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Business-to-Business Buyer–Seller Interactions: Personality and Transformational Leadership Theories’ Perspective

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Leadership, Innovation and Entrepreneurship as Driving Forces of the Global Economy

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Abstract

The literature has observed that business-to-business (B2B) selling is transitioning to relational partnerships with customers and long-term collaborations with suppliers to achieve a competitive advantage and reduce costs. Studies have made it clear that personal similarities between the initial salesperson and buyer can improve cooperation in buyer–seller interactions, and this interactional aspect offers value to customers. According to recent studies, the way salespeople initiate a partnership with their contact people is an important part of relational value formation. Nevertheless, this subject is rarely discussed in the literature. This study addresses this gap by adding personality theory and the theory of transformational leadership to illustrate how different customers with different personality types want to be treated by salespeople before and during buyer–seller interactions. This study recommends using these theories in buyer–seller interactions to meet the customers’ relational, interactional and behavioural needs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland

    Pia Hautamäki

  2. University of Vaasa, Vaasa, Finland

    Pia Hautamäki

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  1. Pia Hautamäki
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  1. Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

    Rachid Benlamri

  2. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA

    Michael Sparer

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Hautamäki, P. (2017). Business-to-Business Buyer–Seller Interactions: Personality and Transformational Leadership Theories’ Perspective. In: Benlamri, R., Sparer, M. (eds) Leadership, Innovation and Entrepreneurship as Driving Forces of the Global Economy. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43434-6_45

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