I Need to Be Your Only Friend: The Effect of Salesperson Network Centrality on Opportunistic Behavior

Date

2019-03-26

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Publisher

Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd

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Abstract

Transaction cost economics can be used to detect opportunistic behavior by one or more actors within a sales network. Using a sample of firms in the medical industry, where the role of salespeople is important, this study examines network centrality as a determinant of a salesperson's opportunistic behavior in intrafirm relationships. The results indicate that opportunistic behavior is affected differently depending on a salesperson's relational and positional centralities. While relational centrality decreases opportunistic behavior by providing motivation to protect one's reputation, positional centrality negatively moderates the effect of relational centrality on opportunistic behavior. However, with a high relational centrality, a salesperson is less likely to be opportunistic when she or he is low in positional centrality than when her or his positional centrality is high.

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Due to copyright restrictions and/or publisher's policy full text access from Treasures at UT Dallas is not available. UTD affiliates may be able to acquire a copy through Interlibrary Loan by using the link to UTD ILL.

Keywords

Sales personnel, Opportunism (Psychology), Business networks, Social networks, Performance, Trust

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Rights

©2019 Taylor & Francis

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