Making a sales advisor: the limits of training 'instrumental empathy'

Kakavelakis, Konstantinos, Felstead, Alan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8851-4289, Fuller, Alison, Jewson, Nick and Unwin, Lorna 2008. Making a sales advisor: the limits of training 'instrumental empathy'. Journal of Vocational Education & Training 60 (3) , pp. 209-221. 10.1080/13636820802305546

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Abstract

The use of participant observation is relatively rare in qualitative studies of vocational education and training. However, such an approach provides a detailed picture of training content and how what is taught contributes to or impedes learning. Based on participant observation, this paper examines the training of sales advisors in a large chain of private fitness clubs. It shows that although the training course taught trainees how to control and enchant customers, once back on ‘home’ territory trainees approached customers with far less instrumental empathy than they had been taught. This contrast is explained by reference to the past dispositions of sales workers and the local conditions in which the selling process takes place.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HF Commerce
Uncontrolled Keywords:	training, instrumental empathy, sales, participant observation
Publisher:	Routledge
ISSN:	1363-6820
Last Modified:	19 Oct 2022 08:50
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/19183

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