Tourism Analysis, Vol. 10, pp. 79–84, 2005 1083-5423/05 $20.00 + .00 Printed in the USA. All rights reserved. Copyright  2005 Cognizant Comm. Corp. www.cognizantcommunication.com RESEARCH NOTE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MACHIAVELLIANISM AND SALES PERFORMANCE JOHN C. CROTTS,* ABDUL AZIZ,* and RANDALL S. UPCHURCH† *School of Business and Economics, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29424-001, USA †Rosen School of Hospitality Management, Orlando, FL 32819-1450, USA This study explored timeshare sales executive characteristics as measured by a relatively well- known personality profile among social psychologists, the Machiavellian Scale. The researchers administered a Machiavellian (Mach-B) Scale to the entire sales force of a US resort timeshare company for the purposes of testing the relationship of sales executives Mach scores with individ- ual sales performance measures. The results of the study failed to support the hypothesis that time- share salespeople with a Machiavellian orientation are likely to be more successful. In this tightly structured sales environment, sales representatives with lower scores on the Mach scale outper- formed those with higher scores. Key words: Timeshare; Machiavellianism; Sales success; Organizational performance Introduction the purchase of a timeshare is classified as a high- involvement decision-making process that requires external information search and comparative shop- In today’s competitive timeshare environment it takes considerable sales savvy for the timeshare ping on the consumer’s part. In a nutshell, this means that the timeshare sales executive has to be developer to successfully promote their timeshare products. In this pivotal role, the sales executive’s very persuasive given the limited amount of face- to-face time that is allotted. task is to create a level of awareness, interest, de- sire, and ultimately consumption on the part of the Therefore, gaining an understanding of the char- acteristics that make a sales executive successful is prospect. In practical terms, this means that the sales executive has to uncover each and every very important to developer success and to resul- tant consumer loyalty. Once these characteristics prospect’s dominant buying motive within a 90- minute to a 4-hour presentation and make a sale. are uncovered, it is logical to assume that the timeshare developer will reap enhanced financial This is an amazing fact once you understand that Address correspondence to John C. Crotts, Ph.D, Professor of Hospitality and Tourism Management, School of Business and Econom- ics, 66 George Street, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29424-001, USA. Tel: (843) 953-6916; E-mail: crottsj@cofc.edu 79