Predictors Of Retail Salesperson Creativity And Associated Performance Implications

Abstract

Businesses increasingly rely upon creative problem-solving from boundary spanning employees. For sales and service organizations implementing a value-added model, creative boundary spanners enhance customer experience and overall performance. Thus, defining and assessing creative performance and its antecedents and consequences is paramount. Using Amabile’s (1983) framework, we develop and test a creative performance model using salesperson and manager data matched with archival performance metrics. Our findings suggest that a) effort, emotional intelligence and technical knowledge predict boundary spanner creativity, b) creativity significantly impacts service ability and overall performance, and c) managerial feedback positively influences the relationship between employee creativity and performance.