Title: A parsimonious measure of the interpersonal orientation of salespeople

Authors: Subhra Chakrabarty; Robert E. Widing

Addresses: Eastern Oregon University, One University Boulevard, La Grande, Oregon 97850, USA ' Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA

Abstract: Salespeople in the pharmaceutical industry were surveyed to assess the degree to which they were high/low on interpersonal orientation (IO). Swap and Rubin's (1983) 29-item IO scale was used. Unfortunately, to date, no one has analysed the reliability and validity of the 29-item IO scale. This study corrects this deficiency and the results of a psychometric analysis revealed that a reduced version of the scale is reliable and valid. In using the scale, we were able to confirm that as salespeople's IO scores increased, they were more engaged in adaptive selling, which supports the scale's nomological validity. The reduced IO scale has a practical effect of having one-third fewer items, which should help reduce respondent fatigue and survey abandonment. We recommend that for future research, the reduced scale presented here is considered by researchers.

Keywords: interpersonal orientation; salespeople; reliability; validity.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2026.153529

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2026 Vol.38 No.4, pp.481 - 493

Received: 27 Oct 2021
Accepted: 01 Jul 2022
Published online: 13 May 2026 *

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