Salesperson Empathy Perception

What it measures

This scale captures how much a customer believes a salesperson genuinely tries to understand their perspective and consider multiple sides of an issue. Burchett, Murtha, and Kohli (2023) adapted the measure from a broader empathy instrument to assess perspective-taking during salesperson interactions.

Response format

5-point Likert scale (strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5))

Scale items

• tries to look at everybody's side of a disagreement before making a decision.
• usually tries to "put him/herself in other people's shoes" when upset at them.
• believes there are two sides to every question and tries to look at both sides.

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

Usage notes & scoring

The scale was reliable (α = .89; Burchett, Murtha, and Kohli 2023, Web Appendix p. 14) among 270 U.S. participants. A confirmatory factor analysis supported the scale's unidimensionality and discriminant validity (AVE = .73). The items were adapted, with some rewording, from McBane's (1995) multidimensional empathy measure. The blank can be filled with other role labels beyond salesperson (e.g., spouse, manager, politician).

Citation

Burchett, Molly R., Brian Murtha, and Ajay K. Kohli (2023), "Secondary Selling: Beyond the Salesperson-Customer Dyad," Journal of Marketing, 87 (4), 575-600.

Keywords

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• B2B Relational Orientation Scale2023 · 30 items
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