Prior research has suggested that variances in sales success may stem in part from differences in a firm’s sales capabilities, specifically, differences in certain cognition of individual salespeople. Investigation into salesperson cognition is not new, yet the theoretical perspectives adopted in the extant literature are limited and do not adequately highlight the importance of the cognition of individual salespeople. To fill these gaps in past studies, this research based on the salesperson recognition theory attempts to build a conceptual model and empirically verifies the critical role played by salesperson recognition in selling. Therefore, this study identifies salesperson recognition as a key construct in order to explore the relationships among social networks of salesperson, salesperson opportunity recognition, self-efficacy and salesperson performance. We collected the data via a mail survey of salespeople in the insurance, automobile, and real estate industries. Altogether, we obtained 200 responses, of which 120 were usable. This resulted in an effective response rate of 60%. Subsequently, we used structural equation modeling to analyze this data. The empirical analyses yield the following results. First, two salesperson social networks, namely “close friends and family members” and “professional forums”, have significantly positive effects on both self-efficacy and salesperson opportunity recognition. Second, salesperson opportunity recognition has a sig-nificantly positive effect on salesperson performance. Third, self-efficacy has a significantly positive effect on salesperson performance. The study closes with practical implications from the findings and suggestions for subsequent research.
