AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION OF SALESPEOPLE STEREOTYPE AND METASTEREOTYPE IN THE UK CLOTHING RETAIL STORES A dissertation submitted to Aston University for the degree of Master of Science in Marketing Management RAMEEZ KHAN 129153878 ASTON BUSINESS SCHOOL September 2013 Supervisor : Dr Nick Lee Rameez Khan, 2013

!PROJECT / DISSERTATION DECLARATION FORM PROJECT / DISSERTATION DECLARATION FORM RAMEEZ!KHAN! Name: (Block Capitals please) MSC!IN!MARKETING!MANAGEMENT! Course: Student No: 1! 2! 9! 1! 5! 3! 8! 7! 8! DECLARATION FORM I declare that I have personally prepared this report and that it has not in whole or in part been submitted for any other degree or qualification. Nor has it appeared in whole or in part in any textbook, journal or any other document previously published or produced for any purpose. The work described here is my own, carried out personally unless otherwise stated. All sources of information, including quotations, are acknowledged by means of reference, both in the final reference section, and at the point where they occur in the text. I understand that plagiarism and collusion are regarded as offences against the University s Examination Regulations and may result in formal disciplinary proceedings. RAMEEZ!KHAN! Signed: 9TH!SEPTEMBER!2013! Date: This form must be submitted together with your Project / Dissertation. ! ii

Acknowledgements I would like to specially thank my supervisor Dr. Nick Lee for guiding me throug hout the research work. Without his cooperation it would have been very difficult to complete this Research Project on time. I express gratitude for all his efforts and full support. I would like to acknowledge the valued efforts of my parents and all friends who supported me and prayed for me throughout the journey of my MSc program at Aston . I would also like to thank all the respondents who cooperated with me by filling my thesis questionnaire and gave me time out of their busy schedules. Without their help I could never have generated valid data and could never reach the dissertation com pletion phase. It goes without saying that I am really grateful to everyone who helped me in ma king this dissertation a success. ! iii

Abstract The research examined the negative stereotype that customers have of salespeople and the metastereotype that salespeople have of customers. Stereotype here means the customers prior belief of salespeople, and metastereotype means salespersons belie f of the stereotype that customers have of them. The hypothesis tested the effect of these prior cognitions on IGA (intergroup anxiety) experienced by customers and salesp eople. The responses were collected based on sales encounter between salespeople and customers in UK retail clothing stores. Observations were carried out to record contact initiation between customers and salespeople followed by a face-to-face survey w here respondents were asked to fill in the questionnaire after their sales encounter. The results showed that salespeople did not possess highly negative and stereotypical charac teristics due to which customers did not experience high levels of IGA. Salespeople were f ound to have positive and negative metastereotype of customers both of which led to a n increased level of salesperson IGA. Furthermore, the effects of customer IGA wer e not highly prominent due to a non-stereotypical salesperson encountered in store; st ill we found IGA affect customer loyalty negatively. The effect of IGA on salespeople s howed reduced contact initiation with the customer. This research has implications for sales management and training departments to understand their salespeople s metastereoty pe and help them overcome anxiety during a sales encounter with customers. Also, to help salespeople understand how customers perceive them, to overcome negative stereot ype. These measures will ultimately help to improve sales performance. ! iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS SR. CONTENT PAGE # Declaration Acknowledgement Abstract Table of contents List of Tables List of Abbreviations 1 Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Background of the research 1.2 Background to the research problem 1.3 Problem statement 1.4 Research Question 1.5 Research Objectives .. 4 .. 4 ... 5 .. 5 ....... ii iii iv .. v ix xi 1 1 .. 2

1.6 Implications of the Proposed Research 1.7 Overview of the report 2 Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Salesperson stereotype 2.1.1 Negative stereotype and IGA. 2.2 Metastereotype 2.2.1 Metastereotype and IGA 2.3 IGA consequences ....... 6 ... 7 ....... 7 10

................... 13 ... 19 .............. 23 . ... 23 26 ... 27

2.3.1 Contact avoidance by customer

2.3.2 Future contact avoidance by customer 2.3.3 Contact avoidance by salesperson 3 Chapter 3: Methodology 3.1 Research design 3.2 Data collection method

........... 30 .................. 30 ....... 31

! v

3.3 Questionnaire development 3.3.1 Questionnaire coding

33 evelopment ....... 34 35

33

3.4 Pre-testing of the draft questionnaire 3.4.1 Protocol interview 3.4.2 Pilot study ........... 34

........................ 35 . 35 35

3.5 Target population and sampling

3.5.1 Identifying target population and population frame 3.5.2 Sampling 3.5.3 The process 3.6 Data analysis 3.6.1 Data cleaning 3.6.2 Descriptive analysis 3.6.3 Validity analysis 3.6.3.1 Content validity 3.6.4 Factor analysis 3.6.5 Reliability analysis 3.6.6 Binary data conversion 3.6.7 Regression analysis 3.6.8 Independent samples t-test 3.6.9 Bivariate correlation 3.7 Measurement 3.7.1 Stereotype ......................... 36 ...................... 36 ...................... 37 .................. 37 ......... 37 .............. 38 ............ 38 ................. 39 .......... 39 .... 40 ......... 40 .. 42 ........ 43 ...................... 44 ........................ 44

3.7.2 Metastereotype 3.7.3 Intergroup Anxiety

................ 45 .......... 45 45

3.7.4 Customer purchase decision and purchase value 3.7.5 Customer future purchase intention 46

3.7.6 Salesperson initiation of contact with customer 3.7.7 Customer initiation of contact with salesperson ! vi

.. 46 . 46

4 Chapter 4: Data Analysis 4.1 Descriptive analysis 4.1.1 Assumption of data i. Salesperson data ii. Customer data 4.1.2 Respondents . 47

.......... 4Chapter 4: Data Analysis ............ 47 .......... 47

...

......... 48 characteristics ... 48 . 48

4.1.2.1 Demographics: Salesperson i. Gender ii. Age iii. Ethnicity iv. Marital status .. v. Education

.................... 48 ......................... 49 ................. 50 .................... 50 ................ 51 .. 52 .. 52

vi. Annual household income 4.1.2.2 Demographics: Customer i. Gender ii. Age iii. Ethnic origin iv. Marital status v. Education level vi. Annual household income

.................... 52 ......................... 53 ........... 54 .......... 55 ....... 56 .. 56 . 57 . 58 .. 72

4.2 Tests and data collection methods used

4.3 Variable measurement and consistency of measures

4.4 Interpretation of test results relation to the hypothesis

4.5 Findings and Discussion 5 Chapter 5 Summary and Conclusion 5.1 Limitations and Suggestions 5.2 Recommendation for future researchers 6 References ! vii 95

.... 85 92 . 93 93

7 Appendices

... 103 Appendices 103 104 ... 110 . 119

... 103

7.1 Appendix A: Conceptual Framework 7.2 Appendix B: Salesperson Questionnaire 7.3 Appendix C: Customer Questionnaire

7.4 Appendix D: Test result of Normal data distribution 7.5 Appendix E: Summary of respondent demographics 7.6 Appendix F: Initial analysis conducted on raw data

. 121 .. 123

7.7 Appendix G: Results of Factor analysis & Reliability analysis 125 7.8 Appendix H: Syntax Output- Creation of new variables ... 141 7.9 Appendix I: Test results for Hypotheses ! viii 143

LIST OF TABLES SR CONTENT PAGE # 1 Salesperson Demographics 1.1 Gender 49 1.2 Age 1.3 Ethnicity 1.4 Marital status 1.5 Education ................................................

..................................................... 49 ............................................. 50 ...................................... 51 ............................................ 51 .................. 52

1.6 Annual household income 2 Customer Demographics 2.1 Gender 53 2.2 Age 54 2.3 Ethnic origin 55 2.4 Marital status 55 2.5 Education level 57 2.6 Annual household income

................................................

.....................................................

.......................................

......................................

................................... 56 ..................

3 Factor Analysis and Reliability 3.1a/b Customer stereotype of typical salesperson

............................... 60

3.2a/b Customer stereotype of salesperson encountered in store .. 62 3.3a/b Customer IGA experienced with typical salesperson 64-65 3.4a/b Customer IGA experienced with salesperson encountered in store ... 66-67

3.5 Customer future purchase intention ... 67 3.6a/b Typical salesperson metastereotype of typical customer ... 69 3.7a/b Salesperson IGA experienced while interacting with customer . 71 ! ix

4 Interpretation of test results of hypotheses Interpretation of test results of hypotheses 4.1 Hypothesis 1-Summary results from 1st Regression analysis 4.2 Hypothesis 1- Summary results from 2nd Regression analysis 4.3 Hypothesis 2- Summary results from Regression analysis .. 73 . 74 76 . 77

4.4 Hypothesis 3- Summary results from Independent t-test analysis 4.5 Hypothesis 4- Summary results from Regression analysis 4.6 Hypothesis 5- Summary results from Regression analysis 79 80

4.7 Hypothesis 6- Summary results from Independent t-test analysis

. 82

4.8 Hypothesis 7- Summary results from Bivariate correlation analysis . 83 5 Summary of hypotheses results ! x ... ....... 84

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

IGA: Intergroup Anxiety MACs : Most Associated Characteristics SPSS : Statistical Package for Social Sciences ! ! xi

Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Background of the research In recent years marketing literature has shown increased importance towards the buyerseller relationship (Kumar, Scheer and Steenkamp, 1995; Morgan and Hunt, 1994; A utry, Williams and Moncrief, 2013). Several studies have shown that an organisation ha s the potential to gain competitive advantage by forming valuable buyer-seller relatio nships (Anderson, Hakansson and Johanson, 1994; Craven, Shipp and Cravens, 1994). Moreover, salespeople play a vital role in this relationship by acting as bounda ryspanners who interact and manage the relationship between customers and the organisation (Boles, Johnson and Barksdale, 2000). In order to achieve high sale s performance, scholars have emphasised the need to align the thoughts and behavio ur of customers and salespeople (Bradford et al., 2010; Esper et al., 2010; Min, Mentz er, and Ladd, 2007). Over the last two decades numerous studies have been conducted to understand how customers perceive salespeople (Gagliano and Hathcote 1994; Jones et al., 2005). Furthermore they have explored the different stereotypes that custom ers have towards salespeople, which can impact on the selling environment (Boles et al., 2000; Babin, Boles and Darden, 1995). Just as we see the importance of a customer s stereotype of salespeople an equally important topic is salesperson s belief of wha t customers think of them . This introduces us to the term salesperson metastereotyp e. Metastereotype refers to a person s beliefs regarding the stereotype that out-group members hold about his or her own group ! 1 (Vorauer, Main, and O'Connell, 1998, p.

917). An in-group refers to a social group to which one person belongs (Brambill a et al, 2013). In contrast, an out-group refers to a social group to which one person do es not belong. Previous research has shown metastereotype can also affect performance s imilar to stereotype (Curtis & Miller, 1986). While marketing literature has little kno wledge of how these prior cognitions can directly affect sales performance, research in so cial psychology has identified anxiety as stemming from intergroup contact when one g roup member holds negative perceptions towards the out-group or about one s own group (Stephan and Stephan,1985; Finchilescu, 2010). As a result this might lead to a detrimental experience for both group members may affect their behaviour negativ ely. 1.2 Background to the research problem Global sales perceptions report 2007-2008 (Thomas, Mitchell, and Rossa, 2008) re ports buyers have a strong negative perception towards the sales profession, the findi ngs showed more than 50% respondents said they would not be proud to call themselves a salesperson. Some anecdotal evidence has even suggested that the expression selli ng is as an insult to assign a show-off (Butler, 1996). A UK buyer puts it best: I d much rather buy over the Internet than from someone who tries to make you buy t he most expensive product, plus a load of extras you don t actually need. (Thomas, Mitchell, and Rossa, 2008) These negative views of customers towards salespeople have shown changes in cust omer buying behaviour as they wish to avoid encounters with a typical salespeople (Mi kolon, Lee and Kriener, 2012). Negative salesperson stereotyping has also been found to affect customer s feelings by activating IGA (intergroup anxiety). It is becoming increas ingly ! 2

difficult to ignore these detrimental effects of negative salesperson stereotype . Therefore, previous studies have recommended examining the effects of negative stereotype i n a selling environment (Lee et al., 2007; Lee, Sandfield and Dhaliwal, 2007). On the other hand, little attention has been paid to the topic of salesperson metastereotype in the retail selling dyad. Previous research has reported that t he metastereotype of out-group can have important effects on an individual s attitude and behaviour (Anseel, 2011). Most previous studies on metastereotype have mainly fo cused on the relationship between different social cultural groups (Vorauer, Main, and O'Connell ,1998; Vorauer et al., 2000). Looking at the term metastereotype from a selling perspective during a sales encounter if salespeople believes that custom ers hold a stereotype towards them their interaction with customers might also be emotional ly affected as they might feel highly negative about the interaction (Vorauer et al ., 2000). Previous research has made it evident that anticipating prejudice by out-group m embers can stimulate anxiety (Branscombe, Schmitt and Harvey, 1999) and hinder performa nce (Steele and Aronson, 1995). Salesperson metasterotype remains largely unstudied in marketing literature. This raises a need to examine the effects of salesperson metastereotype in order to find out if these effects are similar to those explor ed in the social context by previous research (Vorauer et al., 2000; Anseel, 2011). Most earlier research of salesperson stereotype have used a method where subject s were asked to form an impression of the salesperson after reading a scenario case stu dy, thereby imagining whether the salesperson appeared to be stereotypical or not (L ee, Sandfield and Dhaliwal, 2007; Babin, Boles and Darden, 1995; Sujan, Bettman and Sujan, 1986). Researchers of these studies have pointed out that such a method o f measuring stereotype may or may not occur naturally. Therefore, the present stud y will ! 3

empirically examine the effects of salesperson stereotype and metastereotype bas ed on sales encounters between salesperson and customer. Moreover, little attention has been paid to examine these effects in a sales enc ounter in the UK. Previous research has mentioned clothing salespeople are negatively ster eotyped by customers (Sujan, Bettman and Sujan, 1986). Considering these gaps, this rese arch will be conducted in the UK retail clothing stores to examine if they possess hi ghly negative characteristics of a typical salesperson. 1.3 Problem statement Negative salesperson stereotype and metastereotype effect performance of retail clothing stores in the UK. 1.4 Research Question In order to investigate into this problem statement, the following research ques tions have been formulated: 1. What is the effect of negative salesperson stereotype on customer IGA during a sales encounter in a retail-clothing store? 2. What is the effect of salesperson metastereotype of customers on salesperson IGA during a sales encounter in a retail clothing store? 3. What effect does IGA have on customer purchase behaviour, loyalty, and contact initiation with a salesperson in a retail-clothing store? 4. What effect does IGA have on salesperson s contact initiation with customers in a retail-clothing store? ! 4

1.5 Research Objectives: i. To know if customers might feel IGA while interacting with a stereotypical salesperson. ii. To discover if salespeople carry highly negative characteristics in the UK r etail clothing stores. iii. To examine if salespeople feel IGA due to their metastereotype of customers . iv. To find out if IGA affects customers future purchase intentions. 1.6 Implications of the Proposed Research An implication of this study for sales management and training departments in th e retail industry would be to develop a better understanding of how their sales teams are expected to behave with the customers to overcome being negatively stereotyped. Also, to develop the importance to find out the metastereotype of their salespeople as this would impact on the salesperson s behaviour. As a result, this study could further help in understanding buyer-seller relationships and take corrective measures to improve their relationship. Besides, an implication for the academic researchers would be to develop a bette r understanding of the salesperson stereotype and metastereotype in a retail-selli ng environment. This study will help to build a foundation of empirically validated information in sales context, and contribute to existing literature on salespers on stereotype and metastereotype. ! 5

1.7 Overview of the report The overall structure of the study takes the form of five chapters including thi s introductory chapter. The report will start by discussing relevant literature in the field. The literature will reveal the link between stereotype and IGA, metastereotype a nd IGA, and the consequences of IGA. Following each literature topic the hypotheses will be developed accordingly. Next, the hypotheses will be summarised and visualised in a conceptual model. The third chapter will discuss the research methodology used t o test the hypotheses. The fourth chapter will discuss the results along with the findi ngs and its implications. The final chapter will draw out the conclusion and address the lim itations along with recommendations for the future researchers. In this dissertation there are abbreviations that will be used, which are mentio ned in the initial pages of this report before this introductory chapter. ! 6

Chapter 2 Literature Review This chapter will start with a review of literature on stereotypes and metastere otypes discussing how they can lead to IGA (Intergroup Anxiety) in a sales encounter. T his will be followed by the consequences of experiencing IGA, which will discuss the impa ct of IGA on sales performance. 2.1 Salesperson stereotype A Stereotype can be defined as a cognitive component of knowledge, belief and expectation towards a human group (Hamilton and Trolier, 1986), which might be positive or negative. It can also be explained as a cognitive element of prejudg ment and mental representations of negative attitudes formed towards a group (Aronson, Wi lson and Akert, 2008). Furthermore, a stereotype assists in categorizing out-group memb ers who belong to groups that an individual does not belong to. Previous researchers have studied the formation of stereotype on the basis of the out-group member s profess ion (Pratto and Bargh, 1991), social class (Fiske, 1982), ethnicity (Gilber and Hixo n, 1991), gender (Hoffman and Hurst, 1990) or age (Brewer, Dull and Lui, 1981). In the field of marketing, the term stereotype is generally associated to catego rise the negative image of salespeople. A stereotype consists of traits and behaviours of salespeople in the customer s mind (Smith and Zarate, 1992). Although various role s in the sales profession exist, people generally associate a negative and pushy imag e with the ! 7

sales profession (Thompson, 1972). Several studies have shown how salespeople ar e victims of negative stereotypes (Sujan, Bettman and Sujan, 1986; Stafford, Leigh and Martin, 1995; Lee et al., 2007; Boles et al., 2000; Babin, Boles and Darden, 199 5). More precisely, salespeople are stigmatised for a multitude of reasons such as their ethnicity, appearance, social class or even their occupation or the organization they work for (Mikolon, Lee, Kriener, 2012). Previous studies have discovered salespeople are associated with a higher negati ve than positive stereotype (Lee, Beatson, and Lin, 2010; Lee, Sandfield and Dhaliwal, 2 007). This negative stereotype can impact on the salesperson s performance in a selling environment (Lee, Beatson, and Lin, 2010; Lee et al., 2007). For instance, due t o the negative feeling associated towards the salesperson, a customer might avoid inte raction with the salesperson (Mikolon, Lee, Kriener, 2012). As a result, the customer mi ght have reduced intentions to buy from the negatively stereotyped salesperson. Brigham ( 1971a) pointed out, researchers who are interested in studying stereotypes usually have not studied the behavioural outcomes of those stereotypes in a field setting. Theref ore, it is recommended to empirically examine the effects of salesperson stereotype on cust omer behaviour in a selling environment (Lee et al., 2007; Lee, Sandfield and Dhaliwa l, 2007). Furthermore, several researchers have studied the effects of negative salesperso n stereotype. For example, the applicants who wish to take up a sales career as a profession are discouraged to do so, to avoid being labeled with a negative stereotype (Del Vecchio and Honeycutt, 2002). Lee, Sandfield and Dhaliwal (2007) conducted a study in th e UK to empirically examine the stereotype held by business students towards salespeo ple. On the one hand the results indicated a higher negative stereotype of salespeople a mong students, which might reduce the interest of suitable students who are willing t o take up a career in sales. On the other hand, students accepted the negative image of sale speople as ! 8

normal. More importantly, this perception might give rise to a vicious cycle by attracting applicants who desire to match the profile of a negative salesperson. However, this study only focused on students, which leaves a gap to study the effects of negative salesperson stereotype on customers. Moreover, the authors of this study have recommended examining the effects of salesperson stereotype in a field setting. Therefore, the present study is conducted in a retail-selling environment with a ctual customers and salespeople. A salesperson stereotype can also have a positive impact on a selling environmen t (Lee et al., 2007). When the salesperson behaves according to the stereotypical expectat ions of a customer, it aids a smoother sales interaction. In this process, a stereotype he lps to understand a salesperson better by minimizing the thought process of a customer. This gives an opportunity to the customer to concentrate on other aspects of the sale s interaction. For instance, a customer will spend less time trying to understand the salesperson and will instead focus on processing information about the product ( Stafford, Leigh and Martin, 1995). It is interesting to note that most of the studies on the effects of salesperson stereotype have been conducted in the US (Sujan, Bettman, and Sujan, 1986; Babin, Boles and Darden, 1995). This topic is also gaining momentum in the UK (Lee et al., 2007; Mikolon, Lee, Kriener, 2012). Pettigrew (1958) has shown that the effects of ste reotype vary from one culture to the other. This can be illustrated with an example of a previous study, which was initially conducted in the US (Babin, Boles and Darden, 1995) a nd later replicated in the UK (Lee et al., 2007). These studies examined the effects of s alesperson stereotype on consumer emotions and information processing. More importantly, th e results of both these studies contradicted with each other up to some extent. Fi rstly, the ! 9

UK findings showed a higher product recall while the US findings showed a lower product recall by customers in the presence of a stereotypical salesperson. Seco ndly, customer emotions had no influence on product recall in the UK, whereas in the U S, customer emotions acted as a mediator and affected product recall. This shows ef fects of salesperson stereotype vary in different cultures. Thus, the present study is co nducted in the UK to build a robust empirical examination on the effects of salesperson ste reotype. The report will now discuss the effects of negative salesperson stereotype on cu stomer feelings mainly focusing on customter IGA. 2.1.1 Negative stereotype and IGA It is interesting to note that negatively stereotyping the salesperson can also affect a customer s feelings during sales encounter (Mikolon, Lee, Kriener, 2012). Vorauer, Main, and O'Connell (1998) conducted several experiments and found that being associated to the membership of a dominant group does not shield one from the ef fects of negatively stereotyping the out-group. Several studies have shown that the stere otype ingroup members hold towards out-group members will affect their experience of intergroup interaction (Littleford, Wright and Sayoc-Parial, 2005; Shelton, Rich eson and Salvatore, 2005; Shelton and Richeson, 2006; Vorauer, 2005). More precisely, Vor auer (2005) reported that holding a more negative than positive stereotype towards th e outgroup members will result in negative consequences such as lack of interest to f orm a cross-group friendship with the out-group member. More importantly, Stephan and Stephan (1985) argued IGA is the result of anticipating negative consequences du ring an interaction with an out-group member. When an in-group member holds negative stereotype towards an out-group member, it creates anxiety. This anxiety experie nced by an in-group member is due to the negative behaviour expected from the out-group ! 10!

member (Stephan and Stephan, 1985). Indeed, it is unlikely that people expect a positive interaction with disliked out-group members. On the other hand, when members of the dominant or majority group fear to be seen as prejudiced towards out-group, this causes anxiety (Devine, Evett, and Vasquez-Suson, 1996; Plant, 2004). Studies have show n that once the negative stereotype is activated towards a group, it can lead to stereo type consistent behaviour even among members who do not belong to that group. For instance, when a group of White Americans have activated the negative stereotype towards the African Americans this has resulted White Americans performing significantly worse in an intellectual task compared to the White Americans who did not activate the negative stereotype towards the African Americans (Wheeler, Jarvis and Petty, 2001). A recent study by Mikolon, Lee, Kriener (2012) examined the effects of stereotyp ing low skilled front line workers. This study challenged the service with a smile paradig m where the findings revealed that the display of positive emotions by frontline w orkers victimized them of being negatively stereotyped by customers. More importantly, customers experienced IGA in an interaction with these salespeople. This was bec ause the customers felt worried about the self-related consequences of the interactio n, such as being perceived as prejudiced by salespeople. As a result, this led to a detrime ntal customer service experience and poor sales performance. Moreover, the findings s howed that display of positive emotions by low-skilled front line salespeople would in crease IGA, whereas suppression of negative emotions would lower IGA. Lastly, higher IG A negatively correlated with purchase behaviour and loyalty intentions, which led to poor sales performance. However, this idea can be taken further by examining the effe cts of negatively stereotyping the retail salespeople. Studies have shown that retail s alespeople share a more interpersonal relationship with customers and are not usually a par t of the ! 11!

stigmatized group (Macintosh and Lockshin, 1997). Therefore, it will be interest ing to see the stereotype customers hold towards retail salespeople. In addition to the findings of Mikolon, Lee, Kriener (2012), there are a couple of areas that can be explore d further. Mikolon, Lee, Kriener (2012) only addressed the effects of a salesperson s display of positive and negative emotions on customer IGA. This leaves a gap to examine how a salesperson s negative stereotype affects levels of customer IGA. For instance, wh en customers hold a negative stereotype towards salespeople, chances are that this might lead to an oppositional affect and an unfriendly interaction (Stephan and Stepha n, 1985; Paolini, Harwood and Rubin, 2010). In a sales encounter when the customer comes across a typical salesperson, under those circumstances the customers might feel worried and nervous due to the negative expectations from the interaction (Greenland, Xe nias and Maio, 2012). More importantly, customers would be unclear about making a favorab le impression in response to the negatively stereotyped salesperson (Blascovich et al., 2001; Stephan and Stephan, 1985), which leads them to evaluate the situation as intimi dating because they doubt their ability to convey positive impressions (Butz and Plant, 2006). Consequently, customers might experience higher anxiety during an encounter with a negatively stereotyped salesperson. Thus, the following hypothesis is proposedHypotheses 1: H1-The more negative the salesperson stereotype, the higher the IGA It is also worth mentioning that when a salesperson does not possess stereotypic al characteristics, then the customer might not experience IGA during an encounter with the salesperson. Salespeople can also experience IGA while interacting with customers. As discuss ed, salesperson s stereotype might lead to customer IGA during an interaction. Similar ly, a ! 12!

salespeople s perception of how customers think about them might lead to salespers on IGA (Frey and Tropp, 2006; Shelton, Richeson and Vorauer, 2006). This introduces us to the term salesperson metastereotype. More importantly, metastereotype is found to be a so urce of anxiety, experienced by individuals in an intergroup interaction (Vorauer, Main, and O'Connell, 1998). This report will now discuss the concept of metastereotype and how it might lead to IGA in a sales encounter. Firstly, the term metastereotype will be defined. Then, th e concept of salesperson metastereotype will be discussed in the selling context. Followed by the importance of understanding how salesperson metastereotype might lead to IGA. 2.2 Metastereotype The term Metastereotype refers to a person s belief regarding the stereotype that o utgroup members hold about his or her own group (Vorauer, Main, and O'Connell, 1998 , p. 917). A metastereotype is activated while interacting with members of a dissi milar group (Sheldon and Johnson, 1993). As a result, people who endorse metastereotyp es in an encounter with out-groups, have thoughts about how I think you think about us (Anseel, 2011). Due to their direct self-relevance, metastereotypes might be som etimes more important in an intergroup interaction than stereotypes about the out-group (Vorauer, Main, and O'Connell, 1998). Under those circumstances, people might no t only be interested to perceive and evaluate others but also speculate how others view them (King et al., 2008). With respect to peoples concern regarding how others vi ew them, it is quite constrained and self-biased. This is because it is often socia lly awkward to ask or receive explicit interpersonal evaluations from others about oneself, so individuals rely on their own instincts (Blumberg, 1972). For example, Kamans et al. ! 13!

(2009) conducted a study on Moroccan teenagers living in the Netherlands who wer e asked about their metastereotypes towards the Dutch majority. The findings showe d Moroccans expected that the Dutch majority would characterise them as extreme vi olent Muslims. It is interesting to note that Moroccans metastereotype turned out to be negatively biased from the actual belief of Dutch participants. Furthermore, metastereotypes vary from self-stereotypes as they involve a relational factor ( Anseel, 2011). For instance, French have a metastereotype of Americans, which does not necessarily match the metastereotype French have of Belgians or the stereotype F rench have of themselves. Alternatively, a metastereotype can be positive or negative (Anseel, 2011). For example, an individual might think an out-group has a positive stereo type towards the in-group. Yet, most researchers have studied the negative metastereo types as these have been found to have detrimental impact on intergroup interactions (Fre y and Tropp, 2006; Vorauer, Main, and O'Connell, 1998). Social psychology has paid att ention to metastereotypes within intergroup interactions, by studying the antecedents a nd consequences of stigmatisation (Crocker and Major, 1989; Crocker, 1999; Major an d O Brien, 2005). Stigmatisation relates to group members perception of feeling deval ued in the eyes of others due to negative stereotypes of their identity. In contrast to research on stigmatisation, however, my aim in the present dissertation is to focus on po sitive metastereotype along with negative metastereotype. One of the popular studies on the topic of metastereotypes includes the study of Blacks metastereotypes of White, which examined Blacks perception of what stereotype Whites hold towards Blacks (Sigelman and Tuch, 1997). This study explored the negative images of Blacks that were endorsed by Whites. But more interestingly, the Blacks metastereotype was highly negative, whereas the actual stereotype Whites held towards them was less negative. In addition, this proved to shape the attitude a nd ! 14!

behaviour of Blacks towards the Whites. Nonetheless, Blacks metastereotype turne d out to be largely congruent with Whites actual views about them. Moreover, Sigelman and Tuch (1997) proved the importance of having an accuracy of metastereotype and it s important consequences to acknowledge the actual views of out-group members. If this is related to a sales context, it can be assumed that salespeople form a higher negative image about themselves than customers might actually hold. Thus, this highlights the importance of looking at the metastereotype in a sales context, which will help us to find out if salesperson metastereotypes are largely negative as shown by studies cond ucted on social, ethnic, and racial groups or there are also positive metastereotypes tha t exists. Besides, the effects this could have on salesperson s feelings while interacting w ith the customer is of utmost importance, as it might include some negative effects such as anxiety (Vorauer, Main, and O'Connell, 1998). A study on age-based metastereotype at work explored the metastereotype with act ual stereotype between old workers and younger workers (Finkelstein, Ryan and King, 2012). The findings of the research showed that the metastereotype held by both, old workers and younger workers towards each other was more negative compared to the actual stereotype held by each group workers towards the other group workers. Furthermore, young age workers looked at old workers more positively, than the o ld workers expected. Old workers were over negative in their views of what young pe ople thought about them, which was not put forth by young workers. In fact young work ers highlighted old workers to be more positive possessing characteristics such as responsible, mature and hard working. However, the implications of these finding s outlined, that these misconceptions that exist between the different age groups could lead to problems during cross-age interactions at work. Furthermore, when these negat ive metastereotypes are triggered at work, an employee might react to these preconce ived ! 15!

misconceptions by taking inappropriate judgments and behaviours towards out-grou p members and possibly even reacting negatively to their own group members. To illustrate this in a selling context, where negative salesperson metastereotype can impact to the inaccurate judgment and behaviour of the salesperson towards the customer . Thus, this study will look at exploring the impact of negative metastereotype on the b ehaviour of salesperson and customer in a selling environment. Previous research has reported that having metastereotypes during an interaction can have important effects on an individual s attitude and behaviour (Anseel, 2011). F irst, if a group of people believe that someone holds a negative stereotype towards them, their interaction with that person will become emotionally affected and they will feel highly negative about the interaction (Anseel, 2011). For instance, Vorauer et al. (200 0) conducted a series of experiments investigating the effects of metastereotyping. In these experiments White Canadians believed that Aborignals held a highly negative imag e of them due to their belongingness to a different racial group. As a result, White Canadians associated their negative beliefs with lower expectation of joy and higher negat ive emotions during interactions with out-group members. Although stereotyping and prejudicing is known to be a characteristic of the dom inant group yet several studies have shown that negative attitudes held by the subordi nate group towards the dominant group members can also lead to an unpleasant interact ion (Richeson and Shelton, 2007; Shelton, Richeson and Salvatore, 2005). This negati ve attitude can be produced when the subordinate group might hold a negative metastereotype of the dominant out-group. To illustrate this from a selling cont ext a salespeople s negative metastereotype of customers can activate negative attitudes and feelings towards customers. This could lead to an unpleasant interaction or even ! 16!

avoidance of customers due to the negative feeling associated, thus affecting th e customer s purchase experience (Lee and Dubinsky, 2003). Moreover, if a group of people endorse metastereotypes, it will affect their beh aviour according to the stereotypes they believe that the out-group have of them. For i nstance, Kamans et al. (2009) discovered that Moroccan teenagers who had a negative feeli ng towards Dutch people and thought that they were being negatively stereotyped by Dutch, expressed attitudes according to their negative metastereotype. That is to say, they acted in accordance to their negative image held by out-group by conforming to violenc e and Muslim extremism. Therefore, being a victim of negative stereotype might lead on e to accept the existing stereotype and this proves to be detrimental to oneself and the stereotyped group. Another study discussed that identifying a constant prejudice against one s group will amplify the antagonism towards the out-group (Branscombe, Schmitt and Harvey, 19 99). In accordance with the social identity theory, acceptance of prejudice hostile t o one s group makes intergroup differences obvious (Brewer and Miller, 1984; Tajfel and Turner, 2004; Wilder and Shapiro, 1991). For instance, a study showed that Afric an Americans experienced repeated rejections from others over a period of time, whi ch resulted in increased hostility towards Whites in every interaction (Branscombe, Schmitt and Harvey, 1999). Furthermore, when prejudice is experienced with a couple of o utgroup members during various situations, it is most likely that in-group members will generalise the hostility over the out-group members as a whole (Branscombe, Schm itt and Harvey, 1999). For instance, when salespeople face negative stereotyping fro m a few customers, it is most likely that they will generalise this negative stereotype to all customers. As a result of this negative stereotype, salespeople are less likely to engage in ! 17!

a sales encounter with the customer (Finkelstein, Ryan and King, 2012). This mig ht in turn elevate the intergroup differences between the buyer-seller relationships. A study by Cook, Arrow and Malle (2011) between African Americans and gay and lesbian reported the nonstigmatised group experienced the feeling of being stereot yped along with the stigmatised group. Interestingly, the gay and lesbian participant s belonging to nonstigmatised group reported being more sensitive to the inhibitor y effects of feeling stereotyped compared to the African Americans who belonged to the stigmatized group. Taking this view further to the selling context where retail salespeople belong to the nonstigmatised group might experience the feeling of being stereot yped due to the negative image that customers have towards salespeople. The importance and motivation of studying salesperson metastereotype was develop ed from the recent work of Mikolon, Lee and Kriener (2012). As discussed earlier, M ikolon, Lee and Kriener s study focused how salesperson stereotype affected performance. I n contrast, it is equally important to understand how salesperson metastereotype c an affect performance. This is to say, the importance of understanding the salesperson s per ception of what customers think about them is equally important compared to the actual t houghts customers have towards a salesperson. As discussed earlier, a stereotype held by the ingroup towards the out-group (it may just be an acknowledgment and does not neces sarily need to be endorsed) can influence the treatment that in-group member gives to t he outgroup member. Similarly a metastereotype held by in-group towards out-group influences the treatment that in-group members expect from the out-group members and accordingly manages their attitudes and behaviour in response to those expectati ons. When individuals have a higher expectation of being targeted with prejudice and rejection, they are more likely to have a negative experience in an intergroup i nteraction (Shelton, Richeson and Salvatore, 2005). These expectations affect behaviour dur ing an ! 18!

interaction (Butz and Plant, 2006). Besides, feelings of attachment are affected in institutions that are influenced by the dominant group (Mendoza-Denton et al., 2 002; Mendoza-Denton, Pietrzak, and Downey, 2008). For example, a retail environment applies the trade policy customer is always right , which shows the customer s domina nt position. This might make the salesperson conscious of being stereotyped by the customer. Once such a metastereotype is activated, the salesperson might have ne gative expectations from the customer. Such expectations might affect the salesperson s behaviour in an interaction with the customer (Butz and Plant, 2006). The report will now discuss how a metastereotype could lead to IGA. 2.2.1 Metastereotype and IGA Studies have made it evident that anticipating prejudice by out-group members ca n stimulate anxiety (Branscombe, Schmitt and Harvey, 1999) and hinder performance (Steele and Aronson, 1995), particularly when the individual is suspicious of be ing regarded as incompetent (Leary and Kowalski, 1995). Having a feeling of being ex cluded from society has also been found to result in anxiety (Baumeister and Tice, 1990 ; Bowlby, 1973). Stone et al. (1999) examined the effects of negative stereotype, which led to IG A and distress between group members from majority and minority ethnic backgrounds. Furthermore, if this negative stereotype about the White athletes and Black athl etes was made salient while an athletic performance was taking place, the concern of bein g stereotyped would lead each group s athletic performance to deteriorate. Anxiety s tood out to be one of the mediators in the relationship between stereotype threat and athletic performance. The results supported Allport s (1954) finding, which stated that onc e targets become aware of being evaluated by the negative stereotype they experien ce ! 19!

excessive concern and anxiety about being negatively labeled and the treatment f aced due to negative characterisation. This concern of being negatively stereotyped overpowers ones intellect and capacity to perform compared to a situation where the negative stereotype is not made salient. Finchilescu s (2010) study on interracial interaction reported metastereotype play s a significant role in producing IGA. The experiment was replicated in three differ ent universities and between different race groups. During the experiment, participa nts communicated with other students who were either of the same race or of a differ ent race to them. The degree of negative metastereotype turned out to be the most importa nt predictor of the IGA. For instance, the more negative metastereotype held by par ticipants resulted in a higher IGA. Moreover, as expected the interrace interaction produc ed the highest IGA compared to the intrarace interaction there was no difference found in the level of anxiety experienced. Interrace interaction took place between students of different races, whereas intragroup interaction took place with students of same race. This effect of anxiety can also be experienced in a selling environment where a salesperson metastereotype can lead to anxiety during an intergroup interaction with the customer. Metastereotype has been identified to stimulate anxiety by a number of other studies (Frey and Tropp, 2006; Shelton, Richeson and Vorauer, 2006). However, th ese studies lacked real-time encounter situation to ensure if participants believed that they were interacting with real partners. It is worth noting that the present study w ill over come this concern, as the participants involved in this study will be actual sal espeople and customers in a selling environment. Nonetheless, the outcomes of previous st udies clearly identified metastereotype as an important aspect to influence IGA (Frey and Tropp, 2006; Shelton, Richeson and Vorauer, 2006). Therefore, concerns of how ou tgroup members view the in-group members is a real barrier to the intergroup inte gration, ! 20!

perhaps more than the negative opinions in-group members have about out-group members. As discussed, several researchers have concluded that metastereotype leads to IG A (Frey and Tropp, 2006; Shelton, Richeson and Vorauer, 2006; Finchilescu, 2010). Howeve r, there is not enough evidence to show that a negative salesperson metastereotype of a customer might result into IGA. This leaves a gap to examine how salesperson s neg ative metastereotype of a customer will affect IGA experienced by the salesperson. For instance, when the salesperson holds a negative metastereotype of customers this can arouse IGA during interaction (Klein and Azzi, 2001; van Leeuwen and Tauber, 201 2) and less positive experience with the customer (Vorauer, Main, and O'Connell, 19 98). Therefore the following hypothesis is proposedHypothesis 2a H2a-The more negative salesperson metastereotype of customer, the higher the IGA In contrast to literature on IGA it will also be interesting to examine how a po sitive metastereotype might affect IGA. However, the feeling of being stereotyped, alth ough positively, also bears some negativity (Sigelman and Tuch, 1997; Vorauer et al., 2000). This might be true for negatively prejudiced people as they associate negative i ntentions towards out-group. For that reason, it can only be expected that positively prej udiced people will assimilate to positive metastereotype. In the present study, it will be interesting to find out if salespeople consider themselves to be positively prej udiced by customer, which will assimilate to a positive metastereotype. However, this woul d be the case only if they feel positive about the customer, which would make them less p rone to consider being stereotyped as a provocation. ! 21!

Thus it was expected that if salespeople hold a positive metastereotype of custo mer this would reduce their IGA during a sales encounter. Therefore the following hypothe sis is proposedHypothesis 2b H2b- The more positive salesperson metastereotype of customer, the lower their I GA Numerous studies have expressed the importance of anxiety in intergroup interact ions (Greenberg et al., 1990; Greenberg et al., 1992; Gudykunst, 1993; 1995; Wilder, 1993; Wilder and Shapiro, 1989). Most of these studies found IGA to have negative consequences in intergroup context. This shows the importance of examining the e ffects of IGA in a selling context as it might also have negative consequences on a buy er seller relationship. Thus, this study will now focus on the consequences of IGA in a se lling environment. The following section will discuss how IGA might affect the relatio nship between the customer and the salesperson. The report will mainly focus on the behavioural consequences of IGA, which directly relates to sales performance. Th is will include effects of IGA on customer contact initiation with salesperson, customer purchase intentions, customer purchase value, customer loyalty and salesperson s c ontact initiation with customer. This discussion will first include a review of the literature to provide a detai led understanding on the consequences of IGA. Next, the effects of IGA on behaviour will be presented and related to the selling context. This will acknowledge the effec ts of IGA on the behaviour of customers followed by salespeople. As mentioned previously, this will mainly cover the negative outcomes of IGA as they have a direct impact on s ales performance. ! 22!

2.3 IGA consequences 2.3.1 Contact avoidance by customer As discussed, IGA is the result of negative expectations from an out-group durin g an interaction (Plant and Devine, 2003; Vorauer and Kumhyr, 2001; Vorauer, Main and O Connell, 1998). The importance of understanding IGA has become vital as it contributes to the success or failure of an intergroup contact (Stephan and Step han, 1985). During a task, anxiety is found to be the key factor that influences the decline in performance (Gur et al., 1988). Allport (1954) has identified avoidance as one o f the symptoms of prejudice. Prejudice refers any negative attitudes, beliefs and emotio ns towards the out-group members that make mixing with them undesirable. Individual s who find interactions anxiety provoking will wish to avoid contact with out-grou p members (Littleford, Wright and Sayoc-Parial, 2005; Plant and Butz, 2006; Riches on and Shelton, 2007). If we take this idea further to the selling context then this co uld mean negative stereotype towards salespeople might lead customers to avoid them. Plan t and Devine (2003) presented evidence from two studies supporting this idea. For inst ance, White people s negative outcome expectancies were positively associated with their interracial anxiety and their desire to avoid interaction with Black people. Besides, a higher IGA during an interaction would amplify an individual s normativ e response pattern. This was hypothesized in the drive theory by Hull (1951). Acco rding to the drive theory a person will have a stronger feeling to get into their normal behaviour when high level of anxiety is experienced during an intergroup interaction. This is because it makes the person feel at ease and they will instantly overcome the an xiety situation. Furthermore, since anxiety contributes to drive, the dominant respons es take over the situation. For instance, when high level of anxiety is experienced then a person s ! 23!

willingness and intensity to respond normally is also high. When the intensity t o behave normally dominates an intergroup interaction, then one will want to behave norma lly to overcome IGA. Thus, a person finds avoidance as a habitual or normal response to IGA where one is most likely to avoid the intergroup interaction. Stephan and Stephan (1985) presented a model that traced the behavioral conseque nces of IGA. The present study will discuss these from a selling context, addressing the likely effects of IGA on customer and salesperson s behaviour. Stephan and Stephan (1985) described avoidance as one of the consequences of IGA. A person s more frequent response to anxiety is to avoid the contact with out-group members, as it helps to manage anxiety (Pancer et al., 1979). If avoidance is not possible then one will often try to end the interaction as soon as possible (Gudykunst and Nashida, 2001). For example, there is likelihood that the nonstigmatised members will think that an interaction with t he stigmatised will lead to their contamination with the stigma (Goffman, 1963). Fo r this reason, the members of the nonstigmatized groups exhibit avoidance towards the stigmatized groups. Besides, it is also observed that some societies have explic it norms of avoidance to overcome anxiety. One such case is with the Hindus culture, where contact between the high caste individuals and the low cast untouchables are avo ided (Goffman, 1963). On the other hand, comparing group relations shared among the handicapped and non-handicapped or mental patients and normals reflect a more implicit norm of avoidance. Plant, Butz and Tartakovsky (2008) conducted a study on interethnic interactions between Hispanic and non-Hispanic White people. The findings revealed participan ts who had negative expectations about the out-group members reported more anxiety about interethnic interactions. More importantly, this IGA was associated with n egative behavioural intentions such as avoidance of interethnic interactions. Anxiety tu rned out ! 24!

to be the key predictor of avoidance for the Hispanic participants. However, it is interesting to note that Plant, Butz and Tartakovsky (2008) had examined respons es from Hispanic and non-Hispanic White people based on their previous or anticipated interethnic interactions. Therefore, the authors of this study recommended futur e studies should focus on current intergroup interaction rather than previous intergroup interactions to have more accurate results. However, in order to have more accur ate results, the present study will focus on current intergroup interactions between salespeople and customers in the selling environment. The importance of studying avoidance as a consequence of IGA is inspired by the wo rk of Mikolon, Lee, Kriener (2012). The study found customer avoidance could take p lace in different forms, all of which would lead to poor sales performance. Mikolon, Lee, Kriener (2012) hypothesised that when higher levels of IGA is experienced by non stigmatised customers, it leads to lower performance in the short and long run f or stigmatised salespeople. This means when customers (who belongs to the nonstigmatised group) are involved in an intergroup interaction with salespeople (w ho belongs to the stigmatised group) then customers are most likely to experience h igher level of IGA. The findings showed higher the level of IGA, the more likely it is that the customer will avoid contact with the salesperson. In these circumstances the cus tomer is less likely to have purchase intentions, which would affect sales and ultimately the salesperson s performance in the short run. Mikolon, Lee, Kriener (2012) used sale s to measure customer s lack of contact with the salesperson. For instance, when the customer avoided contact with the salesperson no sales were recorded, which refl ected on low sales performance. For this reason, lower customer contact will affect sa les performance negatively. The present study will be conducted in line with the Mik olon, ! 25!

Lee, Kriener (2012), where customer purchase intention is used to measure custom er s lack of contact with the salesperson. For instance, no purchase intentions would contribute to contact avoidance with the salesperson. However, it will also be i nteresting to examine if the purchase value spent by customer is also affect negatively due to the higher level of IGA experienced. This leads us to examine the effect of IGA on customer s purchase intention and va lue of purchase. Therefore the following hypothesis is proposedHypothesis 3 H3-Higher level of customer IGA is associated with lower probability of purchase Hypothesis 4 H4-Higher IGA is positively correlated with lower customer purchase value 2.3.2 Future contact avoidance by customer Most certainly, a negative expectation during an intergroup interaction intensif ies the desire to evade such contact in the future (Plant and Devine, 2003) For instance , Plant and Devine (2003) found that non-Blacks who reported high levels of anxiety in an upcoming interaction with Blacks were less likely to engage in a future interact ion with Blacks. Moreover, West, Shelton and Trail (2009) studied the consequences of anx iety in interracial interactions between college roommates. Students who experienced hig h level of anxiety with out-groups, were not interested in future contact with an out-gr oup partner. As mentioned earlier, Mikolon, Lee, Kriener (2012) found IGA also affec t sales performance in the long run. For instance, Mikolon, Lee, Kriener (2012) found th at customers who experienced higher IGA during a sales interaction were less likely to endeavor with future purchases. This showed customers lower future purchase ! 26!

intentions resulted in lower sales performance in the long run. The present stud y will examine the similar situation in line with the previous hypothesis where a highe r IGA experienced by customers might make the interaction unpleasant and lead the cust omer to withdraw from future purchases from the salesperson. Therefore the following hypothesis is proposedHypothesis 5 H5-Higher levels of IGA experienced by customers is associated with lower future purchase intentions Alongside, the study will also examine the future contact avoidance of the custo mer. For instance, after encountering a stereotypical salesperson a customer might experi ence IGA. In order to overcome IGA, the customer might avoid contact initiation with the salesperson in the future. Therefore the following hypothesis is proposedHypothesis 6 H6-Higher customer IGA is positively correlated with lower customer contact init iation 2.3.3 Contact avoidance by salesperson Furthermore, performance is not only affected by customers purchase behaviour but a salesperson s behaviour in a selling environment also plays a vital role in perfor mance outcomes (Lee and Dubinsky, 2003). Several studies have indicated that if people believe that others hold preconceptions about them that are negative or not in agreement with their self-concepts, their interaction with that person will be negatively affec ted (Vorauer, Main and O Connell, 1998). For example, Snyder and Wicklund s (1981) ! 27!

work on attribute ambiguity suggested that the feeling of being labeled negative ly creates an unpleasant experience. This is because it makes individuals lose their sense of control and hinder behaviour that they might exhibit otherwise. Previous studies have sh own that individuals concern of being negatively perceived by others lead to negative effe cts such as IGA followed by reduced interaction with the out-group (Brancsombe, Schmitt, and Harvey, 1999; Leary and Kowalski, 1995; Steele and Aronson, 1995). Other studies have shown negative metastereotype will activate the feeling of withdrawal from inter group contact (Stone et al., 1999). Several researchers supported this contention, sho wing group-based negative metastereotypes also leads to intergroup contact avoidance (Finchilescu, 2005; Sigelman and Tuch, 1997; Vorauer, Main and O Connell, 1998; Shelton and Richeson, 2005; 2006; Vorauer and Turpie, 2004). An interesting find ing was reported by Shelton and Richeson (2006) where group members indicated that th ey would have liked more interracial contact, but IGA acted as a barrier. Furthermo re, a person s intention to avoid contact can also be due to the lack of familiarly with the partner (Plant and Devine, 2003; Stephan and Stephan, 1985). In this situation individuals adopt a selective interaction approach, by seeking a partner who val idates their self-views and avoids the interactions where the partner is suspected to m isperceive them (Swann, 1987). Individuals who hold negative metastereotype may particularl y transform the affect of this into nonverbal behaviours such as avoidance and mor e defensive reactions during an interaction with the out-group members (Hebl and Dovidio, 2005, p. 170). Specifically in a selling dyad, anxiety experienced by t he salespeople might affect their behaviour leading to negative impact on performan ce. For instance, a negative salesperson metastereotype could initiate a vicious cycle o f false impression that could unreasonably distance the salesperson away from the custom ers. Gordon Allport (1954) conducted an experimental study in which he observed that being ! 28!

associated to a negative stereotype can be distressing and may lead one to react defensively. For instance, increased levels of anxiety due to stereotype threat contributed to athletic performance decrements (Stone et al., 1999). Particularly, increases in level of anxiety led to poor performance of Black participants in sports intelligence and reduced their participation in sports. In a selling environment the realisation of being negatively stereotyped can als o put the salesperson in a similar situation. For instance, as discussed earlier negative salesperson metastereotype might lead to higher level of anxiety. This anxiety is mainly due to the salespeople s belief that customer see them negatively. This feeling of anxiety ma kes salespeople fear the negative outcomes of the interaction whenever they get in c ontact with the customer (Stephan and Stephan, 1985). And it is most likely that salesp eople might not be interested to interact with someone who is a threat to their self-c oncept (Vorauer, Main and O Connell, 1998). As a result, salespeople might desire to avoi d contact with the customer when they find these interactions anxiety provoking an d emotionally disturbing (Littleford, Wright and Sayoc-Parial, 2005; Plant and But z, 2006; Richeson and Shelton, 2007). Therefore the following hypothesis is proposedHypothesis 7 H7-Higher salesperson IGA is positively correlated with lower salesperson contac t initiation All hypotheses discussed above can be summarised and visualised on a conceptual model presented in Appendix A. The methodology for this study is discussed in the next chapter. ! 29!

Chapter 3 Methodology This chapter is about the method used to conduct the research. Details of the re search design, methodology for data collection, questionnaire development, target popul ation and data analysis are explained in this section. 3.1 Research design The aim of this study was to examine the effects of salesperson stereotype and metastereotype in a retail sales environment. Thus, this study was divided into two stages, the first stage focused on examining the salesperson metastereotype and the second stage focused on the customer s stereotype of salesperson. In the first sta ge, salespeople where asked to fill in a questionnaire based on their sales experien ce with customers. They were asked about the negative metastereotype they held of custom ers and how it affected their feelings and behaviour during a sales encounter. In th e second stage, customers were asked to fill in a questionnaire based on their encounter with the salespeople. They were asked questions about the negative stereotype they have t owards salespeople and how it affected their feelings during the sales encounter with t he salesperson. The first goal was to identify if the beliefs of salespeople and cu stomers were highly negative. The second goal was to identify if these negative beliefs also affected their feelings and behaviour negatively. These variables were further a nalysed to see if their impact on performance also turned out to be negative. This was basi c research, which was general in nature and retail sales management can benefit fr om the results generated. Moreover, it was descriptive and correlational in nature, as it identified ! 30!

the variables that affected sales performance. Another reason for characterising this research as descriptive is because the profile respondents was developed and ana lysed by means of descriptive statistics. 3.2 Data collection method The research was based on primary data collection using an interactive method, w hich involved observing and questioning subjects in-person. This face-to-face method of data collection not only allowed for a true measurement of accuracy but also let the researcher obtain unspoken observations about the respondents while conducting the research (McDaniel and Gates, 2013). Furthermore, the respondents were asked brief closeended questions. Close-ended questions made coding simpler and reduced chances of erro rs while conducting the data analysis. Data was collected based on the sales encoun ter between salespeople and the customers in a retail-selling environment to test al l the hypotheses. The questionnaire was self-administered, where salespeople and customer responde nts filled in the questionnaire immediately. The survey responses were collected usi ng two methods. First, a pencil to paper method was used which then maintains a hard co py of responses. The second method involved using a touch screen tablet computer to in put responses in a soft copy. Hard copy refers to a paper used to record responses a nd soft copy refers to a digital document file used to record responses online. At the i nitial stage of data collection, responses were collected on hard paper copy where questionna ires were printed on A4 size sheets of paper and respondents were required to circle their responses with a pencil. At the later stage of the data collection, a tablet com puter was used to record customer responses. The Apple iPad tablet computer was used to ru n the ! 31!

survey using the Quicktapsurvey application, which was downloaded from the Apple App Store. This application was only used to collect responses from customers an d not from salespeople. The reason for this was because customers were interviewed in a mall intercept which was unplanned without any prior appointments, which required mor e effort to engage with them. Whereas, with salespeople the survey was planned whe re prior appointments were confirmed, which made data collection effortless with salespeople as they felt more committed towards participating in the survey. The iPad tablet app further made the data collection effortless, as customers were just r equired to click the touch screen to record their responses. Customers were also more willi ng to participate as the touch screen application was more engaging and fun to use com pared to a paper copy of the questionnaire. In both data collection methods the same sequ ence and question formats were used and the responses were collected right after its comp letion. At the start of the survey, respondents were assured of their anonymity and info rmed them that their responses shall be kept private and would be analysed at an aggr egate level only. Potential respondents completed the questionnaire during normal shopping hours. The data was collected from high-end clothing retail stores around Bull Ring shoppin g area in Birmingham, UK. The research was conducted in the UK because previous researcher s have identified the need to examine the effects of stereotypes in the U.K cultur e (Lee, Sandfield and Dhaliwal, 2007). This study was conducted in the clothing retail s tores to understand if the image of salespeople in the clothing industry is actually nega tive as mentioned by previous researchers (Sujan, Bettman and Sujan, 1986). In previous studies students were asked to read instructions and form an impress ion of the salesperson. In those studies, participants felt relatively less involved in the overall task because real salespeople and behavioural experiences were not encountered i n a ! 32!

face-to-face interaction (Babin, Boles and Darden, 1995). Therefore, the present study involves current encounter between salespeople and customers. It is also recomme nded by previous researchers to study current encounters as they have more accurate r esults compared to participants reliance on previous encounters, which might not come naturally in the mind of the participants (Frey and Tropp, 2006; Shelton, Riches on and Vorauer, 2006). 3.3 Questionnaire development Two versions of questionnaires were used. The first version of questionnaire was targeted to salespeople presented in Appendix B. The second version was prepared for the customers presented in Appendix C. In the first salesperson questionnaire, salespeople were required to answer questions about the metasteroetype they held towards customers and how those metastereotypes would influence their IGA during an encounter with the customer. In the second customer questionnaire, customers wer e asked about the stereotype they held towards salespeople and how it influenced t heir IGA. The two versions of the questionnaire were distributed randomly to salespeo ple but selectively to customers in two stages. For instance, the salespeople were appro ached randomly from different fashion stores. At first, the survey was conducted with a particular salesperson present in the store. Then, only those customers who enco untered the same salesperson were specifically selected to give responses. This resulted in responses that were free from ambiguity and was based on specific sales encounte rs between customers and salespeople. The questionnaires were developed using Likert style rating scale, where mutuall y exclusive rating scales were used. Negatively and positively worded items were i ncluded ! 33!

interchangeably to ensure that respondents read through each statement carefully and did not tick each answer in the same way. 3.3.1 Questionnaire coding Codes were assigned to the questionnaires and the data. For the questionnaire co ding, a unique code was assigned to each salesperson and customer questionnaire. This co ding was done for a number of reasons. First, it helped to track the questionnaires t hat were filled by respondents. Next, it assisted in entering the data into the spreadshe et and matching the actual physical questionnaire to the case entered in the spreadshee t. This way, if any mistakes in data entry were identified later on it was possible to g o back to the originals and correct the mistake (Lee and Lings, 2008). Finally, it helped to group responses received from the customers and salespeople who had an encounter with each other. This simply means that every salesperson was assigned a unique code that was marked on the questionnaire they filled. Similarly, every customer was assigned a unique code that was marked on the questionnaire they filled. In order to group the res ponses of customers with the salesperson, every customer questionnaire also included the c ode of the salesperson they encountered. Next for the data coding, the binary e.g. yes/no data was coded in 1 and 2 form while categorical or nominal data e.g. ethnicity was coded in 1,2,3,4 etc. using numbe rs that were arbitrary labels which could not be added or subtracted (Lee and Lings, 200 8). This process of coding data was done to one master questionnaire, which had the codes marked on it, which was referred while entering the data on spreadsheet. ! 34!

3.4 Pre-Testing of the draft questionnaire In order to identify any questionnaire design problems the following tests were done 3.4.1 Protocol interview a few personal interviews with potential respondents were conducted and their fe edback on the questionnaire was recorded. The questionnaire was then modified based on their experience (Lee and Lings, 2008). 3.4.2 Pilot study to see if things worked out well, a pilot study was conducted, which was a mini version of the full study (Lee and Lings, 2008). This was done by taking a small sample of the target population, i.e. Four salespeople and twenty customers were asked to fill the questionnaire. This was done so that any major ambiguity or flaw could be identi fied before the full study. Accordingly the modifications were made to the questionna ire. Once the pilot study worked well, the main study was carried out. 3.5 Target population and Sampling 3.5.1 Identifying target population and population frame Customers and salespeople were selected as the target population because they we re more likely to give an accurate response compared to other studies where student participants were selected (Lee et al., 2007; Lee, Sandfield and Dhaliwal, 2007) . The customer respondents were particularly those customers who had visited the cloth ing retail store and experienced a face-to-face encounter with the salesperson. Thes e customers included a mix of both genders and different age groups. On the other hand, ! 35!

the salesperson respondents included front line salespeople who were responsible for serving the customer face to face. The population frame for this research was the Bull Ring and Birmingham websites www.bullring.co.uk and www.visitbirmingham.com. These websites allowed us to search clothing retail stores located in the Bull Ring city centre. Thus, this p rovided the list of stores that were considered as the population. 3.5.2 Sampling The pattern of sampling was a non-probability convenience sample where responden ts were selected conveniently as per availability. The sample size for research inc luded 26 salespeople and 130 customers. The average ratio of salespeople to customers was approximately 1:5. For instance, when one salesperson was interviewed in a parti cular retail store then the next five customers who visited the same store and had an encounter with the same salesperson were asked to participate in the research. 3.5.3 The Process These salespeople and customers were surveyed in a mall intercept from different retail stores located on the New Street and Bull Ring shopping centre. Appointments wer e scheduled with retail store managers and the purpose of research was addressed t o them. They were informed that this study would be conducted on their salespeople and t he outcomes would help them to understand customer perceptions about their salespeo ple. Eventually, the feedback could be used to improve the service delivered by their salespeople. Once the store managers agreed to participate in the study, the vis its were scheduled. ! 36!

On the scheduled time the questionnaire was distributed first to the salesperson and collected immediately after completion. Next, the customers who had an encounter with the same salesperson were asked to fill in the questionnaire, which were also co llected immediately after completion. 3.6 Data analysis Once the data was collected, it was analysed using statistical tests. The statis tical analyses were carried out using the software package IBM SPSS Statistics , software version 22. It is commonly known as Statistical package for social sciences (Gri ffith, 2010). However, before starting with the analysis, the data was cleaned first th en further analyses were carried out as follows: 3.6.1 Data cleaning Cleaning the data means to explore the data for mistakes and errors, which can b e made while entering the data or by the respondents who filled the questionnaire (Lee and Lings, 2008). First, the data was reviewed for any missing data and then searche d for any mistakes in entry. This process of data cleaning was combined with descriptive a nalysis by producing a frequency table of each question. This helped to identify any rep etition of input and missing entries. 3.6.2 Descriptive analysis Descriptive analysis was carried out to have an assumption of data and to descri be the demographics of the respondents (Lee and Lings, 2008). This helped to develop a better understanding of the data and how it might behave while conducting later analysi s. It also helped to find out whether or not the data was normally distributed among t he sample population. ! 37!

For assumption of data Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to see if the distributi on of scores significantly differed from a normal distribution (Field, 2009). If the K -S test was significant p < .05, then this would mean the scores are significantly different from a normal distribution (Field, 2009). Whereas, non-significance p > .05 would prove , scores are approximately normally distributed. For demographics of respondents a descriptive analysis was conducted on the respondents characteristics. The demographic characteristics of salespeople and customer respondents included gender, age, ethnic origin, marital status, educat ion and annual household income. This analysis was carried out to have a clear view abou t the background of the respondents involved in this study. The demographics of respon dents were explained by descriptive statistics using percentage and frequency tools. 3.6.3 Validity analysis Validity means the study has measured what was actually intended to be measured (Field, 2009). Validity analysis is conducted to ensure the instrument is able t o measure what it was designed to measure (Field, 2009). In order to keep the measurement error to a minimum, the properties of the measure were defined to give confidence that it was doing its job properly. There are different methods to check validity of researc h. The present study used the following method to ensure validity: 3.6.3.1 Content validity-ensured whether important aspects of the study were cov ered (Lee and Lings, 2008). For instance, clear definitions of the construct and its components. This was addressed by doing a thorough review of literature availabl e on the topic of stereotype and metastereotype and their effects on performance. Con tent validity of research cannot be evaluated and examined numerically, it is judged by the author s subjectively (Field, 2009). Next, the questionnaire was submitted to the research ! 38!

supervisor for evaluation. Moreover, as mentioned earlier a pilot study was also conducted before initiating the main research. 3.6.4 Factor analysis Factor analysis was used to reduce a large data set from a group of interrelated variables to a smaller subset of measurement variables (Field, 2009). Then the factor scor es gave an individual score on the subset of measures, which makes the grouped variables easier to understand. Therefore, any further analysis was conducted on factor scores ra ther than the original data. As a result, this helped in the following (Field, 2009): a. To understand the structure of the set of variables, which helped to understa nd the patterns of the data set b. To validate the questionnaire c. To reduce the data set to a more manageable size while retaining as much of the original information as possible 3.6.5 Reliability analysis Reliability is the extent to which measurements will be repeatable given that di fferent people conduct the measurements at different time and settings (Field, 2009). It also lets us know whether the questionnaire was developed appropriately or not for doing t he analysis. Reliability analysis reports if any ambiguity was there, in order to k now if the questionnaire was distributed to appropriate respondents. This is usually captur ed by measuring the internal consistency of the items in the measure (Lee and Lings, 2 008). One of the most commonly used measures of internal consistency is Cronbach s coefficient alpha (DeVellis, 1999). It measures the variation within the item, a nd covariance between an individual item and another item on the scale. According t o Kline (1999), measures are considered to be reliable with a Cronbach s coefficient cut-o ff point ! 39!

of .7. He goes to say that values below even .7 can, realistically, be expected due to the diversity of the construct being measured. Hair et al. (1998) has also supported this view that in a study with a small sample size, low Cronbach scores such as 0.6 is acc eptable. Thus, considering the small sample size in the present study, Cronbach alpha sco res of .6 and greater was considered. 3.6.6 Binary data conversion The binary e.g. yes/no data responses for Salesperson initiation of contact with customer was averaged for each salesperson and then converted into percentage. Th is was done to calculate the average percentage of times each salesperson initiated contact with the customer encountered in store. A new variable was created with average number of times salesperson initiated of contact, which was used for further analysis. 3.6.7 Regression analysis Regression analysis is a way to predict values of outcome variable (also known a s dependable variable) from one or more predictor variables (also known as indepen dent variable) (Lee and Lings, 2008). A regression analysis was carried out on the da taset to enable us to predict values of a given outcome variable from values of one of mo re predictor variables (Field, 2009). The main analysis included an interpretation of the standardised Beta values (also known as b values) generally called regression co efficient to know how much the predictor variable would influence the outcome variable, in case the effects of all the other predictor variables were held constant. The signifi cance of Beta tells us if the predictor variable is doing the job to explain the dependen t variable. Regression analysis was used to test the following hypotheses: H1-The more negative the salesperson stereotype, the higher the customer IGA The aim was to get results supporting the negative salesperson stereotype which would ! 40!

lead to a higher IGA. To predict customer IGA experienced due to the typical salesperson stereotype held by the customer. Also, to examine how strongly this negative salesperson stereotype might influence the customer s IGA level in an encounter wi th the salesperson. H2a-The more negative salesperson metastereotype, the higher the IGA H2b- The more positive salesperson metastereotype, the lower their IGA To predict salesperson IGA, which is experienced due to their positive and negat ive metastereotype of customer, the study also examined how strongly these metastere otypes might influence the salesperson s IGA level during an encounter with a customer. T he aim was to get results supporting negative salesperson metastereotype which woul d lead to higher IGA, and positive salesperson metastereotype would lead to lower IGA. H4-Higher IGA is positively correlated with lower customer purchase value To predict the effect of customer IGA on customer s purchase value. The study also examined how strongly customer IGA might influence their purchase value. The aim was to get results supporting higher IGA experienced by customers which would lead t o lower customer purchase value. H5-Higher levels of IGA experienced by customer is associated with lower future purchase intentions To predict the effect of customer IGA on a customer s future purchase intentions t he study also examined how strongly this customer IGA might influence their future purchase decision. The aim was to get results supporting higher IGA experienced by ! 41!

customers which would lead to lower future purchase intentions 3.6.8 Independent-Samples T-Test The independent t-test compares two means when responses have come from two different groups of entities to see how they differ on key dependent variable (L ee and Lings, 2008). This means an independent variable that divides the overall sample into two groups is tested to see how it differs on a dependent variable. The test out put gives the Levene s Test of equality of variances, which tells us if variances are equal across both the groups. Next the t-value and its associated significance level will be interpreted, to determine whether the hypothesis is supported or not (Lee and Lings, 2008). Independent-Samples T-Test was used to test the following hypothesis: H3-Higher level of customer IGA is associated with lower probability of purchase To compare means of customer groups who made a purchase compared to those who di d not make a purchase. Next to see how their purchase decision differed on the lev el of IGA experienced with the salesperson encountered in the store. As a result, the study examines whether customers were less likely to make a purchase decision after experiencing higher IGA with the salesperson. The aim was to get results support ing higher IGA experienced by customers which would lead to lower probability of purchase. H6-Higher customer IGA is positively correlated with lower customer contact init iation To compare means of customer groups who initiated contact with the salesperson compared to those who did not initiate contact. Next to see how their contact in itiation differed on the level of IGA experienced with a typical salesperson. As a result , the study was able to examine whether customers were less likely to initiate contact with a salesperson after experiencing higher IGA with a typical salesperson. The aim wa s to get ! 42!

results supporting higher IGA experienced by customers which would lead to lower customer contact initiation. 3.6.9 Bivariate Correlation A bivariate correlation analysis gives the association between two variables (Le e and Lings, 2008) by examining the correlation between them. Variables are compared t o see if they relate with each other by looking at their covariance. In order to calcu late the standard covariance known as correlation coefficient, the Pearson correlation co efficient (also known as Pearson r) was used. Pearson r is a standardised form of the cova riance ranging between -1 and +1. A Pearson r +1 indicates a perfect positive associati on, and -1 indicates a perfect negative one. A value of 0 indicates no association betwe en variables in the sample. Pearson r is a standardised measure of an observed effe ct, it is commonly used to measure the size of an effect and that values of .1 represent a small effect, .3 is a medium effect and .5 is a large effect. However, the interpretatio n of correlation coefficient needs to be done cautiously as it does not indicate any direction of causality. This means we cannot say that one variable might cause the other (Fie ld, 2009), as there might either be a third-variable problem (i.e. other measured or unmeasured variables might affect the results) or direction of causality (i.e co rrelation coefficient does not say which variable causes the other to change). Next, the R was calculated, which is the correlation coefficient squared (known as the coefficie nt of determination) to measure the amount of variability in one variable that is shar ed or explained by the other variable (Field, 2009). The percentage of variability bet ween the two variables was calculated by converting the value of R into percentage (by multiplying by 100). ! 43!

The bivariate correlation was used to test the following hypothesis: H7-Higher salesperson IGA is positively correlated with lower salesperson contac t initiation To test the iation of contact. o variables exists. The the salesperson correlation between the salesperson IGA anxiety and salesperson s init To understand if a positive or a negative correlation between the tw aim was to get results supporting higher IGA anxiety experienced by which would lead to lower salesperson contact initiation.

3.7 Measurement 3.7.1 Stereotype in order to determine which traits of salespeople were most salient to typical s alesperson stereotypes, the study followed the method of Andersen and Klatzky (1987), which has been used in sales by Babin, Boles and Darden (1995). The customer respondents w ere given a questionnaire containing a list of most associated characteristics (MACs) of salespeople found by Lee, Sandfield and Dhaliwal (2007) specifically for the U.K . Firstly, customer respondents were asked to rate each characteristic on the degr ee to which it described a stereotype of a typical salesperson . Secondly, customer respondents were asked to rate the same MACs to the salesperson they had encount ered in the store. This was done by including seven MACs in the questionnaire, which were incorporated in the form of a statement such as the salesperson would have a push y approach . Respondents were then asked to give their agreement or disagreement for each statement on a 5-point Likert scale (Babin, Boles and Darden, 1995; Staffor d and Stafford, 2003; Lee, Sandfield and Dhaliwal, 2007). The responses ranged from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. The MACs were randomly ordered in state ments to avoid any bias responses (Lee, Sandfield and Dhaliwal (2007). ! 44!

3.7.2 Metastereotype Th