Linking performance outcomes to salesperson organizational citizenship behavior in an industrial sales setting

More than ever before, firms in the industrial marketplace are focusing on the contribution of the salesperson and selling role to organizational success. Considerable recent research shows that not only in-role but also extra-role behaviors-organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs)-are important in modeling salesperson performance. Yet, to date little effort has focused on examining the impact of OCB on relevant performance outcomes. Employing a sample of 207 industrial field salespeople from two companies and industries across the United States, this study reveals differences in impact of OCB on four diverse performance outcome types. The findings are discussed in terms of managerial applicability to industrial sales organizations, and a resulting set of next research steps is presented.