An Examination of Students' Perceptions of a Situationally Described Career in Personal Selling

The research reported here examines the perception of personal selling as a career choice by college students. The literature indicates that while college students generally believe that personal selling offers opportunities for promotion and higher earnings, it frequently is not a preferred career choice. This paper extends existing literature by situationally describing (albeit in vague terms) a personal selling job opportunity under consideration. Previous research has used a general statement about a career in sales without defining a “personal selling career,” i.e., a career in retail sales, non-retail sales, etc. A randomized block design is used to assign students to 1 of 5 possible selling situations. Previous results are confirmed when the sales position is not situationally defined, the students' perception of career in personal selling is statistically different by gender. However, contrary to previous research, the MANOVA did not in all situations reveal a significant difference between gender when the sales position is defined in broad terms. The results did confirm earlier research in that the students sampled did perceive personal selling as offering positive career opportunities but again students were not desirous of a career in sales. Implications for management are offered.