Ibadan Journal of the Social Sciences
Volume 12, No. 2, 2014
DOI: 10.36108/ijss/4102.21.0280
Sales Job Employees’ Personal Characteristics and Choice of Coping Styles
John O. Ekore
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Abstract
Purpose: The study assessed choice of coping styles among employees in sales job by considering the role of their personal characteristics. Design/methodology/approach: It was designed as a survey involving a sample size of 324. It comprised of 228 (69.1%) males and 96 (30.9%) females. Participants were purposively sampled. Findings: Four coping strategies emerged from data analysis: Tension reduction, Seeking professional support, Focusing on the positive, and Divert thinking. Assessment of participants’ propensity to choose each of these coping styles to ameliorate the effects of stress differed across gender; marital status, age and work experience. Females more than males chose each of the four strategies except focusing on the positive which showed no gender difference. On marital status, single employees preferred ‘Focusing on the positive’ while married workers used more of ‘Divert thinking ‘. ‘Seeking professional support’ was adopted more by experienced workers while new employees preferred ‘Focusing 011 the positive ‘. Older employees also preferred ‘Seeking professional support to ‘Focusing on the positive’ which was generally preferred by younger and single employees. It was concluded that choice of coping styles arc largely based on employees’ personal characteristics. Originality/value: This paper has added African perspective to the global literature on coping styles from sales job-related stress which has not been largely documented. Additionally, the outcomes has brought to the fore the need for policy action to address work-related stress for in sales job with due consideration of different characteristics or the workgroups.
Keywords: Assessment, Sales job employees, Coping styles