Table Of ContentINTELLIGENT USE OF EMOTIONS IN PERSONAL SELLING:
A STUDY INTO THE EFFECT OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
ON THE PERFORMANCE OF SALES EXECUTIVES
Thesis submitted to
Cochin University ofS cience and Technology
for the award of the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Under the Faculty ofS ocial Sciences
By
ZAKKARIYA K.A.
(Reg. No. 2385)
Under the Supervision and Guidance of
PROF. (Dr.) C. A. FRANCIS
SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
COCHIN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
KOCHI- 682022, KERALA
OCTOBER 2008
SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
COCHIN UN IVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
COCHIN-682 022. KERALA, INDIA
Ph: 0484-2575310, Fax: 0484-2575492
Emai l: .:h~nltli IUI11 (II 'glll;J i Lcorn
Dr. C.A. Francis, Professor
(Fanner Professor, IIM, Kozhikode)
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the thesis entitled "Intelligent Use of
Emotions in Personal Selling: A Study into the Effect of Emotional
Intelligence on the Performance of Sales Executives" is the record of
bonafide research work done by Mr. Zakkariya K. A. under my supervision
and guidance at the School of Management Studies, in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Faculty
ofSociaJ Sciences. Cochin University of Science and Technology.
/~~
~..-!--~
Kochi-22. CA,FRANCIS
15-10-08, (Supervising Guide)
DECLARATION
I, Zakkariya K. A. hereby declare that the thesis entitled "Intelligent
Use of Emotions in Personal Selling: A Study into the Effect of
Emotional Intelligence on the Performance of Sales Executives" is a
bonafide record of research work done by me under the supervision and
guidance of Prof. (Dr.) C. A. Francis for the Ph.D. programme in the School
of Management Studies, Co chin University of Science and Technology.
I further declare that this work has not formed the basis for the award of any
Degree, Diploma, Associateship, Fellowship or any other title for
recognition.
Kochi-22, ZAKKARIYA K. A.
15-10-08.
First of all let me thank God Almighty for showering all his
blessings on me during the tenure of this research work without which I
would not have been able to withstand all the difficult situations without
loosing my confidence and motivation.
I have enormously benefited from the advise, support, cooperation
and encouragement given by a number of individuals during the course of
this research work. I wish to place on record my indebtedness to all oft hem.
I owe my most sincere gratitude to my guide and supervisor
Dr. C. A. Frands, Professor, School of Management Studies, who
continuously encouraged me to maintain my motivation throughout this
research endeavour. I owe very much to him for giving me maximum
freedom in all my research activities and also for showing trust in my
research efforts. I am really privileged to have such an eminent scholar and
prolific writer as my supervising guide.
I am thankful to Dr. Sebastian Rupert Mampilly, member of my
Doctoral Committee, for our many fruitful and meaningful discussions we
had and providing me with a lot of input at various stages of my work. My
sincere thanks to him for all the timely interventions and helps rendered to
me while finalising the methodology oft he study.
I have no words to express my heartfelt gratitude to
Dr. Anandakutan B Unnithan, Assistant Professor, IIM Kozhikode. without
whose advises and patient way of sharing knowledge, this work would not
have been successful. I am privileged to have such a best friend in all needy
situations of this work. The extensive discussions we had regarding my
work and support he provided in analysing the research data had played a
significant role in shaping my thesis.
I gratefully remember the support and encouragement extended to
me by Pro! (Dr.) Mary Joseph, Director, School of Management Studies.
Her motherly affection and timely suggestions were always a source of
consolation to me.
I am deeply indebted to Dr. Manoj Edward, Lecturer, School of
Management Studies. who selflessly helped me at different stages of this
research work. He is an epitome of the proverb 'A friend in need is afriend
indeed'. My sincere thanks to Dr. S. Rajithakumar, Reader, School of
Management Studies, for his valuable suggestions and support at various
stages of this work. I am indebted to him for sharing my academic
responsibilities especially during the final stage ofm y thesis work.
Words fail to express my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. D. Rajasenan,
Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, who is my teacher, best friend, elder
brother and much more; he was a constant source of encouragement and
inspiration to me not only in my research work but also in my other
academic activities. I thank him profusely.
I must particularly acknowledge the un tiring help of Dr. Soorej M.
Basheer, Post Doctoral Fellow, IISC, Bangalore. Perhaps, he may be the
only person who had motivated and supported me on a day to day basis,
that too in a distinctive manner, throughout my research program. He is
more than a friend to me and I thank him profusely for all his help and
support at different stages of my work.
My heart-felt thanks are very much due to all my colleagues at
School of Management Studies especially to Dr. V P. Jagathy Raj, Sri. M.
K. Mohammed Aslam, Sri. Sam Thomas, Dr. P. R. Wilson, Dr. D. Mavoothu,
Dr. lames Manalel and Dr. Moli P. Koshi, as 1 have enormously benefited
by their cooperation, help and moral support extended to me whenever it
was required. I thank them all.
Dr. K. C. Sankara Narayanan, my respected teacher and former
Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Cochin University of Science and
Technology needs a special mention. His vast amount of knowledge and
experience played a significant role in making my thesis technically perfect.
I thank him from bottom ofm y heart.
My special thanks to two of myoid students Mr. Sreekanth S. and
Mr. loshy Antony, Asst. Managers, IDBI Bank and some of my present
students Mr. Asif Majeed, Mr. Vivek Menon, Mr. Augustin Clinton Olivero,
Ms. Shaina S. Shajahan and Ms. Rekha Ramakrishna Kini for their sincere
efforts to help me at various phases of this work.
I have had the pleasure of getting the support of some of myoid
students who are working in various companies as executives. My warm
thanks to Mr. Shibukumar M. s., Regional Manager, ICICI Prudential
Insurance company, Mrs. Sumitha Korah, Branch in Charge (Ko ttayam) ,
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd., Mr. Vysakh Babu, Deputy Chief
Manager, Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Ltd., Mr. Sooraj
Krishna, Branch Manager (Kottayam), Bharathi Axa Life Insurance
Company Ltd, Mr. Ajay Subramanian, Credit Manager and Mr. Abhilash
P.P. Sales Manager (Personal Loan) HDFC Bank, Mr. Sandeep
Radhakrishnan, Agency Manager, MetLife India Insurance Co. Pvt. Ltd,
Mr. Jacob John, Area Business Manager, MSD Pharmaceutical Pvt ltd.,
Mr. Mohammed Riaz V.A., Executive, Regional H.R., HDFC Standard Life
and Mr. Suresh N L., Manager, Kraftwork Solar Pvt. Ltd for their valuable
help during the data collection phase of my research.
I take this opportunity to thank Mr. Anup Chandran, Area Manager,
Bharathi Axa Life Insurance Company Ltd, Cochin, Mr. Shiju Jacob
Panjikaran, Regional Sales Head (Co ch in), Mr. Sutheer KR., Branch
Manager (True Value -Muvattupuzha) and Mr. Ali P.M, Service Advisor
(Muvattupuzha) of Indus Motors for their support and assistance during the
phase ofd ata collection. I am also grateful to Mr. M. K Sreejith, Area Sales
Manager, Eureka Forbes Limited, Cochin, Mr. Joseph Augustine, General
Manager, Mr. Joseph Thomas, Agency Manager and Mrs. Mary T. L., Asst.
Sales Manager, MetLife India Insurance Co. Pvt. Ltd., and Ms. Lakshmi,
Executive, Sales, Hyundai Motors, Aluva, for permitting me to collect data
from their organisations.
I have no words to express my deep sense of gratitude to my best
friends who were there always to kindle my motivation whenever I was slow
in my research activities. I extend my sincere thanks to Sri. A. B. Bhasi,
Dr. A. Aravindakshan, Dr. M. C. K Veeran, Sri. R. S. Sasikumar, and
Sri. Mohammed Iqbal for their good wishes and concern. I cannot forget my
biotechnology friends especially Dr. M. Chandrasekaran, Dr, K K Elyas,
Dr. Sarita G. Bhat and Dr. Jissa G. Krishna for always reminding me about
my research promises. Words in fact are inadequate to express my heartfelt
gratitude to them.
My special thanks to Dr. N. K Chadha, Professor, University of
Delhi, for his all timely suggestions and support extended to me.
I thank all the sales executives who responded to my request,
without whose cooperation and support, my data collection would not have
been completed in time.
My thanks are very much due to the office and library staff of School
of Management Studies, particularly to Sri. Surendran Cherukodan, for the
good turns they have done for me, I thank them.
For my parents Mr. K. M. Abdulkader and Mrs. Rukkiya Abdulkader,
it is a dream coming true. I owe my most sincere gratitude to them, without
whose dreams and prayers I would not have reached anywhere near to this
degree. I also thank every one in my family especially my wife Ramsi and
our kids Humayoon Azhar and Haniya Jehan for the difficulties they have
taken in attending to my daily routine to give me more time to carry out this
work.
Lastly, I wish to acknowledge the contribution of those whose names
have not been mentioned but who have, nevertheless, played their part in
making this research work successful.
Kochi-22,
15-10-08. ZAKKARIYA K. £l~. .
CONTENTS
List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Abbreviations
1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 The Research Problem 5
1.2 Theoretical and Research Background of the Study 11
1.3 Objectives of the Study 22
2. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE VARIABLES 23
2.1 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE 23
2.1.1 Definitions of Emotional Intelligence 24
2.1.2 Historical Roots of the Concept' Emotional Intelligence' 28
2.1.3 The Major Emotional Intelligence Models 34
2.1.3.1 The Mayer-Salovey Model of Emotional Intelligence (Ability Model) 35
2.1.3.2 The Bar-On Model of Emotional Intelligence 39
2.1.3.3 The Goleman Model (The Emotional Competencies Model) 43
2.1.4 Can Emotional Intelligence be Learned? 51
2.1.5 Criticisms of the Theoretical Foundation of Emotional Intelligence 53
2.2 LOCUS OF CONTROL 55
2.2.1 The Origin of the Concept 56
2.2.2 Internal Locus of Control 60
2.2.3 Benefits of an Internal Locus of Control 62
2.2.4 External Locus of Control 62
2.2.5 Characteristics of Locus of Control Orientations 63
2.3 SELF-ESTEEM 65
2.3.1 Definitions of Self-Esteem 67
2.3.2 Why Self-Esteem is Important? 69
2.3.3 High and Low Self-esteem - A Comparison 70
2.3.4 Organisation-Based Self-Esteem 72
2.3.5 Measuring Self-esteem 73
2.3.6 How to build self-esteem? 74
3. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 77
3.1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE IN THE AREA OF EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE 77
3.1.1 Emotional Intelligence and Sales Executives' Performance 78
3.1.2 Emotional intelligence and Executives' !Individuals' Performance 86
3.1.3 Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Effectiveness 99
3.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE IN THE AREA OF
LOCUS OF CONTROL 103
3.3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE IN THE AREA OF SELF-ESTEEM 116
3.4 Conclusions from the Literature Review 123
4. METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY 125
4.1 Variables of the Study 125
4.2 Hypotheses 126
4.3 Scope and Significance of the Study 127
4.4 Definitions of Major Concepts 128
4.4.1 Sales Executive 128
4.4.2 Emotional Intelligence 129
4.4.3 Sales Locus of Control 130
4.4.4 Self-Esteem 130
4.5 Universe and the Selection of the Respondent Executives 131
4.6 Method of Data Collection 133
4.7 Tools of Data Collection 134
4.7.1 Emotiona1lnteIIigence Test by N.K. Chadha 135
4.7.2 Sales Locus of Control Scale (SLCS) 136
4.7.3 The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE) 138
4.7.4 Sales Executive Profile Sheet 138
4.8 Measurement of Sales Executives' Performance 139
4.9 Data Processing and Analysis 142
4.10 Organisation of Thesis 142
4.11 Data Presentation 143
4.12 Limitations of the Study 143
5. PROFILE OF THE SAMPLE AND THE DISTRIBUTION
PATTERN OF THE RESPONSES 145
5.1 PROFILE OF THE RESPONDENT SALES EXECUTIVES 145
5.1.1 Age, Experience and Company Switchover 146
5.1.2 Educational Qualifications ofthe Sales Executives 147
5.1.3 Marital Status 149
5.1.4 Sex Composition of the Sample 149
5.1.5 Type of the Products Sold by the Executives 150
5.1.6 The Category of Products Sold by the Executives 151
5.1.7 Rating of the Sales Performance and Sales Conversion Rate 152
5.1.8 Customer Feedback According to Supervisor 153
5.1.9 Overall Assessment of Sales Executives' Performance by the Supervisors 154
5.2 DISTRIBUTION OF THE RESPONSES WITH RESPECT TO
DIFFERENT VARIABLES USED IN THE STUDY 156
5.2.1 Analysis of Distribution of the Sample With Respect To
Independent Variables 156
5.2.1.1 Emotional Intelligence 157
5.2.1.2 Sales Locus of Control 158
5.2.1.3 Self-Esteem 160
5.2.2 Analysis of Distribution of the Sample with respect to Dependent
Variable 161
5.2.2.1 Percentage of attainment of Sales Quota (Self Rating by the Sales
executives) 162
5.2.2.2 Effective Sales Conversion out of ten Selling Attempts 163
5.2.2.3 Percentage of Attainment of Sales Quota (Rating by the Sales Supervisors) 165
5.2.2.4 Cross Comparisons of Performance Measures 166
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS 169
6.
Emotional Intelligence and Sales Executives' Performance 169
6.1
Locus of Control and Sales Executives' Performance 172
6.2
Self-Esteem and Sales Executives' Performance 177
6.3
Interrelationship among El, SLOC and Self-Esteem 179
6.4
6.5 Experience and Emotional Intelligence 181
6.6 Experience and the Sales Performance of the Executives 184
6.7 Age and Emotional Intelligence 186
6.8 Sex and Emotional Intelligence 187
6.9 Marital Status and Emotional Intelligence 188
6.10 Educational Qualifications and Emotional Intelligence 189
6.11 Parental Occupational Status and Emotional Intelligence 190
6.12 Number of Siblings, Ordinal Position and Emotional Intelligence 191
6.13 Executives' Switchover and Emotional Intelligence 194
6.14 Sales Conversion Rate and Emotional Intelligence 197
6.15 Product Type and Emotional Intelligence 199
7. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS A~D DISCUSSION 201
7.1 FINDINGS OF THE STUDY 201
7.2 DISCUSSION OF MAJOR FINDINGS 203
7.2.1 Emotional Intelligence and Performance of the Sales Executives 203
7.2.2 Sales Locus of Control-Internal and Sales Performance 208
7.2.3 Self-Esteem and Sales Performance 211
7.2.4 Interrelationship among Emotional Intelligence, Locus of Control
-internal and Self-Esteem 213
7.2.5 Experience, Emotional intelligence and Performance 215
7.2.6 Age, Sex, Marital status, Educational Qualifications and El 216
7.2.7 Parental Occupational Status and Emotional Intelligence 217
7.2.8 El, SLOC-Internal, Self-Esteem and Sales Executive Turnover 217
8. SUMMARY, IMPLICAT lONS AND CONCLUSION OF
THE STUDY 219
8.1 Summary of the Study
219
8.2 Implications of the Study
221
8.3 Conclusion of the Study
222
8.4 Scope for Further Research
223
REFERENCES 225
APPENDICES
