The Impact of Relationship-Specific Adaptations and Information Exchange on Sales Agents’ Role Salience
Independent sales agents, represented by brokers, manufacturer representatives and agent firms, are an important population for researchers and business principals alike. However, there is scarce available research that sheds light on factors influencing exchange relationships and performance of sales agents. This paper addresses this research gap by conceptualizing and testing a framework wherein information exchange by sales agents and relationship-specific adaptations made by sales agents and their exchange partners are posited to influence sales agents’ role salience in exchange relationships.