Asian Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 21, No. 2, 183–203, 2016 © Asian Academy of Management and Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2016 INFLUENCE OF SUPERVISORY CONTROL ON SALESPERSON PERFORMANCE: EXAMINING THE ROLE OF ADAPTIVE SELLING BEHAVIOUR AS A MEDIATOR Kok-Leong Wong * and Cheng-Ling Tan Graduate School of Business, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM Pulau Pinang, Malaysia * Corresponding author: klwong_pg@yahoo.com Published online: 30 December 2016 To cite this article: Wong, K. L., and Tan, C. L. (2016). Infuence of supervisory control on salesperson performance: Examining the role of adaptive selling behaviour as a mediator. Asian Academy of Management Journal, 21(2), 183–203. http://dx.doi.org/10.21315/ aamj2016.21.2.8 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.21315/ aamj2016.21.2.8 ABSTRACT Salespersons are the key marketing agent and they play a signifcant role in determining business successes of frms. In today's highly competitive business environment, frms are attempting to outperform each other. Product quality and performance are no longer the key diferentiating factor. The competitive edge of competing frms has shifted to the performance of the salespersons and the efectiveness of managing them. Nevertheless, achieving salesperson performance remains as one of the most challenging tasks of sales management today. This study aims to examine the efect of supervisory control on salesperson performance and the mediating role of salesperson's adaptive selling behaviour in the relationship between supervisory control and salesperson performance. Based on a sample of pharmaceutical salespersons in Malaysia, the results revealed that supervisory control of activity control has a signifcant positive relationship on salesperson performance, and adaptive selling behaviour signifcantly mediates the relationship between activity control and salesperson performance. Implications, limitations of the research and improvements for future studies were discussed. Keywords: salesperson, salesperson performance, supervisory control, adaptive selling behaviour