A Confirmatory Investigation of Industrial Buyer Image of the Saleswoman

Abstract

An intervening variable between ability and sales perfor mance is the receptivity of professional purchasing agents. In this article we examine the extent to which purchasing agents' perceptions of female sales representatives con stitute a barrier to the latter's sales performance and effec tiveness. The present investigation replicates the work of Swan et al. (1984) with two substantive improvements; (1) it is based on a sample representative of purchasing agents throughout the United States, and (2) the study introduces importance ratings for each of the attributes thought to contribute to buyer preference for a salesperson. In addition to replication, the present investigation allows for com parison of changes in purchasing agents' perception of dif ferences between male and female industrial salespersons during the decade of the 1980s. Results support the earlier study in finding no overt evidence of negative istereotyping of female sales representatives. Directions for future re search are also discussed.