Skip to main content

Sales Professionalism – A Practice Theory Study

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Advances in Human Factors, Business Management and Leadership (AHFE 2021)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ((LNNS,volume 267))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 1150 Accesses

Abstract

The article introduces and applies the concepts of Pierre Bourdieu to study the professional habitus of sales professionals and its relation to the field of sales, doxa of sales and the logic of practice. Article discusses these concepts and proposes a research design to study the combination of the theoretical concepts with a practical approach. Further research is needed to gain new insights on sales professionalism and to help to improve the sales performance and to illustrate why experienced and successful sales professionals for example “just know” the right time to close the deal with the right proposal.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 219.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 279.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Korpela, P.: Towards a contextual understanding of B2B salespeople’s selling competencies–an exploratory study among purchasing decision-makers of internationally-oriented technology firms (2015). ISBN 978-952-249-450-3

    Google Scholar 

  2. Bourdieu, P., Siimes, M.: Järjen käytännöllisyys: toiminnan teorian lähtökohtia. Vastapaino (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Nairz-Wirth, E., Feldmann, K.: Teacher professionalism in a double field structure. Br. J. Sociol. Educ. 40(6), 795–808 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Harrington, B.: Habitus and the labor of representation among elite professionals. J. Prof. Organ. 4(3), 282–301 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Spence, C., Carter, C.: An exploration of the professional habitus in the Big 4 accounting firms. Work Employ Soc. 28(6), 946–962 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Schultz, I.: The journalistic gut feeling: journalistic doxa, news habitus and orthodox news values. J. Pract. 1(2), 190–207 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Gronow, A.: Bourdieu ja pragmatismi: toimintatavat, habitus ja sosiaalisuuden luonne. Tiede edistys 37(1), 45–61 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Bourdieu, P.: Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge University Press (2016). [1977]

    Google Scholar 

  9. Bourdieu, P.: The Logic of Practice. Stanford University Press (1990)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Krista Holopainen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Holopainen, K., Rantala, J., Holopainen, T. (2021). Sales Professionalism – A Practice Theory Study. In: Kantola, J.I., Nazir, S., Salminen, V. (eds) Advances in Human Factors, Business Management and Leadership. AHFE 2021. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 267. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80876-1_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80876-1_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-80875-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-80876-1

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics