Drivers of student performance in sales role-play competitions

Sales education literature to a large extent focuses on experiential learning. Experiential learning, such as sales roleplays have been identified as effective techniques that improve student critical thinking. Despite a long tradition of scholarship on experiential learning, the answer to what drives student performance and enhances learning in an experiential setting remains elusive. In this research we examine how ability andmotivation affect students’ performance in sales role-plays. And, how success in sales role-plays translate into job attainment for the students. Using data from a sales competition held at a large US public University, we provide empirical evidence that both motivation and ability affect sales role-play performance. But, contrary to expectation they have a substitution effect and not a complementary effect. We also find evidence that success with sales role-play translates into improved success in job interviews.