Drivers of salesperson performance: value transfer, personality congruence, and selling ambiance

Abstract

This study examines preference-based transfer of value (PTV) as a mediating mechanism linking adaptive selling (AS), salesperson-brand personality congruence (SPC), and positive selling ambiance (PSA) to salesperson performance (SP) in a retail banking context. Using a quantitative cross-sectional survey, questionnaires were collected from 262 frontline salespeople of PT Bank BNI (Persero) Tbk in Indonesia. The proposed model was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings show that AS, SPC, and PSA significantly enhance PTV, and PTV positively predicts SP. Mediation analysis indicates that PTV transmits the effects of these antecedents on performance, highlighting the importance of converting selling behaviors and interaction climates into customer-internalized value. The study contributes by introducing and empirically validating PTV as a novel psychological channel in sales performance research and offers managerial implications for recruitment, training, and performance assessment in business-to-consumer financial services. Future research may extend this model across industries and examine boundary conditions using multi-group designs.