Gender and Similarity: Match or Mismatch—When Is B2B Sales Performance Better?

Abstract

Organizational buying behavior has generally been considered a complex, systematic, and rational behavior, which is not influenced by subjective criteria (Webster and Wind 1972; Sheth 1973). However, more recent research has shown that organizational buying behavior may also be influenced by personal factors (Anderson and Chambers 1985; Ronchetto et al. 1989). Although the decision itself serves organizational goals and may be bound with rational processes, the decision makers are human beings. Therefore, major characteristics of the decision makers or the appraisals they have about their environment in the business to business (B2B) contexts may have a bearing on the decision-making process and the performance of the transactions.