THE INFLUENCE OF EMOTIONS DISPLAYED AND PERSONAL SELLING ON CUSTOMER BEHAVIOUR INTENTION

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE SUDY

Personal selling is crucial in the corporate world because it facilitates two-way contact between consumers and service suppliers and increases demand for goods or services by using aggressive selling tactics to convince customers to purchase. Face-to-face engagement is important because it allows a service employee to customize a message to a specific client, allowing them to convey a nuanced message to prospective customers. Personal selling gives customers a better view of the product or service they're buying, as well as the ability to ask for more detail from the salesperson. Personal selling may also provide an opportunity for service providers to learn about consumer expectations for making appropriate recommendations for an individual specific consumer. Hence, personal selling activities involve a complex interaction between the service employee and the customer.

However the changing role of emotion in services marketing is being considered more than ever before, and the relevance of this variable in services marketing is growing day by day. Many scholars agree that empathy is an important factor to consider when analyzing consumer interactions and resulting behaviour (Tronvoll, 2011 cited in Abdullah N.& Sharareh H.2018). A substantial amount of prior research shows that emotion is a major antecedent for the consumer's behaviour that has an impact on his or her actions. The cause of this problem is that people often respond and behave based on their perceptions of events in their immediate surroundings (Namkung & Jang, 2010 Abdullah N.& Sharareh H.2018).  Thus, inducing consumer’s positive response, service organizations require service employees to regulate their emotions. Service operators believe that positive emotions displayed by an employee can induce consumer’s positive emotions and consequently increase consumer’s positive behaviour response.

About the importance of emotion in the marketing, it should be noted that the impact of emotion on the word of mouth advertisement, the customers’ attitude towards the service provider, customer loyalty, repurchase intention and the behavior of their complaint have been proven in various studies. Emotional reactions play important roles in the communication between the buyer and the seller. Customers demand to repeat the positive emotions during shopping and the sense of worth experience of buying. The empirical evidences show that the values perceived by the customers are influenced by their emotions. Lin and Liang (2011) cited in Abdullah N.& Sharareh H. (2018) believe that when the customers experience the positive emotion, they have more positive perceived value of their buying. Kapoor and Kulshrestha (2009) cited in Abdullah N.& Sharareh H. (2018)stated that a considerable amount of researches in the last years have been dedicated to the changing emotion and its role in the services marketing. Most of these researches focused on the interactions between the services providers and the recipient of the services (the customer). They also examined the perceptions of customers from the services providers as well as assessing the quality of the services provided. In the service marketing environment, the role of emotion is very evident for the managers. Customers prefer to quickly buy and leave in a convenience-store setting, and the demand for employee displayed positive emotions is low. However, displaying positive emotions consists of polite or friendly behaviours such as a polite gaze, greeting, smiling, and thanking such this can affect consumer willingness to patronize a product. Therefore it is on this note that this study is set to examine the influence of emotions displayed and personal selling on customer behaviour intention.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Personal selling behaviour refers to an employee actively promoting a product or service. An employee's aggressive promotion of a good or service could be seen by the customer as unwelcome or inappropriate service publicity. When employees engage in personal marketing behavior when shoppers are out shopping for everyday needs, the disruption disrupts the rhythm of the shopping experience for the customer and can cause customers to exit the store early, resulting in lower usage.Martin, O’Neill, Hubbard, and Palmer (2008)cited in Abdullah N.& Sharareh H. (2018) believe that the customers’ satisfaction cannot be perceived or explained without reviewing their emotions.Customers who experience the positive emotions are more likely to do the behaviors such as positive word of mouth advertisement and repurchase intention. Negative emotions are often the experience of a bad (inappropriate) service which subsequently led to dissatisfaction or customer s’ complaint. Therefore, perceiving the customers’ emotions and their effects on the customers’ behavior are very important issues for the marketers and especially in the services marketing environment. However it is necessary for employee on their bid to promote or market product and service should ensure that they exhibit positive emotions as this has influence on consumer behavior. Thus, it upon these premise that this study is set to examine  the influence of emotions displayed and personal selling on customer behaviour intention.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of emotions displayed and personal selling on customer behaviour intention. Specifically it is aimed attaining the following objectives:

1. To examine types of emotion displayed by employees during marketing

2. To investigate if personal selling and emotions displayed can affect consumer behaviour intention.

3. To examine some negative emotions that can hinder a customer from patronizing a product

4. To proffer affective etiquette during personal selling which can positively affect consumer behavior intention

1.4 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0: Emotions and Personal Selling does not influence consumer behavior intention

H0: Negative emotions in personal selling does not lead to customer’s low patronage of a product.

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

This study will be relevant to business personnel, mangers, sales persons, consumer and individuals in marketing or sales related endeavour. For the managers and marketers who are looking to identify the purchase motivations of the customers and are intended to encourage them to repurchase, it will enable them to identify the variable of emotions and its role in consumer behaviour motivation. To entreprenuer this study will  provide them with a useful and practical tools on the pros and cons of any emotional dispositions portrayed during personal selling. More so, the result from the study will contribute to the general body of knowledge, it will serve as a reference material for students and researcher and give opportunity for further studies.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this study covers the influence of emotions displayed and personal selling on customer behaviour intention. It examined types of emotion displayed by employees during marketing. It investigated if personal selling and emotions displayed can affect consumer behaviour intention. However the study is delimited to selected supermarket in Ikorodu, in Lagos State.

1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The following factors poses to be a limitation during the course of this research Financial constraint– Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint– The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Emotions: Emotions are psychological states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. Emotion is a strong feeling deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others

Personal Selling: Personal selling occurs when a sales representative meets with a potential client for the purpose of transacting a sale.  Personal selling is also known as face-to-face selling in which one person who is the salesman tries to convince the customer in buying a product

Consumer behaviour: Consumer behavior is the series of behaviors or patterns that consumers follow before making a purchase. It starts when the consumer becomes aware of a need or desire for a product, then concludes with the purchase transaction.

Customer Intention: A consumer's purchasing intention refers to that consumer's attitude toward a specific product. It reveals the consumer's degree of willingness to pay or patronize a product.

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