Antecedents and consequences pattern of positive and negative behaviors in sales

EXTENDED ABSTRACT
 
Introduction
One of the new topics that have attracted the attention of researchers in recent years is deviance behaviors of marketing. The sale is a job that is prone to deviant behavior. Despite the growing evidence of increasing deviant behaviors in the sales department and among salespeople, little attention has been paid to deviant behaviors in the sales department by researchers. The purpose of this research is to design and explain the model of negative and positive deviant behaviors in sales through a qualitative approach. In fact, the objectives of the current research can be summarized in the following cases:

What are the dimensions and components of deviant behaviors (negative and positive) in the sales department of food companies?
What are the antecedents and factors affecting deviant behaviors (negative and positive) in the sales department of food companies?
What are the solutions for implementing deviant behaviors (negative and positive) in the sales department of food companies?
What are the consequences of deviant behaviors (negative and positive) in the sales department of food companies?

 
Methodology
Based on this, the present research is developmental-applicative in terms of purpose and exploratory in terms of approach. The data collection method of the present research is a semi-structured in-depth interview. The use of in-depth semi-structured interviews leads to a process to identify the indicators of measuring the variables and the structure of the conceptual model of the research. The interview protocol includes open questions that allow the interviewer to assess and clarify the topics during the interview. On the other hand, the interviewees can answer the questions completely freely. The statistical population of the research in the qualitative part includes two sections: The statistical population of the research includes two sections: 1) activists of food companies (marketing managers, sales managers, export managers, researchers with experience in related fields (academic and non-academic), and other experts in the desired field), and 2) university professors (having scientific, research and experimental records in the field of food industry and related to the subject) who were interviewed through purposeful (judgmental) sampling until reaching theoretical saturation with 25 of them.
 
 Result and discussion
Using the foundational data theory method (grounded theory) and through in-depth semi-structured interviews, the conceptual models of the research (chain models in two negative and positive dimensions including antecedents, behaviors, strategies and consequences) were designed and explained. The results of the research showed that the field of sales in the food industry is prone to negative and positive deviant behaviors. The antecedents of negative deviant behaviors include: marketing policies, job factors, specialized factors, communication factors, environmental factors, and individual factors. Negative deviant behaviors include: deviation in sales services, behavioral deviation in sales, ethical deviation in sales, and informational deviation in sales. Strategies of negative deviant behaviors include: forced sales or conditional sales, underselling physical and online, overselling physical and online, discrimination (between customers), fraud, and special sales. The consequences of negative deviant behaviors include: destruction of competitive performance, destruction of customer performance, destruction of customer trust, destruction of the market, and destruction of corporate reputation. Antecedents of positive deviant behaviors include: customer dynamics, competitive dynamics, organizational dynamics, individual dynamics, and environmental dynamics. Positive deviance behaviors include: social responsibility of sales, and citizenship behaviors of sellers. Strategies of positive deviant behaviors include: ethical selling, responsible selling, and charitable selling. The consequences of positive deviant behaviors include: citizen well-being, strengthening competitive performance, strengthening customer performance, and customer trust.
 
Conclusion
Deviant behaviors in organizations and the sales sector are increasing, and it entails many costs for organizations, employees, customers and society. This article provides a comprehensive insight and understanding on deviant behaviors of marketing and sales section in the food industry by presenting models of deviant behaviors in the sales sector in two dimensions of negative and positive. One of the neglected aspects in previous researches is the examination of positive deviant behaviors in the field of sales. One of the positive deviant behaviors whose presence (or absence) in today's competitive environment can play an important role in the success (or failure) of companies is creativity and innovation. Positive deviant behaviors such as creativity and innovation in sales can be a winning card for companies in the market. The current competitive situation requires employees with positive and constructive deviant behaviors who can continuously provide constructive ideas and have an innovative and entrepreneurial look at the issues around them and exploit opportunities in the best possible way. Despite the potential impact of creativity on organizational outcomes, salesperson creativity is understudied in the sales literature and requires further research. In this context, the current research can be a suitable starting point for a more detailed examination of positive deviant behaviors in the field of sales. In general, the results show that negative and positive deviant behaviors are very widespread and appear in different areas. Among the different departments of the organization, the sales department is one of the most prone areas for the occurrence of negative and positive deviant behaviors and has many deviant behaviors.