Applying positive psychology to selling behaviors: A moderated-mediation analysis integrating subjective well-being, coping and organizational identity

Subjective well-being (SWB) has been widely found to have a profound impact on the individual, yet its application in the sales field remains unexplored. Applying Broaden and Build theory, this study examines SWB and its influence on the selling behaviors, specifically adaptive selling and sales creativity. Using salesperson coping as a mediator and organizational identity (OI) as a moderator, the relationship between SWB and selling behaviors was further explored. Survey results from 334 sales professionals from multiple industries in India showed that SWB enhances adaptive selling and sales creativity directly and via the mediating effect of salesperson coping. Our results helps us to better understand this potential strategic synergy between salespeople's internal qualities and skills and their organizational identity, our research highlights on what we believe are three key contributors to salesperson creativity and adaptive selling: subjective wellbeing (SWB), positive coping, and organizational identity (OI).