Born to sell or selling yourself out? The role of emotional labor in B2B salespeople

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how perceived ability-job fit and commitment to display rules relate to emotional labor in business-to-business salespeople and the influence emotional labor has on important sales outcomes. Design/methodology/approach This study develops a conceptual model and uses structural equation modeling to test hypotheses. The sample consists of 312 business-to-business salespeople from various sales organizations. Findings Results show the importance of understanding how perceived ability-job fit and commitment to display rules influence the three types of emotional labor, as the type of emotional labor a salesperson engages in relates differently to sales outcomes. Practical implications This research highlights important practical implications as perceived ability-job fit and commitment to display rules can be influenced by managers. Further, the three types of emotional labor are examined as they relate to turnover intention and behavioral performance. Originality/value Research on emotional labor in business-to-business salespeople is scant. This work introduces new antecedents of emotional labor and expands the limited existing research on the third component of emotional labor; the display of naturally felt emotions.