POSTGRADUATE PROGRAMMES

(Incorporating BBus (Hons), PGDip Bus, PGCert Bus, MBus & MPBS)

CONTEMPORARY THEORIES AND

MODELS OF PERSONAL SELLING

Code: 489011

Level: 9

Points: 30

Prerequisites: None

Co-requisites: None

Student Learning Time: 300 hours, including 36 hours of class contact and 264 hours of
independent study over 12 weeks.

Prescriptor: Develops critical conceptual capabilities in the area of personal

selling and an appreciation of the issues involved in applying
published research outcomes to real life selling situations.

Paper Aims: This paper is structured around the theoretical streams in sales and
their application to personal selling. As an exploration into the
development of different theoretical streams, sessions focus on
published theoretical and empirical work that advances or concludes
a research stream. The paper provides an opportunity to critique both
contemporary and traditional models of personal selling.

By the end of the paper, participants will have attained a sufficient

grasp of theories and models to pursue independent advanced study
and, hopefully, contribute original research results to the discipline of
personal selling.

Learning Outcomes: At the end of this paper students will be able to:
1. Critically analyse the major research streams in field of sales
and selling behaviour.
2. Integrate a relationship marketing perspective with that of
personal selling.
3. Develop conceptual models in the area of personal selling.
4. Evaluate and critique the published theories and models
related to selling behaviour in terms of their contribution to
knowledge and applicability in real life situations,
5. Develop ideas for graduate research projects, thesis and
dissertations in the area of sales.

489011 Contemporary Theories and Models of Personal Selling.doc 1

Paper Content:
Suggested Learning and
Teaching Strategies:
Method of Assessment:
489011 Contemporary Theories and Models of Personal Selling.doc
Session Topic Week
Introduction to Sales and Personal
1 1
Selling
Traditional Theories and Models of
2 2-3
Personal Selling
Contemporary Theories and
3 4-5
Models of Personal Selling
Gaining Advantage Through
4 6
Technology in Selling
Selling Behaviours in the Context
5 of Buyer Seller Relationship 7-8
Development
Customer-oriented Selling
6 9
Behaviours
7 Adaptive Selling Behaviours 10
Consequence of various Selling
8 11
Behaviours
9 Research Paper Presentations 12
Each session is structured as a seminar. Each student will be
expected to have read and critically analysed all the readings
assigned for the session. In addition to having prepared the readings
and other required materials for the session, each student will be
expected to participate actively in the class session by discussing the
topics being explored. In some sessions, a series of questions might
be used to guide the discussion, in other sessions; students might be
asked to prepare an article critique or a presentation on one of the
many topics that we will cover. The latter statement reflects one of
the key intents of the course – learning the skills and acquiring the
knowledge required to be a scholar in the field of personal selling.
To that end, a strong emphasis will be placed upon the integration of
your own thoughts and ideas within the context of existing thought in
the various research streams that will be explored during the course
of the paper.
Assessment Approach and Weighing:
 Class Participation & Contribution 20%
 Critical Review of Literature 30%
 Research Paper 50%
Class Participation & Contribution
This paper is a seminar-based. This means participants are
primarily responsible for discussing the readings. The class
participation grade is an attempt to account for each
student’s contribution to the class. Assessment of
participant’s performance in the class will be based on the
write-ups they will do for each class, and their active
involvement in the class discussions. Class participation
grade will be assigned depending on the accuracy of the
information provided by the student in class discussion,
whether contributions are well-supported, whether they are
timely and add to our understanding of the issues under
discussion, and whether they are novel (as opposed to
rehashing facts or an earlier discussion).
In addition to the preparation of each reading for each class,
each participant will be required to prepare a 1-2 page
(single-space) summary of one or two readings per class
2
 (from the list of weekly readings). I will assign the readings in
the first class. When preparing the article summaries,
students will consider the following items, which are part of
the required format for the article summaries.

• Title of Reading: complete citation

• Summarised by: your name
• Purpose of Reading: This section should describe
how this reading fits in a broader stream of research, why
was it written, what were its objectives, etc. All of these
relate to the contribution this reading makes to the field of
personal selling.
• Theoretical Argument: This section should
summarise the theoretical arguments of the reading,
including its assumptions, propositions or hypotheses and so
forth.
• Results, Conclusion and Integration: This section
should summarise any empirical results, any theoretical
conclusions, the implications of the findings, and the fit of the
article with others in the same week or in other weeks.

Critical Review of Literature

Participants will be given a set of theories to critically

analyze, propose, integrate, and suggest ways to augment
the extant literature. Students are required to write a "state of
the art" critical review of the literature on a "new" topic.
Sources of ideas for "new" topics could be the MSI’s current
research priorities, recent research papers and conference
papers. The purpose of review is to develop the ability to
critically evaluate research, integrate knowledge of different
research issues, identify the gaps, identify the new problem
to research and to build rationale for new research.

Research Paper

Participants are required to submit a research paper for the

final assessment. This paper will be between 6,500 and
8,000 words in length. They have a choice of submitting a
theoretical (conceptual) paper or a research proposal for an
empirical study. The purpose of the written research paper is
to give participants an opportunity to develop their research
skills.

Suggested Resources: This paper requires tremendous amount of reading. Contemporary

and traditional articles for reading will be primarily drawn from the
following journals:
 Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management
 Journal of Marketing
 Journal of Academy of Marketing Science
 Industrial Marketing Management
 Journal of Business to Business Marketing
 Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing
 Journal of Business Research
 Journal of Retailing

Complete details of the readings for each topic / session will be

provided in the study guide.

489011 Contemporary Theories and Models of Personal Selling.doc 3