Salesperson intra-career mobility perceptions: Exploring the role of professional versus organizational identities

Abstract

Salesperson career paths have evolved from traditional to boundaryless models, as salespeople are moving between sales organizations with greater frequency. In this new landscape, it is crucial to consider how salespeople’s perceptions of their employers and the sales profession impact their mobility. While previous research has focused on salesperson identification with their organization, identification with the profession remains largely unexplored. To address this gap, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 57 sales professionals to better understand their work identities. They offer a theoretical model illustrating how professional and organizational identities become more or less salient, influencing intra-career mobility (i.e., job movement within the sales profession). When salespeople experienced a mismatch between their work realities and desired identities, they redefined their sales roles around a core work value. This process shifted their focus towards their professional identity over their organizational identity, affecting their perceptions of mobility within the sales profession.