Backgroundto theresearchandresearchproblem
Overthelast30yearssinceDoiMoi,thepolicyofopeningthecountryandintegratingintot h e internat ionaleconomyhasbecomea p r i m a r y s t r a t e g y ofVietNam,i n l i n e w i t h structuralreforms,aiming ateconomicgrowthandsustainabledevelopment.Thereformshave changedthelivesofVietnameseconsumers.Atpresent,thecountryrepresentsanattractivemarketwith vastp o t e n t i a l Accordingt o K e a r n e y ( 2 0 0 8 ) , w i t h a p o p u l a t i o n o f n e a r l y 9 0 m i l l i o n people,rapideconomicdevelopment,relativepoliticalstability,andanunderdevelopedlocalreta ilsystem,itwast h e m o s t attractiveemergingmarketd e s t i n a t i o n f o r retailinvestment.Majorintern ationalretailerswishtopenetratedeepintothismarket.InaccordancewithitsWorldTrade
Organization(WTO)commitments—VietnambecameamemberoftheWTOin 2007— Vietnamfullyopenedi t s retailsector afterJanuary2009.Furthermore,Vietnamalsostandout amongtheTPPcountriesandVietnam’saverageappliedtariffsonimportsare9.5%,oneofthehighestle velsamongTPPmembers.Manyinternationalretailgroupshaveenteredthemarket,providinggreaterch oicesforconsumerswhilstcreatingintensecompetitivechallengesfordomesticplayers.Domesticretailers andtheVietnameseauthorities haveraisedconcerns aboutlosing marketsharetonewforeignr etailgiants.
Vietnam's young population, rising income levels, urbanization, and favorable business environment, characterized by lower trade barriers and reduced corporate tax rates, position the country as a high-potential growth market A survey by Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) WorldPanel Vietnam highlights three key traits of the new generation of consumers: they are predominantly under 30 years old, have complex product needs, and prioritize spending on body and healthcare products Additionally, these consumers value shopping in safe and comfortable environments, leading to increased attention on product quality, hygiene, and safety Consequently, there is a noticeable shift towards modern trade outlets that offer hygienic and convenient shopping experiences Businesses are responding with various programs to build customer loyalty and attract new clients, as this dynamic young consumer group significantly influences trends across many industries, particularly in the modern retail sector.
Fundamentalissuesofthecustomerandtheirexpectationsinvolvearoundthreemagicalquesti ons1 W h a t more?2 W h a t next?3 W h a t else?
Salespeoplearefacingt h e challengeofstructuringthenewproductdevelopmentprocesses.Atthesa metime, organizationsareconstrainedbylimitedfinancialandhumanresources,alackofamarketorien tation.Asaresult,t h e roleoforganizationsandindividualsinprovidinggoodsandserviceisconti nuouslydeveloping,thesalefunction isrequiredtoadaptandchange.Therefore,asalesforcemust haveaw i d e rangeofskillstocompetesuccessfully.Thisisbecausenothingcanreplacethepower ofpersonalsales-forceingeneratingsalesandbuildingstrong,loyalcustomerrelationship (Kurtz
&Boone,2008;Kotler&Armstrong,2005;Paparoidomis&Guenzi,2009).BooneandKurtz claimt h a t “professionalsalespersonsareproblem- solverswhofocusonsatisfyingtheneedsofcustomersbefore,d u r i n g andaftert h e salesa r e m a d e ” ( 2 0
0 8 ,p 5 2 9 ) Salespeoplearmthemselvesw i t h knowledgeaboutt h e i r f i r m ’ s goodsands e r v i c e s , t h o s e o f competitorsandt h e i r customer’sbusinessneeds,andpursueacommongoalofcreat inglong-termrelationships withcustomers.
Salespeopleplayakeyrolen ot o n l y inc u s t o m e r r el at io ns hi p managementb u t alsoi n understa nding,creating,communicatinganddeliveringvaluestocustomers,whichinturnincreasesthesalesper formanceofthefirm(Paparoidomis&Guenzi,2009;Weitz&Bradford,1999).Firmsneedtohavev eryhighperforming,productiveandmotivatedsalespersonsinordert o succeed.Therefore,itisnotsur prisingthatpractitionersandresearchershavelongsoughttogaindeepinsightinto thecharacteristicsofaneffective salespersons.
Over the past two decades, researchers in the sales field have identified various relational-selling behaviors that enhance sales performance, including customer-oriented selling, adaptive selling, key account selling, and relationship selling The evolved sales process emphasizes the importance of maintaining customer relationships, satisfying needs, and nurturing connections These diverse strategies necessitate advanced interpersonal skills, particularly the ability to effectively handle conflicts.
(Weitz&Bradford,1999)andbeempathic(Rozell,Pettijohn&Parker,2004)orpersuasive(Cronetal.200 5).Ontheotherhand,severalstudieshaveexaminedspecificemotionsi n marketingencounterssuchasfe arandanxiety(Verbeke&Bagozzi,2000),cheerfulnessandexcitement(Chitturi,Raghunathan&Mahaj an,2008),gratitude(Palmatieretal.,2009),angerandfrustration(Wagner,Hennig-
Thurau&Rudolph,2009),andshameandguilt(Agrawal&Duhachek,2010),researchhasnotaddress edsalespeople’sabilitiestorecognizeandrespondtot h e i r o w n andt h e i r c u s t o m e r s ’ emoti onsandhaven o t c o n s i d e redh o w t h e s e abilitiesaffectb u i l d i n g relationshipsbetweensalesp ersonsandclientsandsalesperformance.
Emotional intelligence, defined as the ability to understand and utilize emotions effectively for positive outcomes (Mayer & Salovey, 1997), has been primarily studied in salespersons from Western countries, including the United States (Anderson & Nichols, 2007), the United Kingdom (Souchon et al., 2003), New Zealand (Gray et al., 1998), and various European nations like Germany and the Netherlands (Birgelen et al., 2000, 2001) Researchers emphasize the importance of exploring the effects of emotional intelligence across diverse environmental contexts to generalize its impact on successful performance (Lopez et al., 2005).
Emotional intelligence has been explored in the context of employee engagement in Vietnam (Khuong & Yen, 2014), yet the marketing literature has largely overlooked its ability-based conceptualization This oversight is significant as individuals with high emotional intelligence can enhance interactions with customers, potentially benefiting all parties involved Recent studies indicate that sellers who exhibit greater emotion recognition during negotiations can achieve better outcomes for both themselves and buyers (Elfenbein et al., 2007) By fostering joint value, sales professionals not only improve satisfaction for buyers but also increase the likelihood of future business (Martin et al., 2008; Mueller & Curhan, 2006) Furthermore, research in service settings shows that employees’ emotional displays can positively influence customers' emotional states and overall satisfaction.
Emotional intelligence has the potential to enhance sales performance and foster long-term customer relationships (Thurau et al., 2006) However, research indicates that sales performance may also be influenced by adaptive selling behavior (Franke & Park, 2006) and improvisation skills (Moorman & Miner, 1998) Additionally, Cote and Miner (2006) suggest that the relationship between emotional intelligence and performance is not always straightforward This study aims to investigate the reciprocal effects of emotional intelligence on adaptive selling and improvisation, and subsequently, its impact on sales performance in Vietnam.
Researchobjectives
M i n h City,Vietnam.Inparticular,this studyaddressesthefollowingoverallobjective:
Researchmethodology
ThequestionnairewastranslatedfromEnglishintoVietnamese.Throughqualitativestudy,in- depthinterviewswithsixpeoplewereconductedinordertoadjusttheitemsclosingtofeatureso f Vietnam eseculturesandt o m a k e t h e i m p r o v e m e n t f o r t h e officialquestionnaire.Int h e quantitati vestudy.Theauthorcollectedd a t a byu s i n g a conveniences a m p l i n g approachandemployed self- administeredsurvey.Foranalyzingthecollecteddata,SPSS16andAmos
20wereusedtotestthemodel.Forthereliabilityandvalidity,theresearcherusedCFA.Then,SEMwasu sedtotestthehypothesizedmodel.
Duetothelimitationoftime,thisresearchisthereforelimitedtosalespeopleintheHoChiMinhCity;sinceitisoneofthebiggestcitiesinVietnam.Inordertoobtainasamplesizeofabout2 2 5 , b o t h i n d i r e c t l y method v i a electronicm a i l andGooglesurveysandd i r e c t l y onev i a h a r d copiesareusedto deliver 450questionnairestoparticipants.Respondentsof thisresearchincludesalespersonsinelectricsales,cosmetic,service…
Researchstructure
Chapter1presentsbackgroundtotheresearch,aswellas,researchproblems,researchobjectives,research methodology,andstructureofthesis.
Int h i s chapter,t h e a u t h o r reviewst h e conceptual/ theoreticaldimensionso f t h e literatureandpresentsthefundamentalideasabout:emotionalintelligenc e,adaptiveselling,improvisationandsalesperformance.Basedo n t h e literaturereviewandresearchp r o b l e m s , t h i s chapteralsodescribesresearchmodelandproposedhypotheses.
Thischapterintroducesresearchdesign,r e s e a r c h methodology,andt h e processofd o i n g t h e resea rchtotestthehypotheses.
Thischapterm a i n l y introducest h e theories,w h i c h arep r o p o s e d bym a n y scholarsi n a cademicfieldandarerelatedtoalltheconceptsandresearchmodel.Theauthorfirstlyclarifiest h e defi nitionsofAdaptiveselling,Improvisation,EmotionalIntelligence,andSalesPerformance.N e x t , the previousresearchoftheseconceptsandtheirrelateddiscussionarementioned.Finally,basedonthesethe oriesandtherelationofpreviousresearch,thehypothesesofrelationshipamongt h e s e constructsandaconcep tualmodel areproposed.
Adaptive sellingandImprovisation
Adaptive selling behavior, a concept developed over decades, refers to the adjustments in selling strategies, tactics, social style, verbal communication, and physical appearance of the seller (Park & Holloway, 2003; Spiro & Weitz, 1990; Giacobbe et al., 2006) The definition has evolved to align with contemporary selling and marketing philosophies, where it is now described as the alteration of sales behaviors during customer interactions based on perceived information about the selling situation (Weitz et al., 1986) In today’s competitive landscape, characterized by knowledgeable and empowered buyers, adaptive selling behavior emphasizes customized solutions tailored to each buyer’s needs (DelVecchio et al., 2004) One of the most recognized frameworks for adaptive selling behavior is ADAPTS, created by Spiro and Weitz (1990).
Improvisation, rooted in jazz performance, is defined as the practice of creating and responding in real-time to immediate environmental stimuli, leading to new thought patterns and actions (Miner, Basoff & Moorman, 2001) In a business context, it refers to the simultaneous planning and execution of actions, where composition and execution converge (Moorman & Miner, 1998) The literature on strategic business and learning highlights various constructs of improvisation, linking it to time, intuition, creativity, innovation, bricolage, and rapid learning (Leybourne, 2006; Miner et al., 2001; Moorman & Miner, 1998) Key features of improvisation include temporal convergence in design and execution, as well as novelty and intention (Miner et al., 2001).
Sujan(1986)arguedt h a t salespeoplereliedmostlyonastrictlydefinedrepetitiveprocesssuchast hestandardsalespresentationprocess.Borrowingtheconceptofimprovisationfromorganizationallearn ingtheoryasarticulatedbyMineretal.
(2001),improvisationinsalespresentationcanbedefinedas‘thecreativeprocessin the altering ofsalesbehaviorduringacustomerinteraction oracrosscustomerinteractionsoutsideroutinesorformalplans’.Allinall,theconceptofimprovisationtendstobl endprescriptiveanddescriptiveelementsinwhicheffectivenessandqualityofperformancehavebeenembed dedin thephenomenon(Vera&Crossan,2005).
EmotionalIntelligence
ThetheoryofemotionalintelligencewasinitiatedbytheHarvardpsychologist,HowardGardn erin1983(Chrusciel,2006).Inrecentyears,thescientificviabilityofemotionalintelligencehasbeenconsid erableandgrowinginterests(Goleman,1998;Mayer,Salovey&Caruso,2004).Theirconceptofemoti onalintelligence hasbeen built uponbyMayeretal.(1997;2004).
(Mayeretal.,2004)measuresthefourbranchesofemotionalintelligence.Inreturn,theyproposethefo llowingfour emotionalintelligencedimensions: (1)appraisalandexpressionofemotioninoneself – whichrelatest o anindividual’sa b i l i t y t o understandhis/hero w n deepemotions;
( 2 ) appraisalandrecognitiono f emotionso f others– w h i c h r e l a t e s t o ani n d i v i d u a l ’ sa b i l i t y t o p e r c e i v e andunderstandtheemotionofpe oplearoundthem;(3)regulationofemotioninoneself– whichrelatest o theabilityofanindividualtoregulatehis/ heremotions,enablingamorerapidrecoveryfrompsychologicaldistress;a n d ( 4 ) us eo f emotiontof acilitateperformance– whichrelatest o t h e a b i l i t y ofapersontomakeuseofemotionsbydirectingthemtowardsconstru ctiveactivitiesandpersonalperformance.
WLEISbasedontheconceptsandtheoryinitiatedbyDaviesetal.,(1998).Themeasureincludesaself- reportquestionnairecontrastedwithpeers’o p i n i o n anda self- reportquestionnairecontrastedw i t h supervisoropinion.T h e measureh a s sixteenitemsintotalwher eeachofthefourconstructsismeasuredbyfouritems:selfemotionappraisal,othersemotionsappraisal, use ofemotionandregulationofemotion.
EmotionalIntelligenceisanimportantinterpersonalskillthatallowssalespeopletoperceive,inte rpretandreacttotheirownandtheircustomers’emotions.PrenticeandKing(2012)r e c e n t l y foundt hatemotionalintelligenceispositivelyrelatedtoemployeeserviceperformance.‘EmotionalIntelligen ceisanimportantp r e d i c t o r o f performanceamongstcustomers e r v i c e representativesb e c a u s e t h e i r emotionala b i l i t y c a n affectt h e p r o s p e c t i v e successo f a servicetransactionthrought h e m a n i p u l a t i o n o f serviceencounters’(Prentice& K i n g , 2 0 1 2 , p 3 7 ) Becauseo f t h e f acilitationo f E m o t i o n a l Intelligence,salespeopleworkm o r e e f f e c t i v e l y ande f f i c i e n t l y inadaptingsellingmessagesandbehaviours.EmotionalIntelligencewilllikelyenhancet h e positiveinf luenceofAdaptiveandImprovisationbyallowingsalespeopletoperceive
10 customers’circumstances,reactt o c u s t o m e r s ’needsandestablishe f f e c t i v e communication Summarisingthediscussionabove,Ihypothesisethefollowing:
H1.Emotionalintelligencehas apositive impactonadaptive selling.H 2 Emotionalintelligencehas apositive impactonimprovisation.
SalesPerformance
Duringt h e l a s t t w o d e c a d e s , Salesmanagementresearchf i n d i n g p r o v i d e ane x t e n s i v e knowledgeconcerningthe anteedentsofsalespersonperformance(Baldauf, Cravens& Pierc y,2 0 0 1 ; Brown,C r o n &Slocum,1 9 9 7 ; Churchilletal.,1985).Amongt h o s e , s c h o l a r s h a v e c o n s i s t e n t l y identifiedf i v e basicantecedentst o anaccountmanager’ssalesperformance:
(5)motivation(Brownetal.,1997).Theaptitudeofanaccountmanageriscomprisedo f physicalfactor ssuchasageandattractiveness,andpersonalityfactorssuchasextraversionandemotionalstability
(Churchilletal.,1985).Overthelastdecademanystudieshavebeendevotedt o abetterunderstandingo fthesellingprocess,andhavefocusedonasalesperson’sinformationprocessing(Sujanetal.,1988;Szym nski&Churchill,1990).Forexample,theysuggestthatsalesperformancecouldbelinkedtodifferencesin a n accountmanager’skn owl ed ge structuresande s p e c i a l l y t h e richnesso f informationt h a t h e / s h e categorises(Sujanetal.,1988).T h e y alsoproposethatintelligenceacquisitionandprocessingarei mportantintheprocessofbuildinglongtermrelationshipswithprospectsandclients(Dwyer,Schurr&O h, 1987).
Asaresult,salespersonperformanceisanevaluationofthesalesperson’scontributiontoa c h i e v i n g theorganisation’sobjectives(Brown,Cron&Slocum,1997;Churchilletal.,1985).Iti s co nceptuallyusefultoexamineperformanceintermsof(1)thebehaviouroractivitiescarriedo u t bysal espeople,and(2) theoutcomesthat canbeattributedtotheirefforts.
There is ongoing debate in performance literature regarding the measurement of job performance, specifically whether it should rely on subjective measures, such as evaluations from top managers, co-workers, or self-assessments, or on objective measures that quantify behaviors and outcomes, like sales volume and customer interactions Recent years have seen a rise in studies aimed at conducting comparative analyses between these two types of performance measures.
Researchers and theorists emphasize that subjective and objective measures should not be used interchangeably (Bommer et al., 1995; Murphy & Cleveland, 1991; Pransky et al., 2006) This suggests that subjective measures cannot serve as proxies for objective measures when objective performance is the focus, and vice versa For instance, organizations should avoid rewarding employees based solely on a supervisor's overall performance evaluation if sales are the desired outcome Conversely, if performance is broadly defined, it is inappropriate to reward employees solely based on objective measures like gross sales (Bommer et al., 1995) Objective measures aim to accurately record job-related behaviors or outcomes and are often free from systematic bias and random error, exemplified by machine-recorded performance metrics (Sackett, Zedeck & Fogli, 1988).
Interestingly,andincontrast,severalotherstudieshavefoundnosignificantdifferencesbetwe enthetwomeasuringmetricsacrossvarioustypesofperformances(Walletal.,2004;Tett,J a c k s o n & Rothstein,1991).Tettetal.(1991)intheirmeta- analyticstudyexaminedthepersonalityo f managersagainstj o b performanceandf o u n d n o differences i n t h e objectiveandsubjective measures.Similarly,Viswesvaras,Schmidt,andOnes(1996)failedtofinddifferencesbetweenobj ectiveandsubjectivemeasuresinvolvingproductionrecordsandratingsofoveralljobperformance.
Therearereasonswhysubjectivemeasuresofcompanyperformancehavebeen,andwillcontin uetobeadopted.One isthattheyareverycosteffective andbecausesuchperformancemeasuresca nbegatheredthroughquestionnairesorinterviewsurveys.Anotheristhatmanysmallcompaniesdonothav eappropriatefinancialrecords,andevenwithsuchrecords,thedatamaybeaggregatedinawaythatisnotc ompatiblewiththelevelofanalysisneededforhumanresourcemanagement(Walletal.,2004).
Adaptive selling,ImprovisationandSalesPerformance
TheconceptofadaptivesellingbehaviourhasevolvedconsiderablysinceWeitz(1978)f o u n d itspositiverelationshipwithperformance.Giventheconceptualizationofadaptivesellingbeha vior,apositiverelationshipbetweensalespersonadaptivecapabilitiesandsalesperformancew o u l d b e expected( G i a c o b b e etal.,2 0 0 6 ; J e o n g -
E u n & Holloway,2 0 0 3 ) Researchersh a v e examinedtheimpactofadaptivesellingbehavioronsale sperformance.Severalstudieshavefoundt h a t adaptivesellingbehaviorexertsapositiveinfluenceo nasalesperson’sregularperformance,o n closingratios,andon theeffectivenessofasalesdepartmentandunit(Johlke,2006).
Basedo n t h i s f i n d i n g andargument,i t i s fairtopredictt h a t adaptivesellingb e h a v i o r im pactsonsalesperformance.
Severalstudiesinorganizationallearningliteraturehavetheorizedthepositiveoutcomeso f improvisationalbehavioroninnovationandchangemanagement,onorganizationallearning,o n n ewproductdevelopmentandonteamperformance(Crossan,Cunha,Vera&Cunha.,2005;Leybour ne,2006;Mineretal.,2001).Althoughtheevidenceoftherelationshipbetween improvisationandsalesperformanceisscarceinmarketingliterature,priorstudieshave providedempiricalevidenceonthepositiverelationshipbetweenimprovisationandperformance(Bergh
Incompetitiveandu n c e r t a i n environment,salespeoplew i t h highi m p r o v i s a t i o n a l s k i l l s a r g u a b l y aredrivent o a c h i e v e a de si re d performance,cangeneratei d e a s , incorporatecha ngesq u i c k l y andeasily,andcommunicateeffectivelyandpersuasivelyduringsalespresentationwhich e v e n t u a l l y increasesthesales.Furthermore,apersoncapableofimprovisationcancopewithanda dapttounforeseencircumstancesandcandevisesolutionstointractableproblems(Meyer,1998).Therefore, it isfairto hypothesise thefollowing;
H3.Adaptive sellinghas apositive impacton salesperformance.H 4 Improvisationhas apositive impacton salesperformance.
EmotionalIntelligenceandSalesperformance
Emotional intelligence (EI) has been a topic of debate regarding its nature and validity, yet numerous empirical studies indicate a positive correlation between EI and job performance (Mayer et al., 2004; Dulewicz et al., 2005; Semadar, Robbins & Ferris, 2006) Research by Cherniss (2002) highlights that EI underpins essential competencies across various professions Furthermore, Goleman (1998) and Pellitteri (2002) argue that EI is a superior predictor of success compared to traditional intelligence measures like IQ Recent findings by Dulewicz et al (2005) reveal that EI contributes 9.2% to overall performance, surpassing managerial competencies (6.1%) and general intelligence (5.0%).
Apersonwithhighemotionalintelligencehasabilitytodevelopgoodsocialrelationshipst h a t canboosttaskperformancethroughadviceandsocialsupport(Wong&Law,2002;Pearce&Randel,2004). Further,theabilitytomanageandcontrolemotionssuchasangerandfrustrationcanb e conducivet o a m o r e st ab le wo rk in g e n v i r o n m e n t , previousresearchh a s alsoe x p l i c i t l y proposedthatemotio nalintelligencerelatestotaskperformanceinindependentandc o m p l e m e n t a r y linearways( Newsome,Day&Catano,2000).
Researchersh a v e f o u n d t h a t a salesperson’sperformancerelatest o his/ hera b i l i t y t o managevarioussocialproblemsandcopewithmotivationalandemotionalproblemsthatari seduet o negativefeedbackandfailures(Brown,Cron&Slocum,1997).Asalespersonisalsorequiredt o understandthefeelingsofothersandthereasonsbehindtheminordertopersuadethemintoenterin gthesalespurchase contract.A salesperson ofhighemotionalintelligencewill beresilientandabletomaintainself- controlanddealwithdifficultsituation(Sjoberb&Littorin,2003).Thes t u d y thatusesBar-OnEQ- i(1997)measuresfoundthatemotionalintelligenceispositivelyrelated
H5 (+) tocustomersatisfactionwhich,inturn,increasestheperformanceofthefirm(Longhorn,2004),whichfoll owhypotheses:
Conceptualmodel
Figure1 d e p i c t s a conceptualm o d e l e x p l a i n i n g t h e r o l e o f emotionalintelligencei n adaptive sellingandimprovisation,andsubsequentlyinsalesperformanceofsalespersons.
H1.Emotionalintelligencehasapositiveimpact onadaptive selling.H2.Emotionalintelligencehasapositiveimpact onimprovisation.H 3 Adaptive sellinghasapositiveimpacton salesperformance.
Insummary,thischapterpresentstheoreticalbackgroundofeachconceptinthemodel.Basedo ndiscussionofliteraturereview,there arefivehypothesesproposedforthisresearch.Then e x t chapterwilldiscussaboutmethodologythatu sedtoanalyzethedataandtesthypothesesoft h e researchmodel.
Thischapterpresentsdetailinformationofaresearchmethodologyofthisstudy.First,itstarts withresearchprocessandsampledescription.Inordertomodifyandrefinethemeasures,t h e qualitativepha seinvolvesin- depthinterviewsinterviewisconductedtohelpmeasurementscalesclearerandu n d e r s t a n d a b l e.T h r o u g h t h e modifiedq u e s t i o n n a i r e survey,t h e d a t a collectionofquantitativesurve yisusedtotestthemeasurementandstructuralmodels.
Researchdesign
Researchprocess
The research comprised two phases: a qualitative study and a quantitative study Initially, a survey questionnaire was created in English and later translated into Vietnamese with the help of English experts The qualitative phase involved in-depth interviews with six participants to refine and enhance the draft questionnaire During each interview, the researcher read each item on the measurement scale and sought the interviewee's understanding If any question was unclear, the researcher inquired about the reasons for the misunderstanding and requested suggestions for improvement This process continued until no further suggestions were provided.
Basedonthefeedbackofrespondents,thesurveyquestionnairewasslightlymodifiedtom a k e itclearerandmoreunderstandable(seeAppendixA,B,&C).Afterthequestionnairewasmodified,th eresearchhypothesesweretestedusingdatasetcollectedfromsalespeopleinHoChiM i n h City,Vietn am.Bothindirectmethodviaemail,Googlesurveyanddirectoneviahardcopieswereused to deliverquestionnairestoparticipantsinHoChi MinhCity.
Participantsself-completedasurveywithallitemsweremeasuredbyseven- pointLikertscale,anchorpointsincluding“stronglydisagree”(=1),“disagree”(=2),“somewhatdisagree”
(=3 ) , “neitherdisagreen o r disagree”( = 4 ) , “somewhatagree”( = 5 ) , “ a g r e e ” ( = 6 ) , and“ s t r o n g l y agree”(=7).Thequestionnairewasmainlydeliveredtorespondentsviaelectronicmail,Googles u r v e y andhardcopies(seeTable3.1).SPSSandAMOSwereusedtotestthemeasurementandstructural models.
Measurementscales
Thefinalquestionnairesconsistedo f f o u r m e a s u r e m e n t s c a l e s : emotionalintelligence,a daptive selling,improvisationandsalesperformance.
SalesPerformance(adapted fromFarh etal , 1991) Coding
1 Iproducea high market sharefor thiscompanyin aspecificterritory SalesPerf1
2 Imake saleswith the highest profit margin SalesPerf2
AdaptSell1 AdaptSell2 AdaptSell3 AdaptSell4 AdaptSell5 AdaptSell6 AdaptSell7
Previousresea rchhasarguedthatimp rovisationwouldbebe stmeasuredbytheleng thoft i m e betweent h e planning andthe executionofaction(A kgun,Byrne,Lynn& Keskin,2 0 0 7 ; Moor man& M i n e r , 1 9 9 8 ) A s such,Akguneta l ’ s (2007)andM o o r m a n andMiner’s(1998)conceptofimprovis
1 I figure out mysalespresentation as I goalong
I m p r o v i s 1 I m p r o v i s 2 I m p r o vis3Impr ovis4Im provis5
EmotionalIntelligence Scale(WLEIS)(Wong&Law,2002).The16itemsofWLEISmeasuref o u r EI- relatedsubscales:self-emotionsappraisal,others-emotionsappraisal, use ofemotion,andregulationofemotion
Finally,t h e completedquestionnairei n EnglishversionandV i e t n a m e s e versionw e r e pr esentedin AppendixDandE.
Quantitativestudy
Sample
ThemodelandhypotheseswillbetestedusingdatasetcollectedfromsalespeopleinHoC h i MinhCity,Vietnam.Bothindirectmethodviaemail,Googlesurveyanddirectoneviahardcopieswere usedto deliverquestionnairesto participants in Ho Chi MinhCity.
100.Themodelinthisstudyconsistedofthirty- ninevariablessothatthenecessarysamplesizes h o u l d be:n3*55observations.Theautho rdelivered297questionnairestoparticipantsinordertoobtainasamplesizeofabout165.Afterdatacollectio n,total246responseswerecollected;t h e responserate was approximately82percent (Table3.1).
Table 3.1Sourceofdatacollection Source Distributed Collected Response rate Eliminated Valid
Then,total21questionnaireswereeliminatedbecausetheywereinvalid(8respondentsweren otenoughyearsofexperienceand13surveyswerereturnedbackwithoutanswers).Finally,2 2 5 questionn aireswereusedasvaliddataforthisresearch.Incomparisonwithminimumsamples i z e , t h i s numberofdatawassatisfactory.
Dataanalysisprocedures
In this study, SPSS 16 was utilized to calculate Cronbach's alpha, while Amos 20 was employed for conducting Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to assess the reliability of each measurement component and the overall validity of the scales The evaluation of composite reliability (CR) determined the reliability of the measurement scales among constructs in the research model The CFA results indicated that average variance extracted (AVE) was used to establish convergent validity, and correlation between items (r) was assessed to identify discriminant validity To ensure good measurement, Cronbach's alpha for each construct should be at least 0.6, factor loadings should be 0.5 or higher, the minimum AVE value should be 0.5, and composite reliability should exceed 0.7 Items deemed inappropriate were removed if necessary, and the CFA model fit was confirmed if CMIN/DF was less than 2 with a p-value greater than 5% The comparative fit index (CFI) analyzed the model fit by assessing the discrepancy between the data and the hypothesized model, with a CFI value of 0.90 or higher generally indicating acceptable model fit The non-normed fit index (NNFI), also known as the Tucker-Lewis index, further supported the model evaluation.
TLI)resolvedsomeoftheissuesofnegativebias,thoughNNFIvaluesmaysometimesfallbeyondthe0to1range.ValuesforboththeNFIand
NNFIshouldrangebetween0and1,withacutoffof.95orgreater,indicatingagoodmodelfit.T h e root meansquareerrorofapproximation(RMSEA)avoidedissuesofsamplesizebyanalyzingt h e discrepancybetwe enthehypothesizedmodel,withoptimallychosenparameterestimates,andt h e populationcovariance matrix.Avalueof0.06orlesswasindicatedanacceptablemodelfit.R M S E A wassmallerthan8% (Tho&Trang,2008).Then,structuralequationmodeling(SEM)testedtheh y p o t h e s i z e d m o d e l andestimatedpathcoefficientsf o r eachproposedrelationshipi n t h e structuralmodel.
Fourmeasurementscalesweresufficientforconvergentanddiscriminantvalidity,wereanalyze dbytheConfirmatoryfactoranalysisbeforethehypothesizedmodelwastestedbySEM.T h e first- orderconstructswereimprovisation,adaptivesellingandsalesperformance.Thesecond- orderconstructwereemotionalintelligence,whichconsistedoffoursub-components:self- emotionsappraisal,others-emotionsappraisal,useofemotion,andregulationofemotion.
Fromt h e m e t h o d s arem e n t i o n e d above,t h i s chapterdescribedt h e researchproces s,measurementscale construction,calculationofsamplesize, andresearchm e t h o d conductedtoa nalyzethecollecteddata.Thisstudywasdesignedintotwostages:firstwasqualitativestudy(in- depthinterview),s e c o n d wasquantitatives t u d y ( m a i n survey).T h e i n - d e p t h interviewwasconductedtomodifythemeasurementscaleandthequestionnairewasadjustedslight lyandbeforet h e quantitativesurvey.Mainsurveyhadsamplesizewhichincludedtotal225validquestion nairest h a t wereusedfordataanalysiswithCFAandSEM.Thenextchapterwillpresentdataanaly siso f mainsurvey.
Chapter 4 presents the analysis results of the sample size of n=5 This process utilized SPSS to review the sample's characteristics and conduct descriptive statistics to test the normal distribution of variables based on respondents' demographics Subsequently, AMOS was employed for confirmatory factor analysis to assess the reliability and validity of the first-order constructs, the second-order construct, and the final measurement model This assessment involved calculating Cronbach’s alpha, evaluating composite reliability (CR), average variance extracted (AVE), and examining the correlation between items to identify discriminant validity Additionally, model fit indicators were considered to determine whether the CFA and SEM models adequately fit the data, including metrics such as CMIN/DF and the comparative fit index.
–CFI,thenon-normedfitindex–TLI,therootmeansquareerrorofapproximation–
RMSEA.Inaddition,structurale q u a t i o n m o d e l i n g wasusedt o t e s t t h e conceptualm o d e l Basedo n t h e analysis’sresults,theexplanationforfindingresearchwasfinallydiscussed.
Respondents’demographics
CFAforthefirst-orderconstructs
The measurement of improvisation consisted of five items, but the initial CFA model indicated a poor fit due to the insignificant factor loading of Improvis5 (0.091 < 0.5) Consequently, the author removed Improvis5 and re-evaluated the construct, resulting in significant factor loadings for the remaining items: 0.86 for Improvis1, 0.83 for Improvis2, 0.87 for Improvis3, and 0.82 for Improvis4 The revised model demonstrated a good fit with Chi-square = 3.595, df = 2, Chi-square/df = 1.797, P = 0.166, CFI = 0.997, TLI = 0.992, NFI = 0.994, and RMSEA = 0.060.
Fort h e firstr u n o f C F A f o r t h e constructo f a d a p t i v e selling,s t a n d a r d i z e d regressi onweightsofAdaptSell2,AdaptSell3,AdaptSell4andAdaptSell7werehigherthan0.5(0.87,0.88,0 8
4 , and0.76insequence).Althoughtheseestimatesfittedthedatawell,thefactorloadingsofAdaptS ell1,AdaptSell5andAdaptSell6werenotsignificant(0.082,-0.006and0.0675
