be associated with each style. Results suggest that individuals prone to affective decision processing (Feeling Processors) also tended towards more compulsive behavior than the other types of processors. Similarly, individuals who use both styles of processing (Combination Processors) were found to be more likely to engage in risk-taking behavior. Implications of these results and future research are suggested.

Asian purchasing agents’ perceptions of women sales representatives

To enhance our understanding of the optimal buyer‐seller dyad composition in different cultures, this study investigates differences in male and female buyers’ perceptions of male and female sales representatives in Pakistan. Data collected from 88 Pakistani buyers reveal that although male and female salespeople were perceived somewhat differently depending on the buyer’s gender, many similarities were also found. In addition, buyers did not perceive salespeople of the same gender more positively than salespeople of the opposite gender. Most of the male buyers did not perceive sales to be an appropriate career for Pakistani women. Overall, the results suggest female Pakistani sales representatives are more relationship‐oriented, and some male Pakistani buyers may prefer working with female salespeople.