THE INTERACTIVE RELATIONSHIP OF INTERNAL SERVICE AND SUPERVISOR: POLITICAL SKILL WITH EMPLOYEE SALES BEHAVIORS

I investigated the joint relationships of supervisor political skill and the internal service quality provided to sales employees with employee team sales behaviors. Employing Conservation of Resources theory, I argue that the political skill of the supervisor provides motivational resources, and internal service provides capability resources to position employees to manifest effective sales behaviors. Further, I hypothesized that political skill moderates the relationship between internal service quality and team sales behaviors. Results of analyses conducted on data collected from 89 retail store employees and their respective supervisors revealed that: (a) employee perceptions of internal service quality were related to team sales behaviors; (b) supervisory political skill was unrelated to team sales behaviors; and (c) the relationship between internal service and team sales behaviors was stronger among workers with supervisors higher than lower in social skill.