Salesperson Causal Attribution Scale – Successful Sales Call

What it measures

Measures five types of causal attributions a salesperson makes following a successful sales call (one in which a sale was closed). Subdimensions: Effort (internal/unstable/controllable), Ability (internal/stable/controllable), Task Difficulty (external/stable/uncontrollable), Strategy (internal/unstable/controllable), and Luck (external/unstable/uncontrollable). Each subdimension comprises 3 items on a 6-point forced-choice Likert scale.

Response format

Likert

Scale items

• EFFORT ATTRIBUTION (α=.83):
• I put forth the effort needed to make this sale.
• I worked hard and it paid off.
• I put in the necessary time to make this sale.
• ABILITY ATTRIBUTION (α=.89):
• I have the necessary skills.
• I have the knowledge and skills required to be successful.
• My sales abilities led to my success.
• TASK DIFFICULTY ATTRIBUTION (α=.89):
• Most sales reps find this type of sales call to be pretty easy.
• This type of sales call is relatively easy for just about everyone.
• Most reps find this type of sale easy to close.
• STRATEGY ATTRIBUTION (α=.88):
• I picked the right strategy for this type of client.
• My sales strategy was right for this client.
• I used the right strategy for this type of situation.
• LUCK ATTRIBUTION (α=.93):
• As luck would have it, the sale just happened.
• It just worked out by chance.
• It was just good luck.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Subdimension alphas and CRs: Effort α=.83 (CR=.86, AVE=.68); Ability α=.89 (CR=.92, AVE=.78); Task α=.89 (CR=.81, AVE=.58); Strategy α=.88 (CR=.83, AVE=.67); Luck α=.93 (CR=.91, AVE=.78). 6-point forced-choice Likert (1='strongly disagree', 6='strongly agree'). Developed following Churchill (1979) procedures. Validated on 228 field financial services sales representatives. All items purified to 3 per subscale via CFA. Companion failure-context scale: SCAS-F (ID 1817). Grounded in Teas and McElroy's (1986) attributional framework.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Dixon, A.L., Spiro, R.L. & Jamil, M. (2001). Successful and unsuccessful sales calls: Measuring salesperson attributions and behavioral intentions. Journal of Marketing, 65(3), 64–78.

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