The Two Faces of Playfulness: A New Tool to Select Potentially Successful Sales Reps

The purpose of this research is to investigate the potential of an Adult Playfulness scale that would aid in the selection of potentially successful sales reps. In the first study, we verify the construct validity of the Adult Playfulness scale in a sales context. The results show that adult playfulness has two primary factors: fun-loving and frivolous. In the second study, we show that fun-loving has a positive effect on adaptive selling by creating a learning orientation, and that it also has a positive effect on job satisfaction by lowering stress. Frivolous, however, has a negative effect on sales performance.