infonet-economy

This paper examines how different leadership styles (transformational versus transactional) of sales managers cascade downwards into corresponding (relational versus transactional) selling approaches of salespersons, thereby affecting customer-level outcomes. Results of multilevel analyses of a multisource data set on 517 customers, 265 sales representatives, and 111 sales managers of a financial services company show that a sales manager's transformational leadership style translates into increased satisfaction, loyalty, and cooperation on the part of customers by shaping salespersons' selling approach towards a relational style. In contrast, a sales manager's transactional leadership style appears to translate into decreased customer satisfaction, loyalty, and cooperation by shaping salespersons' selling approach towards a transactional style.