Assessment of sellers’ manipulative behavior by customers and sellers in the context of generations X, Y and Z

Abstract

In the field of business and trade, we encounter concepts of manipulation and persuasion in the sense of trying to convince someone by applying certain pressure to the mind, opinions, emotions, and behavior, with an aim to cause change. However, literature provides only little information aimed specifically at the manipulative approach of sellers to customers. The purpose of the presented paper is, therefore, to study manipulative behavior of sellers as one of the important determinants of success in business behavior. The research focuses on assessing the manipulative behavior of sellers by customers and by sellers. Data was collected by means of the TBQ-C(r) questionnaire for customers (Trading Be-havior Questionnaire – Customers/revision) and TBQ-S(r) for sellers (Trading Behavior Questionnaire – Sellers/revision). Results confirmed the existence of statistically significant differences in the assess-ment of this behavior from the perspective of customers and sellers, as well as between individual genera-tions. In terms of generations, Generation X customers expressed a higher level of agreement with the recognition of manipulative elements in the behavior of sellers, as opposed to Generation Z, i.e. older cus-tomers are more able to recognize the elements of manipulation in the behavior of sellers. In the group of sellers, there was also a significant difference detected between the responses of the Generation Z and Generation Y respondents. Generation Y sellers expressed a higher level of agreement with the use of ma-nipulative elements of sellers, as opposed to Generation Z, i.e. younger sellers tend to use manipulative el-ements in their behavior the least. Acquired findings suggest the necessity to approach the issue of sellers’ manipulation in a wider context, particularly taking into account the situational and cultural conditions.