Trust and Distrust in Salesperson–Supervisor Dyadic Relationship and Its Impact on Sales Performance

Abstract

Interpersonal trust, one of the key elements in the foundation of social relationships, occupies a central position in the formation of socio-economic dyadic relationships. Yet, the impact of interpersonal trust in the marketing context on individual performance is rarely treated with any qualifying riders. This may probably be due to trust's assumed normative bias and its high intuitive appeal. Confusion prevails in literature on whether trust and distrust are distinct constructs or flip sides of the same construct of trust (low trust and high distrust assumed to be same), have been addressed in this article. Moreover, studies on the role of distrust in dyadic relationships are largely absent in marketing literature and very few, if any, studies have been carried out on the impact of interpersonal distrust on (sales) performance. In this article, the parallel (and simultaneous) roles of trust and distrust on supervisee's sales performance in the salesperson–supervisor relationship context, within an organization are explored. The extant relevant literature on the role of dyadic trust in the context of sales management (e.g., supervisee–supervisor relationship), and how it can be viewed as contingent on various factors is reviewed here. The role of trust and distrust, and the moderating influence of sales control, supervisory behaviour and supervisory feedback have also been explored in detail in the article, through a series of propositions.