• Journal of Venture Innovation
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.101-121
• /
• 2023

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of issue leadership by sales managers on sales team performance, while examining the mediating role of team adaptive sales behavior and the moderating effect of team-member exchange (TMX). Data was collected from 125 sales teams, and both independent and dependent variables were measured with a time difference of two months using responses from sales managers and team members. The empirical analysis revealed several important findings. Firstly, the study found that issue leadership had a significant positive effect on sales team performance. Secondly, team adaptive sales behavior was found to partially mediate the relationship between issue leadership and sales team performance. Lastly, the study revealed that TMX moderated the relationship between issue leadership and sales team performance. These findings have significant academic and practical implications. Firstly, the study demonstrates the effectiveness of issue leadership as a sales leadership style in the B2C industry. Secondly, it highlights the importance of team adaptive sales behavior as a mechanism that mediates the relationship between issue leadership and sales team performance. Lastly, it underscores the significance of TMX as a situational factor that moderates the relationship between issue leadership and sales team performance. In practice, the results suggest that organizations should focus on developing issue leaders, fostering creative sales behavior at the team level, and activating social exchange within sales teams to enhance sales team performance.