Despite the widespread assumption that extraverts are the most productive salespeople, research has shown weak and conflicting relationships between extraversion and sales performance. In light of these puzzling results, I propose that the relationship between extraversion and sales performance is not linear but curvilinear: Ambiverts achieve greater sales productivity than extraverts or introverts do. Because they naturally engage in a flexible pattern of talking and listening, ambiverts are likely to express sufficient assertiveness and enthusiasm to persuade and close a sale but are more inclined to listen to customers’ interests and less vulnerable to appearing too excited or overconfident. A study of 340 outbound-call-center representatives supported the predicted inverted-U-shaped relationship between extraversion and sales revenue. This research presents a fresh perspective on the personality traits that facilitate successful influence and offers novel insights for people in choosing jobs and for organizations in hiring and training employees.
AikenL. S.WestS. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
2.
AmesD. R.FlynnF. J. (2007). What breaks a leader: The curvilinear relation between assertiveness and leadership. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 307–324.
3.
AshtonM. C.LeeK.PaunonenS. V. (2002). What is the central feature of extraversion? Social attention versus reward sensitivity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 245–252.
4.
BarrickM. R.MountM. K.GuptaR. (2003). Meta-analysis of the relationship between the five-factor model of personality and Holland’s occupational types. Personnel Psychology, 56, 45–74.
5.
BarrickM. R.MountM. K.JudgeT. A. (2001). Personality and performance at the beginning of the new millennium: What do we know and where do we go next?International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 9, 9–30.
6.
BarrickM. R.MountM. K.StraussJ. P. (1993). Conscientiousness and performance of sales representatives: Test of the mediating effects of goal setting. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 715–722.
7.
BenderskyC.ShahN. P. (in press). The downfall of extraverts and rise of neurotics: The dynamic process of status allocation in task groups. Academy of Management Journal.
8.
CainS. (2012). Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking. New York, NY: Crown.
9.
CampbellM. C.KirmaniA. (2000). Consumers’ use of persuasion knowledge: The effects of accessibility and cognitive capacity on perceptions of an influence agent. Journal of Consumer Research, 27, 69–83.
10.
CoombsC. H.AvruninG. S. (1977). Single peaked functions and the theory of preference. Psychological Review, 84, 216–230.
11.
CortinaJ. M.LandisR. S. (2009). When small effect sizes tell a big story, and when large effect sizes don’t. In LanceC. E.VandenbergR. J. (Eds.), Statistical and methodological myths and urban legends: Doctrine, verity, and fable in the organizational and social sciences (pp. 287–308). New York, NY: Routledge.
12.
CostaP. T.Jr.McCraeR. R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
13.
DeYoungC. G.QuiltyL. C.PetersonJ. B. (2007). Between facets and domains: 10 aspects of the Big Five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 880–896.
14.
DonnellanM. B.OswaldF. L.BairdB. M.LucasR. E. (2006). The mini-IPIP Scales: Tiny-yet-effective measures of the Big Five factors of personality. Psychological Assessment, 18, 192–203.
15.
DunnW. S.MountM. K.BarrickM. R.OnesD. S. (1995). Relative importance of personality and general mental ability in managers’ judgments of applicant qualifications. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80, 500–509.
16.
EdwardsJ. R. (2008). Seven deadly myths of testing moderation in organizational research. In LanceC. E.VandenbergR. J. (Eds.), Statistical and methodological myths and urban legends: Doctrine, verity, and fable in the organizational and social sciences (pp. 145–166). New York, NY: Routledge.
17.
EysenckH. J. (1971). Readings in extraversion-introversion: Bearings on basic psychological processes. New York, NY: Staples Press.
18.
FleesonW.GallagherP. (2009). The implications of Big Five standing for the distribution of trait manifestation in behavior: Fifteen experience-sampling studies and a meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 1097–1114.
19.
FriestadM.WrightP. (1994). The persuasion knowledge model: How people cope with persuasion attempts. Journal of Consumer Research, 21, 1–31.
20.
FurnhamA.FudgeC. (2008). The five factor model of personality and sales performance. Journal of Individual Differences, 29, 11–16.
21.
GrantA. M.GinoF.HofmannD. A. (2011). Reversing the extraverted leadership advantage: The role of employee proactivity. Academy of Management Journal, 54, 528–550.
22.
GrantA. M.SchwartzB. (2011). Too much of a good thing: The challenge and opportunity of the inverted U. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6, 61–76.
23.
JaramilloF.GrisaffeD. B. (2009). Does customer orientation impact objective sales performance? Insights from a longitudinal model in direct selling. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 29, 167–178.
24.
JudgeT. A.PiccoloR. F.KosalkaT. (2009). The bright and dark sides of leader traits: A review and theoretical extension of the leader trait paradigm. Leadership Quarterly, 20, 855–875.
25.
LeH.OhI.-S.RobbinsS. B.IliesR.HollandE.WestrickP. (2011). Too much of a good thing: Curvilinear relationships between personality traits and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96, 113–133.
26.
LeBretonJ. M.HargisM. B.GriepentrogB.OswaldF. L.PloyhartR. E. (2007). A multidimensional approach for evaluating variables in organizational research and practice. Personnel Psychology, 60, 475–498.
27.
LittleB. R.JosephM. F. (2006). Personal projects and free traits: Mutable selves and well beings. In LittleB. R.Salmela-AroK.PhillipsS. D. (Eds.), Personal project pursuit: Goals, action, and human flourishing (pp. 375–400). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
28.
McCraeR. R.CostaP. T.Jr. (2003). Personality in adulthood: A five-factor theory perspective (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
29.
McCraeR. R.TerraccianoA., & 79 members of the Personality Profiles of Cultures Project. (2005). Personality profiles of cultures: Aggregate personality traits. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 407–425.
30.
OlsonK. R. (2005). Engagement and self-control: Superordinate dimensions of Big Five traits. Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 1689–1700.
31.
OnesD. S.DilchertS. (2009). How special are executives? How special should executive selection be? Observations and recommendations. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 2, 163–170.
32.
PinkD. H. (2012). To sell is human: The surprising truth about moving others. New York, NY: Riverhead.
33.
PrenticeD. A.MillerD. T. (1992). When small effects are impressive. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 160–164.
34.
StewartG. L. (1996). Reward structure as a moderator of the relationship between extraversion and sales performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 619–627.
35.
ThoresenC. J.BradleyJ. C.BlieseP. D.ThoresenJ. D. (2004). The Big Five personality traits and individual job performance growth trajectories in maintenance and transitional samples. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 835–853.
36.
TrapnellP. D.WigginsJ. S. (1990). Extension of the interpersonal adjective scales to include the Big Five dimensions of personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 781–790.
VinchurA. J.SchippmannJ. S.SwitzerF. S.IIIRothP. L. (1998). A meta-analytic review of predictors of job performance for salespeople. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 586–597.
39.
WilliamsP.FitzsimonsG. J.BlockL. G. (2004). When consumers do not recognize “benign” intention questions as persuasion attempts. Journal of Consumer Research, 21, 540–550.
