Mental health among B2B salespeople: A morphological analysis

• Published in: Journal of business research 2025-02, Vol.188, p.115093, Article 115093
• Main Authors: Baliga, Ashwin J., Goel, Ashish, Fletcher-Chen, Chavi C.-Y., Guda, Sridhar, Kumar, Rajesh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: B2B sales; Mental health; Mitigation strategies; Morphological analysis; Stressors
• ISSN: 0148-2963
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.115093

•We integrate hitherto fragmented research in mental health in B2B sales.•We apply morphological analysis and propose an organizing framework with key variables.•We delineate the impact of contextual stressors on mental health in B2B sales.•We set out implications for practice among B2B salespeople and their managers.•We identify future research directions and applicable theories for exploration. The intensely competitive landscape of B2B selling makes it highly susceptible to mental health issues (MHI) among the salespersons. MHI has a cascading impact on salespersons’ well-being, and ultimately on organizations’ performance and hence needs to be addressed as a priority. Despite a large body of knowledge on MHI in B2B sales, there is a lack of an integrated framework that could structure this knowledge for academic and managerial pursuits. This review addresses this gap by using morphological analysis (MA) to develop a framework that provides a systematic, modular, tabular-visual representation of MHI literature in B2B sales. Drawing on this framework, we develop a conceptual model that delineates key variables and allows their logical mapping and combination. Collectively, the MA framework and the model serve as a useful toolkit for academics and practitioners. They help to cultivate a clearer understanding of the state-of-the-art on MHI in terms of causal factors, manifestations, boundary conditions, coping resources, mitigation strategies, and theoretical orientation. They also facilitate the development of novel, interesting, and complex research questions for further empirical testing. Addressing these questions will contribute to theory building in support of creating and/or refining managerial strategies and organizational policies to address MHI among B2B salespersons more effectively.