THE COMPOSITION OF SUSTAINED MOTIVATION IN SUCCESSFUL REAL ESTATE SALESPEOPLE

A thesis presented to

the Faculty of Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts (M.A.) in Psychology

by

David Thomas Jessee

San Francisco, California November 2006

© 2007 David Thomas Jessee

Approval of the Thesis

THE COMPOSITION OF SUSTAINED MOTIVATION IN SUCCESSFUL REAL

ESTATE SALESPEOPLE

This thesis by David Thomas Jessee has been approved by the committee members below, who recommend it be accepted by the faculty of Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts.

Thesis Committee:

____________________________ ____________________ Dennis Jaffe, Ph.D., Chair Date

_____________________________ ____________________ Joel Federman, Ph.D. Date

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Abstract

THE COMPOSITION OF SUSTAINED MOTIVATION IN SUCCESSFUL REAL ESTATE SALESPEOPLE

David Thomas Jessee

Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center

What driving motivational forces create and sustain success for high-achieving

real estate salespeople? This investigation reveals several motivational characteristics

common among the study participants.

The study used a mixed-methods research design that employed qualitative and

quantitative forms of data collected from 20 real estate salespeople in metropolitan

Indianapolis, Indiana. Data gathering instruments were semistructured, recorded

interviews and self-administered Achievement Motivation Scale, Self-determination

Scale, and Aspiration Scale.

The study revealed that, for the majority of study participants, a drive to maintain

high self-esteem from the recognition of doing an excellent job sustained career success.

The formation of motivation for success to serve the desire for high self-esteem was, in

part, influenced by family experiences. Utilizing the findings of this study is

recommended to determine whether new-hire screening procedures can decrease early

failure rates for new real estate salespeople.

Dedication

I wish to dedicate this study to all people who work in the real estate industry; an

industry that not only is crucial to the American economy but also supports the American

dream of home ownership.

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Acknowledgments

I want to acknowledge the tremendous support and positive influences given to

me along my life journey in the real estate business. This support has provided me with

the inspiration to complete this study. My grandfather, Ed Tobey, who was an

exceptional businessman and land developer; my mother, Fae Jessee; my father David L.

Jessee, who was a successful real estate commercial broker and developer; my mentor,

Gary Warstler, who hired me in 1977 to join the real estate business; all of the people at

the F. C. Tucker Co., Inc.; the business school undergraduate faculty at Indiana

University, Bloomington, IN; my thesis committee members Dennis Jaffe, Joel

Federman, and all the Saybrook Graduate School faculty; my assistant Cathy Worley; my

beloved family; and my children, Scott Jessee and Kristen Jessee.

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Table of Contents

List of Tables .......................................................................................................................v List of Figures .................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION........................................................................................1 CHAPTER 2: Review of the Literature ...............................................................................7 Cognitive Approach to Motivation ......................................................................................9 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs ...........................................................................................10 Five Factors as Sources of Motivation...............................................................................12 Achievement Motivation ...................................................................................................13 Emotional Dispositions of Success....................................................................................15 Conation and Volition........................................................................................................17 Mentoring and Positive Thinking ......................................................................................24 Sensation-Seeking..............................................................................................................25 Self and Motivation............................................................................................................25 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .....................................................................................32 Identifying A Study Population .........................................................................................35 Quantitative Design ...........................................................................................................36 Qualitative Design .............................................................................................................37 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS...................................................................................................39 Quantitative Results ...........................................................................................................39 Qualitative Results .............................................................................................................47 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION.............................................................................................52 Components of Motivation ................................................................................................52 Future Research Considerations ........................................................................................65 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................67

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List of Tables

Table 1 Sources of Motivational Needs..........................................................................8 Table 2 Emerging Categories of Motivation.................................................................45

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List of Figures

Figure 1 Real Estate Simulator Participants.....................................................................6 Figure 2 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs .........................................................................11 Figure 3 Achievement Motivation .................................................................................40 Figure 4 Self-Determination: Perceived Choice Subscale .............................................41 Figure 5 Extrinsic Aspirations........................................................................................42 Figure 6 Intrinsic Aspirations.........................................................................................43 Figure 7 All Aspirations .................................................................................................44

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

An integral part of the success of a real estate company is the number of high-

producing salespeople within the organization. The salesperson who achieves sustained

high sales volume coupled with longevity is a company’s greatest asset. There are many

motivation studies available (e.g., Atkinson & Feather, 1966; Deci & Ryan, 2002;

Maslow, 1943; McClelland, 1985); however, very little research has been completed that

examines the components of motivation specific to real estate salespeople.

The real estate industry is primarily made up of a fragmented collection of small

companies. More than 90% of all companies are single-office operations in the

United States (National Association of Realtors, 2004). Typically, small businesses do

not have the resources to do in-depth research to improve their understanding of the

driving forces that motivate highly successful agents. The goal of this study is to uncover

the motivational characteristics of those who have a passionate and burning desire to

succeed and sustain their success in real estate sales. This information may lead to

practical assessment tools for use in recruiting, interviewing, and hiring potential job

candidates for real estate sales. Becoming more aware of what motivates top sales

performers may provide knowledge that can be used to improve the matching of people

to the real estate business and lead to a lower turnover rate in the industry.

According to Christopher Lee, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the

Los Angeles-based consulting firm CEL & Associates, the real estate industry has a 42%

annual turnover rate of new sales agents. He stated that the majority of the remaining new

agents are just getting by (Daetz & Lee, 1999). Turnover in the real estate sales business

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is reputed to be one of the highest in all job categories. Estimates from interviews

performed with real estate brokers range from 50% within two years to 98% within five

years (Seiler, 2001). Although no studies have attempted to estimate accurately the

turnover of real estate salespeople, all agree that it is very high.

There are more than 1.2 million Realtors® in the United States included in the

total estimate of over two million active licensees’ nationwide (National Association of

Realtors, 2004). The average cost to interview, hire, and train a new real estate agent in

the first year of a typical mid-Western real estate company is $7,000, according to Patrick

Purdue, CFO, F. C. Tucker Co., Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana (personal communication,

June 5, 2005) A retention problem exists, with a costly consequence for many real estate

companies.

This study does not suggest that mismatched motivated or nonmotivated

salespeople are the sole problem in industry turnover. House (1977) suggested that high

turnover in real estate sales can be attributed, in part, to the nonroutine, problematic, and

irregular work hours involved. He argued that real estate agents must be ready to see

prospective clients at almost any time. This coupled with the commission-based pay

structure that makes income irregular and uncertain, frequently leads to a low success rate

for new agents. Wotruba and Simpson (1992) attributed high early failure rates to the

sink-or-swim philosophy followed by most real estate firms. The marginal cost for many

small companies of providing desk space and secretarial service for a new salesperson is

low as compared to that of other industries and so too is the time spent screening and

training new agents. If the new agent becomes established, the company profits; if the

agent fails, many firms can easily and inexpensively hire a new recruit to replace them.

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Moore, Eckrich, and Carlson (1986) suggested that early failure rates could be greatly

decreased by implementing basic screening procedures. The authors studied the skills and

characteristics needed to be successful in sales and produced a hierarchy of importance

among 82 sales competencies. Although most new real estate agents have prior sales

experience, more than half (55.5%) earned less than $10,000 in their first year of real

estate sales. Further, 81.5% earned less than $20,000, and 92.0% earned less than

$30,000.

The typical profile of a real estate salesperson includes several characteristics.

Sirmans and Swicegood (2000) examined the determinants of real estate licensee income.

Their inquiry produced numerous variables that influence the level of income for

participants in their study. The conclusion of the study identified several variables that

had the most positive effect on high-earning licensees. They were: high level of job

satisfaction and professionalism (measured by the number of educational designations),

willingness to work more hours per week, access to personal assistants, ability to utilize

personal computers for work, and being a younger male with more than average years of

experience. Furthermore, “variables common across studies showing positive effect on

income are: type of license, schooling, being an owner/manager and working in a

metropolitan area” (Sirmans & Swicegood, 2000, p. 198).

The 2001 National Association of Realtors® member profile detailed the

characteristics of the average sales person. The typical Realtor® is a sales agent who is

associated with a single-office firm. Two out of five sales agents are affiliated with

franchise firms. Average personal income is $47,700 ($52,200 in 2002). They work

43 hours a week. They have been with the same firm for five years. Sales agents have

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been in the business for 13 years. They owned a computer for work. The average agent is

a 52-year-old married female. Forty-five percent of those surveyed had completed a

bachelor’s degree. Ninety percent completed some college. These data were used to help

establish basic criteria for defining highly successful real estate salespeople in this study.

The real estate industry is known for not thoroughly screening new agents or

performing the kind of inquiry that might help determine what drives the very successful

agent. There are a large number of questionnaires about career selection, personality

assessments, social styles assessments, and simple interview methods used in many other

industries designed to give a potential job candidate and company some idea of whether

or not the candidate is suitable for a specific career. Some of these may also be useful in

the real estate industry.

An example of one assessment that the real estate industry uses is the Real Estate

Simulator (AlignMark, Inc., 2006). This is a computerized suitability test designed to

help potential salespeople determine whether real estate is the right career choice for

them. A person moves through a simulation in which their choices are automatically

compared with those of top performers in the industry. The premise of the test is that the

closer the answers of the test-taker are to the answers given by top producers, the more

likely the test-taker will have the relevant competencies to do well in real estate sales.

The developer of the tests suggests that there is a strong correlation between the

performance of top agents and the best scores. The developers believe that the test would

translate as an accurate predictor of success for people entering the business (Orenstein,

2002).

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A review of the results (see Table 1) for 37 agents entering the real estate business

who took the test in 2004 suggests that the Simulator does not perform as advertised. The

majority of the newly hired participants scored satisfactorily; however, their sales

performance fell within a random pattern and showed a wide range of results. This data

did not correlate sales success with successful simulator scores, and therefore the data

were not useful in predicting levels of success for the participants. Two of the three high-

scoring participants left the business. One low-scoring individual’s sales performance

exceeded the average sales production for the sample of participants.

A goal of this study is to uncover findings that might lead to developing screening

procedures that could help future salespeople be aware of the drive it takes to be

successful in real estate sales. Chapter 2 is a review of the literature on motivation with

emphasis on theories and research data related to the achievement of success. Chapter 3

presents the methodology of the study. A mixed methods research design was used. The

broad surveys from the quantitative data were used to generalize results of the study

population and compare those results with the themes developed from the life stories

provided by the participants. Chapter 4 presents those findings and includes statically

tables. Chapter 5 is a discussion and interpretation of the results. The themes that

emerged from the study described the key components of motivation in successful real

estate salespeople. A motivation characteristic that was unanimous among the study

participants was that career success at a sustained level was fed by the drive to seek high

self-worth from the ongoing recognition for doing an excellent job. Future research

considerations, suggested changes, and modifications to this study to help advance the

understanding of motivation for successful real estate salespeople are discussed.

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Figure 1. Real estate simulator participants.

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CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

This chapter presents a review of the literature on motivation, with a particular

emphasis on theories and research data related to the achievement of success. This

chapter explores such concepts as the need to maintain high self-esteem, self-

determination, need to achieve, motivation for well-being, intrinsic and extrinsic

aspirations, self-actualization, sensation seeking, self-direction, conation, emotional

dispositions of success, and expansive character as they contribute to high achievement.

The following definitions of motivation are from a variety of psychology

textbooks and reflect the general consensus that motivation is an internal state or

condition (sometimes described as a need, desire, or want) that serves to activate or

energize behavior and give it direction (Kleinginna & Kleinginna, 1981):

• Internal state or condition that activates behavior and gives it direction;

• Desire or want that energizes and directs goal-oriented behavior;

• Influence of needs and desires on the intensity and direction of behavior.

Franken (1994) provided an additional component in his definition: the arousal,

direction, and persistence of behavior. The successful outcome of a behavior or endeavor

includes effort (motivational factor), ability to perform the task, and a person’s

understanding of the endeavor. In general, explanations regarding the source(s) of

motivation (Table 1), can be categorized as either extrinsic (outside the person) or

intrinsic (internal to the person). Intrinsic sources and corresponding theories can be

further subcategorized as either body/physical, mind/mental (i.e., cognitive, affective,

conative) or transpersonal/spiritual.

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Table 1. Sources of Motivational Needs

Source Description

Behavioral/external • Elicited by stimulus associated/connected to innately

connected stimulus • Obtain desired, pleasant consequences (rewards) or

escape/avoid undesired, unpleasant consequences

Social • Imitate positive models • Be a part of a group or a valued member

Biological

• Increase/decrease stimulation (arousal) • Activate senses (taste, touch, smell, etc. • Decrease hunger, thirst, discomfort, etc. • Maintain homeostasis, balance

Cognitive

• Maintain attention to something interesting or threatening • Develop meaning or understanding • Increase/decrease cognitive disequilibrium; uncertainty • Solve a problem or make a decision • Figure something out • Eliminate threat or risk

Affective

• Increase/decrease affective dissonance • Increase feeling good • Decrease feeling bad • Increase security of or decrease threats to self-esteem • Maintain levels of optimism and enthusiasm

Conative

• Meet individually developed/selected goal • Obtain personal dream • Develop or maintain self-efficacy • Take control of one’s life • Eliminate threats to meeting goal, obtaining dream • Reduce others’ control of one’s life

Spiritual

• Understand purpose of one’s life • Connect self to ultimate unknowns

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Needs are viewed as dispositions toward action. They create a condition that is

predisposed toward taking action or making a change and moving in a certain direction

(Huitt, 2001). Action or overt behavior may be initiated by either positive or negative

incentives or a combination of both. Although initiation of action can be traced to internal

state or external state domains, it appears likely that initiation of behavior may be more

related to emotions or the affective area (optimism vs. pessimism, self-esteem, etc.),

whereas persistence may be more related to conation (volition) or goal-orientation (Huitt,

2001).

Cognitive Approach to Motivation

A cognitive approach to motivation is the expectancy theory. This theory suggests

that a person’s behavior is a result of their values, wants, and beliefs. The relative

importance that people place on these factors varies and is instrumental in determining

what specific actions will be taken under various sets of circumstances. This theory holds

that people are goal-oriented beings who act in response to their beliefs and values to

achieve some end (Huitt, 2001). Vroom (1964) proposed the following equation:

Motivation = Perceived Probability of Success (Expectancy) X

Connection of Success and Reward (Instrumentality) X

Value of Obtaining Goal (Valance, Value) (1)

According to this formula, the three factors of expectancy, instrumentality, and valance

or value are to be multiplied by each other, and a low value in one will result in a low

value of motivation. All three factors must be present for motivation to occur. That is, if

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individuals do not believe that they can be successful at a task, do not see a connection

between activity and success, or do not value the results of success, then the probability

that the individual will engage in the required activity is lowered. From the perspective of

this theory, all three variables must have a high value for motivation and the resulting

behavior to be significant

Motivation can be explained in part by cognitive dissonance theory, which

suggests that we will seek balance or homeostasis in our lives and will resist influences or

expectations to change (Huitt, 2001). How, then, does change or growth occur? One

source, according to Piaget (1972), is biological development. As we mature cognitively,

we rework our thinking and organizations of knowledge (e.g., schemas, paradigms, and

explanations) to reflect more accurately our understanding of the world. One of those

forms of organizations involves our explanations or attributions of success or failure.

After puberty, when biological change slows down considerably, it is very difficult to

change these attributions. Such change often requires a long-term process in which

constant feedback is received about how one‘s behavior is responsible for one’s success

(Piaget, 1972).

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow (1954) attempted to synthesize a large body of research related

to human motivation. Prior to Maslow, researchers generally focused separately on such

factors as biology, achievement, or power to explain what energizes, directs, and sustains

human behavior (Huitt, 2001). Maslow established a hierarchy of human needs (see

Figure 2) based on two groupings: deficiency needs and growth needs. Within the

deficiency needs, each lower need must be met before moving to the next higher level.

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Once each of these needs has been satisfied, if at some future time a deficiency is

detected, the individual will act to remove the deficiency. The first four levels are as

follows:

(1) Physiological: Hunger, thirst, bodily comforts, etc.;

(2) Safety/security: Out of danger;

(3) Belongingness and love: Affiliated with others, accepted; and

(4) Esteem: To achieve, be competent, gain approval and recognition.

Figure 2. Maslow’s (1954) hierarchy of needs.

According to Maslow (1954), an individual is ready to act upon the growth needs

if and only if the deficiency needs are met. Maslow’s initial conceptualization included

only one growth need—self-actualization. Self-actualized people are characterized by:

(1) being problem-focused; (2) incorporating an ongoing freshness of appreciation of life;

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(3) a concern about personal growth; and (4) the ability to have peak experiences.

Maslow later differentiated the growth need of self-actualization, specifically naming two

lower-level growth needs prior to general level of self-actualization (Maslow & Lowery,

1998) and one beyond that level (Maslow, 1971). They are:

(5) Cognitive: To know, to understand, and explore;

(6) Aesthetic: Symmetry, order, and beauty;

(7) Self-actualization: To find self-fulfillment and realize one’s potential; and

(8) Self-transcendence: To connect to something beyond the ego or to help others

find self-fulfillment and realize their potential.

Maslow’s basic position is that as one becomes more self-actualized and self-

transcendent, one becomes wiser (develops wisdom) and automatically knows what to do

in a wide variety of situations. Daniels (2001) suggested that Maslow’s ultimate

conclusion that the highest levels of self-actualization are transcendent in their nature

may be one of his most important contributions to the study of human behavior and

motivation.

Five Factors as Sources of Motivation

Other motivation theories attempt to put all of the factors influencing motivation

into one model. Leonard, Beauvais, and Scholl (1995) provided an example. These

authors proposed five factors as the sources of motivation: (1) Instrumental motivation

(rewards and punishers); (2) Intrinsic process motivation (enjoyment, fun); (3) Goal

internalization (self-determined values and goals); (4) Internal self-concept-based

motivation (matching behavior with internally-developed ideal self); (5) External self-

concept-based motivation (matching behavior with externally-developed ideal self).

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Individuals are influenced by all five factors, though in varying degrees that can change

in specific situations. Factors (1) and (5) are both externally oriented. The main

difference is that individuals who are instrumentally motivated are influenced more by

immediate actions in the environment (operant conditioning), whereas individuals who

are self-concept motivated are influenced more by their constructions of external

demands and ideals (e.g., social cognition). Factors (2), (3), and (4) are more internally

oriented. In the case of intrinsic process, the specific task is interesting and provides

immediate internal reinforcement (e.g., cognitive or humanistic theory). The individual

with a goal-internalization orientation is more task-oriented (e.g., humanistic or social

cognition theory), whereas the person with an internal self-concept orientation is more

influenced by individual constructions of the ideal self (humanistic or psychoanalytic

theory; Huitt, 2001).

Achievement Motivation

Another classification system of motivation differentiates among achievement,

power, and social factors (McClelland, 1985; Murray, 1938/1943). In the area of

achievement motivation, the work on goal theory has differentiated three separate types

of goals: mastery goals (also called learning goals), which focus on gaining competence

or mastering a new set of knowledge or skills; performance goals (also called ego-

involvement goals), which focus on achieving normative-based standards, doing better

than others, or doing well without a lot of effort; and social goals, which focus on

relationships among people (Ames, 1992; Dweck, 1986; Urdan & Maehr, 1995). In life

success, it seems critical that individuals have all three types of goals to be very

successful. One aspect of this theory is that individuals are motivated either to avoid

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failure (more often associated with performance goals) or achieve success (more often

associated with mastery goals). In the former situation, the individual is more likely to

select easy or difficult tasks, thereby either achieving success or having a good excuse for

why failure occurred. In the latter situation, the individual is more likely to select

moderately difficult tasks that will provide an interesting challenge but still keep the high

expectations for success.

McClelland (1985) suggested in his research that “Achievement incentive is one

in which a person gets satisfaction from doing something for its own sake, or to show that

they’re more capable of doing something” (p. 229, emphasis in original).

McClelland’s research also suggested that if extrinsic incentives are provided for

doing something (such as money), the intrinsic satisfaction from doing well tends to be

lost, and research participants high in need achievement do not perform better. Strong

evidence supports the importance of intrinsic achievement satisfaction for people who

score high in need for achievement.

McClelland (1985) suggested in his research that people high in need

achievement prefer working in a situation in which they get frequent feedback on how

they are doing. Otherwise, they have no way of knowing whether they are doing better

than others. Money is a common way to give people feedback on how well they are

doing. McClelland (1985) stated, “There is evidence that whereas money is not an

incentive for subjects high in need achievement, they do use it as information on how

successful their performance has been” (p. 248). Money is seen as a form of feedback,

not necessarily a motivator particularly for people who are intrinsically motivated for

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achievement. McClelland stated, “In fact, introducing extrinsic incentives to people who

are intrinsically motivated for achievement may cause them to work less hard” (p. 248).

Similarly, Deci and Ryan (2002) found an indirect, but important, relationship

between monetary reward and motivation:

An event such as the offer of a tangible reward (which studies have found to be controlling) is, on average, said to have a controlling functional significance; whereas, the functional significance of positive feedback is, on average, said to be informational. Accordingly rewards are predicted to undermine intrinsic motivation in many circumstances, whereas positive performance feedback is expected to enhance it. (p.12)

Deci and Ryan (2002) confirmed this aspect of cognitive evaluation theory proposition in

a meta-analysis of several experimental studies. The source of the need to achieve is

influenced by a person’s socioeconomic origins. McClelland and Steele (1973) stated,

“Businessman and professionals in several countries tend to have higher need

achievement if they come from middle class families than if they come from upper or

working class backgrounds” (p. 363).

Emotional Dispositions of Success

A wide variety of affective and emotional dispositions have been related both

positively and functionally to performance success as well as to success in other

social/economic environments. Though these dispositions may not be direct components

of motivation, they may indirectly influence the constructs of motivation. This brief

overview highlights three that are important in different ways.

The first of the emotional dispositions reviewed here is optimism. Optimism can

be defined as the inclination to anticipate the best possible outcome for actions or events.

This term is generally contrasted with pessimism, which can be defined as an inclination

to anticipate the least favorable or worst outcome for actions or events. Optimism has

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been demonstrated to be important for success of executives (Bunker & Wakefield,

2004). Optimists are more likely to cope with stress and be physically healthy at all ages.

This finding has been shown for younger and older adults (Chang, 2002). These findings

suggest, in part, that optimism is an important factor in modifying information before and

after it is cognitively processed.

The second disposition reviewed here is enthusiasm. Enthusiasm may be defined

as strong warmth of feeling or a keen interest. It is generally contrasted with apathy,

which may be defined as a lack of emotion or a lack of interest. Enthusiasm is considered

to be especially important in communication (Booth-Butterfield & Booth-Butterfield,

1990). This is an essential element in the information age because no matter how well we

have processed information, if we communicate without enthusiasm, we will not have the

desired impact on our listeners.

The third emotional disposition to be discussed here is empathy. Empathy is the

ability to connect one’s emotions to those of others and is often contrasted with apathy or

numbness. Plomin (1990) suggested that there is a genetic basis for empathy, after

summarizing data showing that identical twins are more alike in their empathetic

responses than fraternal twins. According to Goleman (1995), those who lack empathy

have a serious shortfall in emotional intelligence. He stated that this lack of empathy can

be found in “criminal psychopaths, rapists, and child molesters” (p. 96). He pointed out

that people rarely express to others in words what they are feeling. Rather, people must

read and understand nonverbal cues to understand another’s emotions.

A critical component of empathy is the ability to understand and communicate as

if from the other person’s point of view, taking the other person’s perspective, while at

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the same time not losing sight of the fact that the feelings and thoughts in fact belong to

the other person. Empathy is multidimensional in the sense that the understanding of the

other person may be either cognitive or affective or both. Empathy may go beyond the

understanding of the other person to include emotional responsiveness or resonance such

that an individual comes to experience the same or compatible emotions of the other

person. Thus, along with understanding the situation as if from the other person’s

perspective, an aspect of empathy may include feeling distressed when confronted with

the distress of others, or it may include pity in response to another’s sorrow and loss

(Koonce, 1996).

Empathy is a complex process that involves both cognitive and affective abilities

such as listening to key ideas and discerning core emotions in emotional stories; being

able to recognize the facial display of emotion; identifying emotion in verbal statements,

tone of voice, and body language; carefully selecting appropriate emotion words when

preparing a response; emitting appropriate emotional responses; internally resonating

with compatible feeling; offering sensitive reflection statements; and generalizing

emotional content to new or comparable situations (Goldstein & Michaels, 1985; Martin,

1999). Hoffman (2000) proposed that empathy is foundational to moral development and

evolutionarily developed to guide one’s self-regulating and adaptive behavior; key to

succeed in life.

Conation and Volition

Conation refers to the connection of knowledge and affect to behavior and is

associated with the issue of why. It is the personal, intentional, planful, deliberate, goal-

oriented, or striving component of motivation, the proactive (as opposed to reactive or

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habitual) aspect of behavior (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Muraven & Tice, 1998; Emmons,

1986). It is closely associated with the concept of volition, defined as the use of will, or

the freedom to make choices about what to do (Kane, 1985; Mischel, 1996). It is critical

if an individual is successfully engaged in self-direction and self-regulation. Some of the

conative issues one faces daily are:

• What are my intentions and goals,

• What am I going to do, and

• What are my plans and commitments?

An individual’s character can more readily be reduced to its essence if one hunts for the

individual’s purpose in life, their life plan, and life goals. Kaplan, Drath, and Kofodimos

(1991) believed that life goals can be carefully inferred by consulting the person’s actions

and emotional life.

Bagozzi (1992) proposed that conation is necessary to explain how knowledge

and emotion are translated into behavior in human beings. The following discussion

presents research findings on conation and volition related to each of three aspects of

motivation: direction, energizing, and persistence.

There are at least five separate aspects of the direction subcomponent of conation

that are identified in the research: becoming aware of human needs, visions and dreams

of possibilities, making choices, setting goals, and making plans.

One of the first aspects of successful self-direction is to become aware of our

human needs (Franken, 1994). Maslow’s (1954) hierarchy of human needs is probably

one of the most well-known approaches, although other human needs such as the need for

optimal arousal (Csikszentimihali, 1991), the need for achievement (McClelland, 1992),

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the need for cognitive balance (Festinger, 1957), the need to find meaning in life (Frankl,

1997, 1998), the need for power (Murray, 1938/1943), and the need for social affiliation

(Sullivan, 1968) have also been suggested.

A second aspect of self-direction is to become aware of the “possible self.”

Markus and Nurius (1986) suggested that this possible self provides the bridge to action;

without something being considered as possible for the individual (what’s in it for me),

goals will not be set and plans will not be made. Levenson (1978) suggested that dreams

and visions expand and define the possible self. However, the long-term, vague

statements represented by dreams and visions must be turned into goals (short-term,

specific, personal statements) if they are to impact immediate behavior (Markus &

Nurius, 1986). Additionally, Epstein (1990) stated that dreams and goals must have

visual and emotional components in order to be effective.

A third aspect is the exercise of volition or the freedom to choose and control

one’s thoughts and behavior (Kivinen, 1997). Although volition is important, it cannot be

studied independently of cognitive and affective factors. Volition has two

subcomponents: (1) Covert, or referring to the controlling of one’s own actions and

(2) Overt, or referring to the controlling of the environment that impacts one’s actions

(Corno, 1993).

A variety of researchers (Ford, 1987; Hershberger, 1987; Howard & Conway,

1987) believe that volition ought to be the cornerstone of the psychological study of

human behavior, including motivation. Their rationale is that although animals are

controlled mainly by instincts and reflexes, these processes are greatly reduced in human

beings. Learning and choice replace these biological processes, allowing the behavior of

20

human beings to be both greater than and less than that of animals. This situation elevates

the importance of volition, especially in an increasingly chaotic social and cultural milieu

(Huitt, 1992, 1999). Lacking the restraints of widely accepted social mores, individual

choice becomes the chief protection against social and cultural degradation.

A fourth aspect of the direction component of conation is the setting of goals for

the directions that have been chosen. Dweck (1991) differentiated two types of goals:

mastery goals, which focus on developing competence or on the process of learning; and

performance goals, which focus on the outcome, winning, or attaining credentials. Urdan

and Maehr (1995) suggested a third alternative: Social goals, which focus on

performance of the group or the individual fitting in with others. In a less structured

environment (such as real estate sales), it is likely that one must focus on both process

(mastery) and outcome (performance) goals if one is to be successful. Additionally,

because of the importance in working in groups in the modern era (Bridges, 1994; Toffler

& Toffler, 1995), the ability to set and achieve social goals becomes increasingly

important. Likewise, Goleman (1995) cited extensive literature supporting that the ability

to manage one’s emotions is as important, or perhaps even more important, than one’s

cognitive ability to acquire and process information quickly.

Several important issues must be considered when setting goals for high

achievers. First, goals must be difficult but attainable (Franken, 1997). Following the

Yerkes-Dodson law (Yerkes & Dodson, 1908), moderate amounts of difficulty lead to

optimal performance. Setting goals that are perceived as too easy or too difficult does not

increase behavior. Second, the emotional state of an individual can influence the setting

of goals. Higher goals are set when the individual is emotionally aroused (Lazarus, 1991),

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and lower goals are set when the individual is depressed (Beck, 1976). Likewise,

individuals with increased levels of optimism (which grow out of a person’s explanatory

style) set higher goals (Seligman, 1990). Finally, individuals with increased levels of self-

efficacy set higher goals (Franken, 1997). When the goals are met it leads to even higher

levels of self-efficacy. Like the setting of goals, self-efficacy can be impacted by mood

(Kavanaugh & Bower, 1985).

A fifth aspect of successful self-direction is to develop plans that can turn visions

and goals into reality (Herman, 1990). Plans must be written and specific, starting with a

clear description of desired outcomes. Two processes can be employed: backward

planning and task analysis (Huitt, 1992). In backward planning, one starts with the

desired end results and then identifies the most immediate state and required procedures

to meet that result (i.e., if I am here and do this, then these results will be obtained). To be

successful, backward planning must be accompanied by a task analysis that will identify

the skills and knowledge required to learn or perform a specific task. By systematically

completing a task analysis as one works backward from the desired end results, one

arrives at the starting point with a clearly delineated plan for obtaining them.

Emotions are an essential element of the energizing component of conation. Our

minds and bodies have a natural tendency toward equilibrium or homeostasis. This

process has been studied as it applies to emotion (Solomon, 1980). In general, the

potential for pleasure resulting from striving and obtaining dreams, desires, and goals

must outweigh the discomfort of change or fear of failure if action is to be taken. Goals

that are in one’s self-interest (Sansone & Harackiewicz, 1996) or ones that are congruent

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with self-identified personal convictions (Brunstein & Gollwitzer, 1996) will have the

strongest impact because these are most integral to a definition of self.

McCombs and Whisler (1989) proposed another factor in energizing behavior: a

natural need for self-development and self-determination. This need can be enhanced or

thwarted by one’s self-concept and self-esteem, or as Markus and Nurius (1986) describe

it, one’s possible self. It is therefore important to consider developmental and

environmental factors that can enhance, or at least not inhibit, this natural predisposition.

Persistence is increasingly recognized as an important ingredient within the

motivational components leading to success. For example, Goodyear (1997), in a study of

success of professional psychologists, found that although there are “threshold levels”

(p. 6) of intellectual and interpersonal skills, motivation and persistence were even more

important in predicting levels of expertise in professional psychology.

Huitt (1999a) stated,

While it is true that certain characteristics such as level of achievement motivation, expectations for success, level of self-esteem, environmental factors such as amount of failure experiences, being praised for effort rather than ability, the public display of summative, but not formative, assessments and the use of variable reinforcement schedules can impact task persistence and performance, an individual’s use of self-regulation processes can mediate these influences when the person is not in a conducive environment. For example, people who matched goals to enduring interests and values or who perceived tasks to be important persisted longer. (p. 5) Miller, Greene, Montalvo, Ravindran and Nichols (1996) reported that an

individual who have learning goals, desire to obtain future consequences, and want to

please a mentor persist longer in work endeavors. Individuals who were able to produce

well-elaborated, specific, vivid pictures of possible future selves persist more and have

23

higher levels of achievement than those who do not (Leondari, Syngollitou &

Kiosseoglou, 1998).

Persistence can be considered to be an expression of how quickly goals change

when individuals encounter obstacles. Atkinson and Feather (1966) concluded,

Success led to a relative increase in persistence. A combination of success and praise was more effective in increasing persistence than success alone. Persistence was also found to increase with decreasing distance from the goal. These results are relevant to present review to the extent that previous success and failure may be considered important determinants of present expectations of success and failure. (p. 61) Covey, Merrill, and Merrill (1994) suggested that everyone needs to develop a

mission statement as one way to help think about one’s priorities. This statement provides

an opportunity for the individual to consider explicitly and state important values and

beliefs contributing to the formation of motivation. To help develop a pattern of setting

life priorities and goals, Waitley (1996) advised imagining what life would be like if time

and money were not a limiting factor. That is, what would we do this week, this month,

next month, if we had all of the money and time we needed and were secure that both

would be available again next year. Developing vivid, specific images of these and then

relating them back to the important values in one’s mission statement can impact one’s

commitment and persistence toward those desired end results.

Specific cognitive, affective, and volitional components of goal-oriented

motivation have developmental aspects and can be impacted via the social environment

(Heckhausen & Dweck, 1998). It is important that parents, educators, mentors, business

leadership, and other individuals concerned with the development of their constituents’

work toward developing the conative components of mind that enhance self-direction,

self-determination, and self-regulation. Specifically, top performers in real estate sales

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need to imagine possibilities in their lives, set attainable goals, plan routes to those goals,

systematically and consistently put goals and plans into actions, practice self-observation,

reflect on results, and manage emotions.

Mentoring and Positive Thinking

Bandura’s (1986, 1997) theory of social cognition suggests that helping people to

be successful is one of the best ways to assist the learner. These mastery experiences are

the most profound influences on self-efficacy, which subsequently predicts future success

in that domain. A mentor/rookie learning experience for top real estate performers could

be an application of this concept. For example, a real estate mentor can also use social

persuasion, being careful to praise the effort, and striving, not the learner’s ability

(Mueller & Dweck, 1998). Providing opportunities for learners to experience success

vicariously from the success of others is also important, as it can impact a learner’s

perceptions of what is possible and such mentors are a common theme in the lives of top

performers in real estate sales.

Seligman (1995) suggested that we teach children to capture their automatic

thoughts, which are often negative, evaluate them for accuracy, and replace them with

more positive and optimistic thoughts. Ziglar (1994) and Helmstetter (1995) proposed

that we adopt a more proactive approach and teach the use of self-talk techniques. In this

approach, statements are developed specifically for an individual or situation, and the

learner recites the self-talk statement at regular intervals thereby, creating the power of

positive thinking.

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Sensation-Seeking

Sensation-seeking is a trait within the complexes of motivation describing the

tendency to seek novel, varied, complex, and intense sensations and experiences and the

willingness to take risks for the sake of such experiences. Behavioral expressions of

sensation-seeking have been found in vocational preferences, choices, and job

satisfaction (Zuckerman, 1994). It is possible that sensation-seeking is one motive

component of drive in entrepreneurial activities like real estate sales. Zuckerman (1994)

stated,

High sensation seekers are best suited for jobs where there are varied activities and challenges. . . . Jobs like those in the helping profession, sales work, and journalism, where there are constantly changing interpersonal challenge, are good for high sensation seekers. (p. 176)

The Sensation Seeking Scale, developed by Zuckerman (1994), could be useful in future

motive research if this assessment is administered to successful real estate salespeople

and those results compared to those of low-producing salespeople.

Self and Motivation

Self can be described as the conscious reflection of one’s own being or identity,

as an object separate from others or from the environment. There are a variety of ways to

think about the self. Two of the most widely used terms are self-concept and self-esteem

(Huitt, 2001). Purkey (1988) suggested that self-concept is the cognitive or thinking

aspect of self (related to one’s self-image) and refers to the totality of a complex,

organized, and dynamic system of learned beliefs, attitudes and opinions that each person

holds to be true about their personal existence. Self-esteem is the affective or emotional

aspect of self and generally refers to how we feel about or how we value ourselves (one’s

self-worth). Self-concept can also refer to the general idea we have of ourselves and self-

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esteem can refer to particular measures about components of self-concept (Purkey, 1988).

Franken (1994) stated,

There is a great deal of research which shows that the self-concept is, perhaps, the basis for all motivated behavior. It is the self-concept that gives rise to possible selves, and it is possible selves that create the motivation for behavior. (p. 443)

This supports the idea that one’s paradigm or world view and one’s relationship to that

view provide the boundaries and circumstances within which we develop our vision

about possibilities (Huitt, 2004).

Franken (1994) suggested that self-concept is related to self-esteem in that,

“People who have good self-esteem have a clearly differentiated self-concept. . . . When

people know themselves they can maximize outcomes because they know what they can

and cannot do” (p. 439).

We develop and maintain our self-concept in the process of taking action and then

reflecting on what we have done and what others tell us about what we have done. We

reflect on what we have done and can do in comparison to our expectations and the

expectations of others and to the characteristics and accomplishments of others (Brigham,

1986; James, 1890). Self-concept is not innate but is developed or constructed by the

individual in interaction with the environment and reflecting on that interaction. This

dynamic aspect of self-concept and, by corollary, self-esteem is important because it

indicates that it can be modified or changed. Franken (1994) stated,

There is a growing body of research which indicates that it is possible to change the self-concept. Self-change is not something that people can will but rather it depends on the process of self-reflection. Through self-reflection, people often come to view themselves in a new, more powerful way, and it is through this new, more powerful way of viewing the self that people can develop possible selves. (p. 443)

27

James (1890) stated that the intervening variable in self-esteem is personal expectations.

His formula, found in Huitt (2001), is as follows:

Self-esteem = Success / Pretensions (2)

That is, increasing self-esteem results when success is improved relative to expectations

(pretensions). Conversely, Bandura (1997) found that a person’s self-efficacy is one of

the best predictors of successful achievement. He also stated that one’s mastery

experiences related to success is the major influence on one’s self-efficacy. As self-

efficacy and self-esteem are both constructed by one’s conscious reflections, it appears

that success can be boosted by creating experiences for people to master rather than

attempting to increase self-esteem directly using other means. An interesting corollary to

this equation is that success is limited by expectations and self-esteem:

Success = Pretensions * Self-esteem (3)

This equation states that success, especially the limits of one’s success, can be improved

by increasing expectations or self-esteem. Given the above formula, this suggests that

success in a particular area does not really change one’s self-concept (knowledge of one’s

self) or even self-esteem (one’s subjective evaluation of one’s value or worth), but rather

has an impact upon one’s expectation about future success based on one’s past

experience (Huitt, 2001). Seligman’s (1990) work on explanatory style suggested that the

intervening variable connecting self-esteem and achievement is a person’s level of

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optimism or the tendency to see the world as a benevolent (good things will probably

happen) or malevolent (bad things will probably happen).

Franken (2002) suggested that people with high self-esteem tend to experience

feelings of pride when they succeed but fail to experience feelings of shame when they

fail. He provided research data that show that successful people with high self-esteem

have developed effective ways of appraising failure that minimizes its impact. People

with low self-esteem tend to experience shame from failure and rarely experience pride

from success, which then promotes the debilitating cycle. People with high self-esteem

perform well after both success and failure. People with low self-esteem perform

significantly less after failure (Franken, 2002). Self-esteem can mediate the tendency to

achieve in part because self-esteem and perception of our abilities influence each other.

Self-esteem develops early in life. Franken (2002) found that when children are

viewed as independent, autonomous, and capable of making choices, they learn in their

own small ways that they can be triumphant. This process can give them the confidence

to face challenges later in life. Franken stated,

A persistent theme in the literature is that our self-esteem is linked to getting what we want from life. If people see themselves as possessing the skills and abilities that they need to get what they want, they are likely to be high in self-esteem. This anticipatory cognition, based on beliefs about control, allows people to set goals and persist in the face of failure. (p. 380) If people are to achieve high self-esteem, they must identify their core strengths

that can bring them a sense of pride and accomplishment. They need to develop a mastery

orientation (Franken, 2002). Note the relationship between William James’ formula for

self-esteem (Self-esteem = Success / Pretensions) and the attribution and expectancy

theories of motivation. If a person has an external attribution of success, self-concept is

29

not likely to change as a result of success or failure because the person will attribute it to

external factors. Likewise, for people who have an internal/ability explanation, their self-

concept will be tied to learning to do a new activity quickly and easily (I do well because

I’m naturally good at it). If failure or difficulty occurs, the person must quickly lower

expectations to maintain self-esteem. However, if the person has an internal/effort

explanation and high expectations for success, the person will persevere (i.e., stay

motivated) in spite of temporary setbacks because one’s self-esteem is not tied to

immediate success (Franken, 2002).

Another aspect of the self that relates to motivation that influences success is

character. According to Kaplan et al. (1991), most work performance problems are

acknowledged typically in a surface way that is in behavioral terms only. Kaplan et al.

suggested that looking beyond behavior to the character of a person will reveal the depth

of a person, their values and the significance of what drives them. Kaplan et al. separated

personality traits from character. Personality is a set of traits, perhaps even disconnected

traits of the person. Character refers to a person’s deep structure, including the basic

driving forces. Character is a set of deep-seated strategies used to enhance or protect

one’s sense of self-worth. Kaplan et al. tied character and self-worth to career success for

highly successful executives by identifying this type of character as expansive. Kaplan et

al. (1991) stated,

In our research we have seen over and over again that many executives depend on achievement and success as a means of obtaining and reinforcing a sense of self-worth. They rely so heavily on a strategy of worth-through-mastery that I have called this type of character expansive. Executives desire a sense not merely of adequacy but of high personal worth, and they seek it not by doing an acceptable job but by doing an exceptional job. (p. 5)

30

An expansive character refers to someone who has a vital need or concern with gaining

mastery over a person’s environment. This inner drive can in part explain the passion or

obsession that expansive people bring to their job. This overriding necessity to achieve

what governs a person’s life lends itself to the intensity factor that is seen in extremely

successful people, who have a subtle inner tension of focus that lower performers do not.

They have a fire burning in them that others do not to succeed. They can reach down and

get a little extra, and win when the pressure is high (Kaplan et al., 1991).

Kaplan et al. (1991) suggested that a moderately strong expansive drive reflects a

more or less healthy appetite for mastery and achievement. People with extreme drive to

mastery are responding to an underlying insecurity: “Fundamentally, they do not have a

secure feeling of their own worth” (p. 75).

Franken (2002) suggested that people who have self-complexity, that is, a range

of conceptions of their identity, are better able to achieve goals and to deal with a wide

variety of negative events. Because they can see themselves in a wide variety of

situations, they can rise to new challenges and cope with new situations. People with high

self-esteem have a greater clarity of self-attributes. Franken (2002) stated, “If we have a

clear perception that we are competent in a given domain, we are likely to set more

difficult goals for ourselves” (p. 401).

Some additional self terms that are relevant to an understanding of motivation are

self-direction (Smith, 2004) and self-determination (Ryan & Deci, 2000), which is the

extent to which one’s aspirations, dreams, and goals are self-selected; and self-regulation

(Bandura, 1997; Behncke, 2002), which is one’s guidance of one’s goal-directed

thinking, attitudes, and behavior, and self-transcendence (Polanyi, 1970; Frankl, 1998);

31

going beyond or above the limitations of one’s ego; meaningful connections to others,

nature, universe, and Creator.

The review of the literature reveals several areas of consideration that may be

meaningful to investigate. Findings from this investigation may be used to answer the

primary research question of this study, What are the key components of motivation

common to successful real estate salespeople? Several of the key motivations

components for achievement discussed in this review are self-esteem, self-determination,

need to achieve, well-being, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, self-actualization,

sensation seeking, self-direction, emotional dispositions, conation, volition, and

expansive character. This study attempts to tease out some of these motivational

components from the study participants to determine which components, if any, are

common to successful real estate salespeople.

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CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

This study is a mixed-methods research design that employs both qualitative and

quantitative data. The mixed approach of this study began by drawing qualitative data

from the narrative, open-ended interview stories of the participants. The purpose of the

interview questions was to draw out the life experiences of the participants and attempt to

determine what had influenced or formed their motivation. The review of the literature

identified self-esteem, in part, as a strong motivational force in many people. The

researcher used the following interview questions to help elicit the type of self-esteem

that participants felt they had, their self-concept, and what they thought drove them to be

so successful in real estate sales. Other questions were directed at determining whether

the participants were optimistic, had autonomous orientation, were self-directed and goal

oriented, and how their family background may have influenced their motivation to

achieve. The following interview questions were drawn from concepts developed from

research described in the review of the literature and the resulting data were used to link

the study participants to that research. The semistructured questions asked were as

follows:

(1) Describe your childhood. Was it happy? Were their challenges or difficult

experiences?

(2) What was your relationship like with your Mother/Father siblings and other

family members?

(3) How well did you do in school? How far did you go with your education?

33

(4) What was your economic environment like growing up? Were you

financially well off or did your family struggle? Would you define your

family as lower, middle or upper class economically?

(5) At what age did you begin working? Why? What kind of jobs were they; how

did you feel about working and making money?

(6) Can you name and describe the people who had the most positive influence

in your life/upbringing? Was there any one in your life that had such a great

influence on you and your motivation that without them, you would not have

achieved your level of success in real estate sales?

(7) As you grew up and continued on your life journey, how did you feel about

yourself? Was there anything missing? Did you have a strong dream or

vision of what you and your life should be or look like?

(8) What are your spiritual and religious beliefs, if any, and do those beliefs play

a role in your career success?

(9) Tell me about other successes in your life and how those successes made you

feel?

(10) What drew you to the real estate business? Did you start out with a “bang” or

was it difficult for you? Were you financially prepared? Did you have

another source of income or other resources to help you through the

beginning?

(11) When did you know you made the right decision to be in real estate sales and

what was it that made you feel that way?

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(12) What is it that drives you to be so successful and why do you think you are

able to sustain such great sales performance for so many years?

(13) Have your needs to achieve sale success changed over the years? How?

Why? What was “success” about in the past and what is “success” about

today?

(14) Rank the following life domains in order of importance. View the importance

of these categories over the span of your life rather than a snapshot of today:

intimacy, affiliation, altruism, achievement, power, and variation.

(15) Are you generally optimistic or realistic about life? Why?

(16) Do you set specific, written goals or do you generally go with the flow?

Why?

(17) How do you relate to people and how do people relate to you?

(18) Are you a high achiever? If so, how do you measure that?

(19) Are you self-determining in the goals you want to achieve? Do you feel like

your life goals are congruent with who you are and your values? What does

self-determination look like to you in your life?

(20) Does your wealth and financial success serve your relationships and the

community around you, if so, how? On a scale of one to five, five being the

highest, to what degree does this motivate you to achieve wealth? How does

giving back financially make you feel about yourself?

The broad surveys from the quantitative data were used to generalize results of

the study population and compare those results with the themes developed from the life

35

stories provided by the participants. The quantitative portion of the study used a cross-

sectional survey design using self-administered scales with data collected at one point in

time (Creswell, 2003). The purpose of the surveys was to identify dominant self-

determination, aspiration, and achievement motivation characteristics among highly

successful real estate salespeople. Research findings in many other motivation studies

have suggested that high achievers score high in self-determination and achievement

motivation; therefore, the researcher hypothesized that successful real estate salespeople

would also score high (McClelland, 1975).

Identifying a Study Population

The industry standard used to evaluate the success and performance of real estate

salespeople is sales volume. Sales volume is the sum total of the sale price of properties

closed by an agent for a calendar year. Sustained success is having a high sales volume in

comparison to competing real estate agents each year for an extended number of years.

One study assumption is that sustained motivation supports sustained sales performance.

Developing criteria for sales volume of highly successful salespeople came from

data extracted from the membership statistics of the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of

Realtor (MIBOR). Trendgraphix is software used to rank members by sales production in

volume or units. This group represents real estate sales transactions in central Indiana.

There are approximately 6,400 members as of 2005 (MIBOR, 2005).

High performance for this study is defined as a sales person selling more than $8

million in annual volume (equivalent to approximately $200,000 annual income),

sustained for more than 10 years. Less than 3% of the MIBOR real estate community is

in this sales volume category. In 2004, this small group closed more than $2.1 billion in

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sales, accounting for more than 25% of the total regional sales of $6.9 billion in volume

(MIBOR, 2005). The top 3% is 60% male and 40% female. The participant criteria were

refined by removing sale agents whose individual sales volumes included an entire office

operation with multiple agents, who were employed to sell bank-owned or government-

repossessed properties exclusively, or who were the exclusive agents for large

community-builders. The success performance for this study is not based on a single

customer relationship that could end unexpectedly (i.e., is nonsustainable) or an inflated

sales volume attained by including the efforts of many other sales agents under one name

(not representative of an individual’s efforts). The salespeople for this study use a

business model that is diverse in sources of sales, fully integrated within the real estate

communities, and has the dynamics of a sole proprietor.

Quantitative Design

A sample of 20 participants from a population of real estate salespeople in the

Indianapolis, Indiana metro area was selected. Ten of them had sales performance greater

than $8 million per year for more than 10 years, and 10 participants had sales

performance less than $2 million per year (equivalent to approximately $37,000 annual

income) for 10 years.

The Achievement Motivation Scale, Aspiration Index Scale, and the Self-

Determination Scale were used as data collection instruments that were given to the

participants (Deci& Ryan, 1985a). Achievement motivation and economic behavior have

been studied extensively by Atkinson & Feather (1966), leading to the following

conclusions:

The most directly relevant of these “needs” (need for achievement, affiliation and power) for explaining economic behavior is the need for achievement or

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achievement motive. This motive is defined as a tendency to strive for success in situations involving an evaluation of one’s performance in relation to some standards of excellence. A person with a strong motive to achieve tends to derive satisfaction from overcoming obstacles by his own efforts. He takes calculated risks, rather than playing long shots or being overly cautious. . . . The need for achievement seems most likely to be associated with upward mobility, long hours of work, desires to accumulate capital, educate one’s children, and entrepreneurial activity. (p. 207)

McClelland (1987) found evidence to suggest that too much motivation to achieve is

detrimental to performance, just as a shortage of motivation also hurts performance.

McClelland (1987) stated, “Neither the subjects with the highest or lowest motivation

performed as well as those with moderate motivation (achievement motivation scale vs.

performance)” (p. 244).

The questionnaires were delivered to each participant to complete. Upon

completion, the questionnaires were collected and the data were processed. The raw data

from the Achievement Motivation Scale Survey, Self-Determination Scale, and Aspiration

Index Scale were applied to a version of a Likert scale to obtain results, which were

continuous scores from low to high for the variable tested with the corresponding scales

(Gall, Gall, & Borg, 2003, p. 128). The multivariate correlational method was applied to

the results and represented the relationship between the multiple variables tested and the

participants’ sales performance. The results were displayed in a statistical graph (see

tables in Chapter 4, Results).

Qualitative Design

The qualitative study focused on the life experiences; mentors, if any; and

assessment of the participants’ evolution of self-concept or self-esteem as it related to

their career success. These data were obtained using semistructured interviews and a

38

guideline of questions for direction during the interviews. This design extracted the

participants’ stages of life experiences in the most descriptive way.

The same 10 top-performing salespeople who participated in the quantitative

portion of this study participated in the qualitative interviews. Selection criteria for the

participants were the same and included sales performance, years in the real estate

business, and sustained number of years of success. The interviews were conducted at a

public place of their choice and a voice recorder and written notes were used to record the

data.

The textural, descriptive, recorded interview data were analyzed to develop a

category system (Gall, Gall, & Borg, 2003, p. 250). This method was useful in

formulating a system as an organizational tool to bring about the general emerging

themes from the participants’ interview data. These themes were reviewed to interpret the

data by applying past research findings to the possible interpretations as well as using

extensive managerial business experience associated with the training and coaching of

highly successful real estate salespeople (Creswell, 2003).

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CHAPTER 4

RESULTS

Quantitative Results

Results from the quantitative data centered on three scales; Self-determination,

Achievement Motivation, and Aspirations. Mean scores were posted in graphs from

participants with sales production more than $8 million and were compared to

participants with sales production below $2 million. All participants had been at these

levels of real estate sales (above or below respectively) for more than 10 years. These

results are shown in Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and Table 3 on the following pages.

The Achievement Motivation Scale is a personality inventory designed to measure

a broad construct of work-related achievement motivation. It enables users to test for

different facets of achievement motivation. The scale is based upon the accepted theories

of the achievement motives.

The mean score for the participants with $8 million or more in annual sales was

moderately high at 14 on the Achievement Motivation Scale. Participants with less than

$2 million in annual sales had a mean score of 11.7, resulting in a 20% lower mean score

(Table 3). The results suggest that high-producing salespeople have a greater motivation

to achieve than lower producing salespeople in this study.

The Self-Determination Scale was designed to assess individual differences in the

extent to which people tend to function in a self-determined way. It is considered a

relatively enduring aspect of people’s personalities and reflects being more aware of their

feelings and their sense of self and feeling a sense of choice with respect to their behavior

and perceived choice of one’s actions.

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Figure 3. Achievement motivation.

41

Figure 4. Self-determination: Perceived choice subscale.

42

Figure 5. Extrinsic aspiration.

43

Figure 6. Intrinsic aspirations.

44

Figure 7. All aspirations.

45

Table 2. Emerging Categories of Motivation

Categories Descriptions

High self-esteem • Elicited by the sense of self-worth for doing an excellent job • Referrals from satisfied past clients • Positive recognition by peers and clients • Family/mentor influence

Autonomy Exhibit: • Awareness of sense of self • Sense that one has choice • Self-determination (influences results)

Intrinsic aspirations

• Exhibit need for achievement • Value affiliation • Value self-growth • Value relationships

Extrinsic aspirations

• Measure wealth and success by high income • Portray positive image by financial success

Affective emotional disposition

Exhibit: • Optimism • Empathy: Emotional intelligence • Enthusiasm • Persistence; high work ethic

Conative

• Meet individually selected goals • Take control of one’s life • Develop or maintain self-efficacy

The mean score for participants whose annual sales were $2 million or below was

3.1 using the Self-Determination subscale, which measures one’s feelings of perceived

choice of one’s behavior and actions. Participants whose annual sales were at or more

than $8 million had a mean score of 4.1, resulting in a 32% higher mean score (Figure 5

above). These results suggest that top-producing salespeople have a greater degree of

perceived choice in their actions when compared to the lower producing salespeople in

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this study. A high degree of perceived choice for the top producers (4.1 mean score out of

5 points) supports autonomy orientation as part of their motivational construct.

The Aspiration Index was developed to assess people’s aspirations. There are

seven categories of aspirations: the extrinsic aspirations for wealth, fame, and image; the

intrinsic aspirations for meaningful relationships, personal growth, and community

contributions; and the aspiration of good health, which is neither clearly intrinsic nor

extrinsic. Participants rated: (1) the importance to themselves of each aspiration, (2) their

beliefs about the likelihood of attaining each, and (3) the degree to which they have

already attained each.

The Intrinsic Aspirations mean score for participants with annual sales at or less

than $2 million was slightly lower, at 5.5, than the mean score of 5.6 for participants with

sale volume greater than $8 million (Figure 6 above). The Extrinsic Aspirations mean

score for participants with sales volume greater than $8 million was significantly higher

(74%), at 4.7, as compared to 2.7 for the participants with annual sales volume below $2

million (Figure 3 above). A key difference between the groups was that the higher

volume participants (mean 5.4) scored much higher (80% above) in the category of

wealth aspirations as compared to the lower volume participants (mean 3.0). Both groups

scored high in meaningful relationships with a mean score of 6.1 each out of 7 (Figure 5

above).

Both participant groups scored high in intrinsic aspirations, which may suggest

they are primarily intrinsically motivated (Figure 6 above). A significant difference,

however, was how much higher the higher volume group scored in extrinsic aspirations

(74% higher) than the lower volume group (Figure 5 above). This scale may have

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revealed within this study group that successful real estate salespeople have dominant

intrinsic motivation/aspirations combined with a high level of extrinsic focus (wealth) as

components of their motivation.

In summary, the results showed that very successful salespeople in this study had

a moderately high need for achievement and a high sense of autonomy. They were

intrinsically motivated with personal growth and relationships being particularly

important to them. Though they did not score as high in most extrinsic aspirations

compared to intrinsic aspirations, wealth did have a high mean score for the very

successful sales group.

Qualitative Results

The qualitative interview data were analyzed, and the analysis led to several

emerging themes of motivation common among the top salespeople in this study. These

themes were organized into categories with brief descriptions of the meaning of those

categories summarized in Table 2 above. These categories are based on a summary of

motivational sources developed by Huitt (2001; see Figure 3). The categories were

components of the participants’ motivations to seek a high level of success in real estate

sales and were supported by answers to the interview questions. The interview questions

were designed, in part, from findings of other motivational research studies as noted in

the review of the literature (Deci & Ryan, 1985a, 2002; McClelland, 1985, Sheldon,

2001). The interview questions were posed from several different perspectives with a

goal to uncover what motivated the study participants to be so successful in real estate

sales. The following is a summary of the more prominent characteristics that emerged

from the interview questions followed by the percentage of participants in the study who

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had those characteristics. Phrases or words in italics link the described characteristics to

the categories summarized in Table 2 above:

(1) Career success was a motivating source for the need to achieve a high self-

esteem. (100%)

(2) An optimistic attitude played a role in one’s self-determination. (90%)

(3) The economic environment within the family unit growing up was middle

class rather than upper class or lower class. (100%)

(4) One or two people, typically a parent, had a profound influence on the

participant regarding ideas of success, work ethic, and the sense of achieving

high self-worth by doing a good job. (100%)

(5) A key attraction to real estate sales was the sense of autonomy. The need for

autonomy was a big part of the participant’s drive. (100%)

(6) Money was not a primary motivator; however, it was a key piece of feedback

for determining or measuring one’s level of success. (90%)

(7) Conation expressed by goals and aspirations tended to be more specific at the

beginning of the participants’ sales careers and then diversified with a looser

organization to them as success occurred over time; however, they always

maintained a success “vision.” (80%)

(8) The participants ranked the following motivation characteristics in order of

importance to them: achievement, affiliation, intimacy, altruism, power, and

variation. Achievement was ranked number one followed by affiliation by

90% of the study participants.

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(9) The motivational factor for sustaining the sales performance success year after

year was about sustaining high self-esteem. (80%)

Recognition derived from participants’ concepts of career success supported the

sense of high self-worth and esteem as reported by all participants in some part of their

interview stories. Self-esteem is central to this participant’s statement:

I look at my peers who are very successful and I ask the question: what is the common denominator? Poor self-image may not be the right words but the continual need to overcome the sense that one is not quite good enough, drives us. Success in real estate sales has fed my idea of self-image and the need for acceptance. . . . I believe a lot of people get their ego from their career.

Another participant was extrinsically motivated by wealth and image:

I just needed a sincere, “You’re doing good.” The persona of what wealth and “stuff” has brought me, through the success of my business, has been the driving force in my sales performance. I was brought up around people including my family who had pretty nice stuff and that appealed to me.

Self-esteem is woven into this story from a study participant:

I grew up in a rural community. My family owned a farm. I learned my work ethic from them. You worked until the jobs that my mom gave me were done. Everyone had to carry their weight, even if you were 10 years old. From this I began to feel a sense of achievement as I scratched completed tasks off my list. When I finish a job today, I feel great. I feel a sense of accomplishment; good self-esteem. What-ever job I had, I had a great sense of curiosity; I want to learn more and do more than my peers around me. That seems to feed my curiosity and sense of accomplishment. . . . I paid my way through college, which was very unusual for a girl at the time. I felt proud to have accomplished that on my own. When I came into real estate, I left a great job, but I had a rotten boss. My self-esteem was pretty low from my experience with him. It was very hurtful working for him. When I first came in to real estate, I thought I could do well in selling a high number of units rather than high sales volume. I had pretty low self-esteem, and I was afraid to put wealthy buyers in my car so I pursued a lower price range buyer. I felt like these people needed help and I knew I could help them. Do I have greater self-esteem today than when I started? It is a little higher; I probably have more confidence. What feeds self-esteem for me is that I do a good job for people and that they refer me to other people. It is not a new fur coat or expensive car that has meaning to me. When I first started all I ever wanted to do in real estate was to make $100,000. That was an achievement. It really wasn’t about the money but hitting a milestone of what I thought was success.

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A common theme that emerged from the interview data reveals that there was at

least one person in each participant’s life who had a great influence on them, and that

influence contributed to the formation of motivation for career success. The question was

asked of participants: Was there a person in your life that played a major role in

influencing your thinking and behavior that significantly contributed to your career

success? For example, one participant stated,

I grew up in a middle-class family with a German father who always conveyed the message that my work could always be a little better, that what I did wasn’t quite good enough. With that, there is this innate or inborn sense that I have to do better. For many successful people I know, I sense that while growing up there was something missing so they had to prove to themselves that “hey, I’m okay.”

Another participant confirms the motivating influence from a friend by stating,

As a teenager or in one’s 20s, I believe it is very important as it was for me to have someone in your life who truly believes in you. I have a mentor friend who played that role in my life.

Another participant made these comments in his interview:

Two of my best friend’s dads had a big influence on me. They were both very, very, hard workers. I worked for one of them at a retail store while in high school. The social sales experience I learned there, I still use today. He taught me what hard work was and how it benefited his lifestyle by making very good money. I am those two guys.

One participant reminisced about his upbringing and the influence from his father:

Some of the same principles my father had about work I developed. It was very important that he did very well at his job. I think the recognition he received was important to him also. As a child, prior to the depression, they were well off. Then the depression came and they lost it all. As an adult, he was bound not to ever let that happen. That carried over in a big way to me. He sent the message that it was very important to be successful. Success brings a good feeling about one’s self. When I got into work, that work ethic, that drive, was natural for me.

An important attraction to real estate is the sense of autonomy; the entrepreneurial

aspects of running one’s own business, and the freedom of choice that comes with that

endeavor, such as not being relocated, not working for someone else, or being rewarded

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in proportion for the work performed. Autonomy feeds the motivational drive as reported

by the study participants. For example, one participant state, “The flexibility of choice

coupled with the fact you don’t have a boss telling you what to do was a great attraction

for me to come into real estate.”

Conation, as expressed by career goals and visions of what success looked like,

seem to evolve over time as reported by most of the study participants. They all started

out with realistic, achievable goals at the beginning of their careers and built upon their

success by continuing to increase what they wanted to achieve in sales over time.

As career success continued, many of the participants’ passions to achieve have

diversified into other areas of their lives. One participant became an accomplished

cyclist, and others an expert marksman, an excellent golfer, and an accomplished writer.

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CHAPTER 5

DISCUSSION

Simply studying the multitude of variables that arise from human motivation has

limitations without establishing the conception of the whole person. A whole concept of

person, which tentatively organizes all the parts in relation to one another, is essential,

even though the conception continues to be revised. Decharms (as cited in Fyans, 1980)

suggested that one way to illustrate conceptualizing people is to consider their

“motivation, perception, communication, and learning” (p. 448). This study does not

attempt to interpret the conception of the whole person that is ultimately necessary to

understand completely what leads people to certain outcomes in life, including career

success. This discussion focuses on a part of the whole person, that is, motivation and

how motivation relates to a real estate salesperson’s career success.

Components of Motivation

The themes that emerged from the study describe the key components of

motivation in successful real estate salespeople.

A motivation characteristic that was unanimous among the study participants was

that career success at a sustained level was fed by the drive to seek high self-worth from

the ongoing recognition for doing an excellent job. The formation of motivation for

success to serve the desire for high self-esteem was, in part, influenced by family

experiences or mentoring from a prominent friend during adolescence. Additionally, the

real estate entrepreneurial arena generated a great sense of autonomy that best served

their motivation characteristics of the real estate salesperson. This contrasts with the

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successful corporate executives whose motivation thrives on the sense of power found

within the corporate arena (Kaplan et al., 1991).

The findings from this study are generally consistent with much of the existing

research findings of other motivation studies.

If doing extremely well in real estate sales is motivated by the need to maintain a

high self-esteem as revealed in the interviews, do these salespeople generally possess a

high self-esteem prior to becoming successful? Much of the research suggests that

successful people have an established form of high self-esteem prior to their successes.

However, the continuum of life successes does enhance high self-esteem. William James

(1890) developed a formula for self-esteem that supports these results:

Self-esteem = Success / Pretensions (2)

Kernis and Paradise (as cited in Deci & Ryan, 2002) developed two broad perspectives

on what it means to possess high self-esteem. These perspectives could be used to help

interpret the study participants’ type of high self-esteem. One perspective characterized

high esteem as follows:

Reflecting positive feelings of self-worth that are well-anchored and secure, and that are positively associated with a wide range of psychological health and well-being indices. . . . From this vantage point, high self-esteem individuals are people who like, value, and accept themselves, “warts and all.” They do not feel a need to be superior to others, but instead are satisfied with being on an “equal plane with others”. Attempts to bolster their feelings of worth through self-promoting or self-protective strategies are rare, given that their feelings of self-worth are not easily challenged. Typically they experience everyday positive and negative outcomes in ways that do not implicate their global feelings of worth or value. We refer to this perspective as describing secure high self-esteem. (p. 339)

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Kernis and Paradise contrasted this perspective with fragile high self-esteem

characterized as:

Reflecting positive feelings of self-worth that seemingly are fragile and vulnerable to threat, inasmuch as they are associated with many different types of self-protective or self-enhancement strategies . . . (fragile) high self-esteem individuals are especially caught up in how they feel about themselves and that they will do whatever it takes to bolster, maintain, and enhance these self-feelings. . . . High self-esteem reflects an aggressively self-enhancing presentational style. (p. 340)

Kernis and Paradise suggested that there are several ways to distinguish between secure

and fragile high self-esteem. Understanding the distinctions may be helpful in developing

a better understanding of a core component in what drives successful real estate

salespeople. One way to detect secure from fragile high self-esteem involves making a

distinction between conscious and nonconscious feelings of self-worth. Implicit self-

esteem, reflecting feelings of self-worth, resides in the unconscious but can seep through

to affect people’s emotions and behaviors. Explicit self-esteem resides in the

cognitive/rational system and reflects the feelings of self-worth that people are conscious

of possessing. Asking the question, do a person’s implicit and explicit self-esteem

constructs match, can lead to identifying the type of self-esteem they possess (Kernis &

Paradise, as cited in Deci & Ryan, 2002). Learning the type of self-esteem a person may

possess and comparing it with what is observed with the characteristics of fragile high

self-esteem observed in the study participants may help predict how well one might do in

real estate sales.

Another way to distinguish between fragile and secure high self-esteem is by

determining whether a person’s high self-esteem is dependent upon certain outcomes.

Deci and Ryan (2002) made the distinction between contingent and true high self-esteem:

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Contingent self-esteem refers to feelings about oneself that results from—indeed, are dependent on-matching some standard of excellence or living up to some interpersonal or intrapsychic expectations. For someone with contingent high-self-esteem, pre-occupations with one’s standings on specific evaluative dimensions and how one is viewed by others, together with engaging in continual process of setting and meeting evaluative standards for validational purposes, constitute the sin qua non of everyday life. Contingent self-esteem involves a highly ego-involved form of self-regulation in which one’s behavior and outcomes are linked directly to self and other based (dis)approval. (p. 344)

The need to be number one, the recognition associated with achieving, and the continual

process of meeting the high standards of sales performance match with the descriptive

stories collected from the study participants of top salespeople.

Contingent high self-esteem is fragile because it remains high only as long as one

is successful at satisfying relevant criteria. If one is successful, high self-esteem may

appear to be secure and well-anchored. Should these successes cease, the person’s self-

esteem may plummet (Kernis & Paradise, as cited in Deci & Ryan, 2002). Hence, the

high stakes of perpetuating high self-esteem may be the sustain part of the drive equation

that motivates a top sales producer to do extremely well year in and year out.

Determining what they feel they must satisfy to maintain their positive self-feeling would

provide significant insight for understanding what truly drives the success of a real estate

agent with contingent high self-esteem.

Another consideration for the sustain portion of the motivation to continue career

sales success may be the possible migration from contingent high self-esteem to a true

high self-esteem as a person grows and matures. The average age for the study

participants was early 50s. Deci and Ryan (2002) stated,

True high self-esteem reflects feelings of self-worth that are well anchored and secure, that do not depend upon the attainment of specific outcomes and that do not require continual validation. True high self-esteem develops when one’s actions are self-determined and congruent with one’s inner, core self, rather than a reflection of externally-imposed or internally-based demands. Activities are

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chosen and goals are undertaken because they are of interest and importance. Furthermore, relationships with others are characterized by mutual acceptance, intimacy, and understanding. (p. 345)

All of the top producing study participants achieved financial and career success

for a number of years (22 years average in real estate). All of the top performer

interviews suggested that an evolution and depth developed in their lives that affected

their drive and ambitions. Though it is extremely important for them to maintain top sales

performance, many of the participants stated that their life dimensions grew and

expanded, including an increased focus on community service, hobbies, personal growth,

family, friends, and spirituality. This may be supported in part by their high intrinsic

aspiration scores and moderately high achievement motivation scores (already done that?

See Figures 3 and 6). Is this part of the journey toward self-actualization as suggested by

Maslow (1954) or a migration toward congruence as defined by true high self-esteem?

Either consideration could be a very powerful, continual motivating force integrated

within all life dimensions inclusive of top sales performance.

Kaplan et al. (1991) suggested an approach that may define how motivation to

maintain high self-esteem and career success relate to each other. Character is a set of

deep-seated strategies used to enhance or protect one’s sense of self-worth. In his

research, Kaplan et al. tied character and self-worth to career success for highly

successful executives by identifying this type of character, expansive. Kaplan et al.

believed that the expansive character stems from several sources. It may come from

childhood experiences that create a fear of not fulfilling a destiny thrust upon them by

loving parents whose feeling for them were always warmest when they did their very

best. It may come from the need to avoid feeling worthless and contemptible, as a child

can come to feel at the hands of uncaring or punishing parents. Some of the interview

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data reflected such childhood experiences. An example is the stern German father who

sent the message to his son as he was growing up that his work could always be better.

Self-determination is a component of drive and motivation for success. Some

concepts of self-determination relate to persistence, that is, the intense focus on achieving

an objective. Other concepts include the behaviors and actions that determine the self.

Career success can play a major role in determining the self and one’s concept of self

(Deci & Ryan, 2002). The formation of self from an image derived in part from a

successful career is a common theme that emerged from this study.

Deci and Ryan (2002) found in their research that self-determination was affected

by internal initiating events. They stated,

People can become ego-involved in an activity and its outcome. That is, their feelings of self-worth can become hinged to their performance such that they do the activity to prove to themselves that they are good at the activity and thus worthy individuals. (p. 13)

The high-success study participants were very successful, had been accomplished for

many years, and generated wealth and recognition. What may have motivated them in the

earlier years of their careers could be very different today. It may be possible that the

ego-involved drive may have migrated to a more integrated, self-actualized place, a

theory suggested by Maslow (1954).

A critical component of motivation and drive as revealed by the study participants

is their ability to stay focused and stable particularly when they face a significant setback

or failure in performance or achievement. They are exceptionally persistent. This

characteristic is common among top performers observed in other motivational research

studies (Deci & Ryan, 2002).

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Top sales performers in this study had a higher degree of autonomy orientation

(Figure 4, above). Autonomy orientation promotes self-determined functioning, whereas

control orientation relates more to pressured compliance (or rebellion) and impersonal

orientation promotes self-derogation and amotivation. Autonomy orientation involves a

high degree of experienced choice with respect to the initiation and regulation of one’s

own behavior. This orientation leads people to select jobs that allow greater initiative, to

interpret their existing situations as more autonomy-promoting, and to organize their

actions on the basis of personal goals and interest rather than controls and constraints

(Deci & Ryan, 1985a). Autonomy was the number one reason that each study participant

was drawn to real estate sales. This orientation relates to a high level of ego development

in terms of unified or integrated self. This orientation is based on a strong sense of self

and can be associated with a higher level of self-esteem as compared to control

orientation or impersonal orientation (Deci & Ryan, 1985a).

Different from autonomy orientation, control orientation involves people

organizing their behavior with respect to controls either in the environment or inside

themselves. They tend to do things because they should, and they rely on controlling

events such as deadlines or surveillance to motivate them. Control orientation was not

common among the study participants and was even considered demotivating to some of

them. For example, an autonomy-oriented study participant felt controlled by a boss in a

former career, and this sense of control was a key reason why the participant left that job

and started a career in real estate.

Factors such as pay and status are very important in the jobs that control-oriented

people take, and these choices are organized around extrinsic factors. One might interpret

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successful agents to have a certain degree of control orientation, given that they scored

higher than the less successful agents (Figure 5 above) in extrinsic factors; however, the

successful agents were dominant (33% higher) in autonomy orientation (Figure 4 above),

verses less successful agents. Control orientation does not support self-determination.

Although one can have control over the attainment of outcomes, and therefore one can be

intentional, one’s behavior is perceived to be initiated and regulated by those outcomes

rather than by one’s own choice (Deci & Ryan, 1985a).

Impersonal orientation involves people experiencing behavior as beyond their

intentional control. This is the least likely orientation observed in the high success group

of study participants. Impersonally oriented people experience tasks as being too

difficult, depressed feelings about their current situation, and strong anxiety about

entering new situations. Impersonal orientation leads to the least amount of self-

determination because the person with this orientation has no experience of being able to

attain needed outcomes, let alone of being the initiator of goal-directed behavior (Deci &

Ryan, 1985a).

In the area of aspirations, the highly successful study participants scored high in

wealth, relationships, and personal growth. The extrinsic aspirations for wealth could be a

cross-motivational characteristic to serve intrinsic aspirations for community, self-

acceptance, and affiliation. Intrinsic motivations of relationship and personal growth

support (high for study participants; see Table 2) autonomy orientation, which lends itself

to a high degree of self-determination, actions, and behavior that determine the self (Deci

& Ryan, 2002). Combining this orientation with a high degree of aspirations for wealth

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could be core components in the ongoing drive to sustain the high level of sales

performance.

Though most of the study participants cited wealth as an important aspiration

(deemed extrinsic), there is strong evidence that money itself is not an incentive for

people who are high in need achievement. They do use money as a form of feedback on

how well they are doing and how successful their performance has been (McClelland,

1985). The interview results were consistent with this finding.

Study participants who were successful in sales had a mean score that was

moderately high on the Achievement Motivation Scale (Figure 3, above). Research

supports the notion that people who are high in need achievement are oriented positively

toward work. They show a better start toward occupational success because they are more

likely to pursue occupations that are realistic in terms of their abilities and performance to

date (McClelland, 1985). McClelland cited several studies that support the correlation of

career success with a high score for need achievement:

Individuals perceived as leaders in small towns had higher need achievement scores than those not so perceived. . . . Following the career of executive in a large company over a 3-year period found that those with high n achievement scores received a significantly larger number of promotions than those with low n achievement scores. (p. 253) In this study, the highly successful participants’ mean score on the Achievement

Motivation Scale was moderately high, though their mean score was higher (20%) than

participants with sales less than $2 million (Figure 3, above). The moderate rather than

very high scores may run counter to the notion that a higher need to achieve has a greater

influence on the level of career success. Given that the study participants achieved

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success for a number of years, one explanation that addresses this anomaly was cited by

McClelland (1985):

At the very highest socioeconomic class levels, n Achievement scores tend to drop off somewhat, perhaps because achievement challenges are less at this high level of prosperity and success. (p. 253) According to McClelland (1985), high “n achievement” measurement of a

person’s motivation or need to achieve should make people more likely to be interested in

and able to do well at business, for business requires that people take moderate risks,

assume personal responsibility for their own performance, pay close attention to feedback

in terms of costs and profits, and find new or innovative ways to make a new product or

provide a new service. He stated, “These are precisely the characteristics that laboratory

research had shown belong more to the person high than low n Achievement”

(McClelland, 1985, p. 254). Real estate sales, known for its entrepreneurial

characteristics, fits well with McClelland’s (1985) observations that

an association between n Achievement and entrepreneurship occurred across cultures. . . . A further examination of this difference indicated that it was particularly the salespeople from these countries (United States, Poland, and Italy) who scored significantly higher in n Achievement than other managers. (p. 254). A consideration for motivation that could be tied in part to career success is the

drive for well-being. Well-being can be influenced by life goals. This process includes

both the focus on an individual’s competence in pursuing goals and the quality of the

goals pursued; what goals are pursued, why one pursues them, and how well one pursues

them. Schmuck and Sheldon (2001) suggested,

People are much happier when they consider long-term future goals, than when they entertain primarily short-term agendas and projects. In part this is because future oriented persons have a buffer against stressful events and the feelings of hopefulness that can accrue from temporary setbacks, and in part it is because

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they are enabled to form more detailed plans, plans which give them enduring optimism regarding “things to come.” (p. 11)

The interview data from the study participants showed them to be goal-oriented with a

clear vision of what success looked like to them, and that vision was revised as goals

were met or expanded. There was a difference in how the goals were expressed. Some

had very specific, written goals; others had goals that were looser and more of a vision. In

all cases, each participant had a high level of optimism and developed a confidence as

successes occurred for achieving a desired outcome.

Most the top performers scored high in the personal growth area of the Aspiration

Scale (Figure 7 above). People profit in terms of well-being if they maintain their longer-

term aspiration—especially aspirations directed at self-development and altruistic contact

(Schmuck & Sheldon, 2001). Underlying this concept for well-being as a component of

motivation counters the myth that money in of itself serves well-being. Research

discussed by Schmuck and Sheldon (2001) suggested,

Focusing on money, one may both derive debilitating stress and sacrifice a primary source of satisfaction, namely, relationships. People with a focus on extrinsic goals such as financial success, social recognition and appealing appearance do not generally profit in terms of well-being, even if they attain their goals. Instead, these subjects report generally lower general well-being, lower self-esteem, more drug use, and a lower quality of social relations, as compared to subjects with more intrinsic aspirations, directed at affiliation, community feeling and self-acceptance. (p. 12) Goals and setting goals were part of the motivational characteristics reported by

the study participants during their interviews. Goals can be distinguished between

intrinsic aspirations (emotional intimacy, community service, and personal growth) and

extrinsic aspirations (financial success, physical, image, and fame). The top-performing

salespeople scored higher on the intrinsic aspiration scale (Figures 5, 6 above). This is

consistent with the observations of Kasser and Ryan (1993):

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Intrinsic individuals were higher on a variety of well-being and adjustment outcomes. In contrast, extrinsically oriented persons were lower in many indices of adjustment and well-being. Ironically, despite being more prosocial and less materialistic, intrinsically-oriented people also tend to experience better financial and economic outcomes, to the extent that they congregate and cooperate with each other. Furthermore, intrinsically-oriented persons are much less likely to bring about the “tragedy of the commons,” in which individuals each take too much for them, leading to the collapse of the resources. (p. 28)

The sustainability of long-term success for the participants (all scored high on intrinsic

aspirations) could be explained in part by this concept of the tragedy of the commons and

how intrinsically oriented people navigate their life in a sustainable way.

An important piece of motivation for success in real estate sales and observed in

the study interview data may be how a person’s goals are built around self-concordance:

the selection of goals that correctly represent their true or actual needs, values, and

interests; goals inspired by a person’s authentic developing interests and deeply felt

values; and the degree to which a person’s goals agree with the person’s true or actual

condition. Sheldon (2001) asked, “Has the person managed to select initiatives which

properly represent his or her underlying condition and developmental personality process,

thereby gaining the potential to forward that process in a significant way?” (p. 21)

A common theme that emerged from the participants was how goals were

established. The successful study participants seemed to know what they wanted and how

it would best serve their values and sense of self-worth. Almost unanimously, they started

their careers with written, specific goals revised annually as suggested by most business

operations literature. As goals were met and confidence in their success developed, the

participants expressed goals more as a vision and were less specific. The high-success

study participants did have a more relaxed sense of their career direction, what they

wanted it to look like, and how it was going to benefit them. This relaxed sense may stem

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from the fact that the participants have enjoyed success on average for more than 22

years. One participant stated that at the beginning of the career, they formulated written,

precise, yearly business goals because it was asked of them by a manager or suggested to

them by a seminar: “I do have goals but they are more loosely organized today then when

I first started and I typically do not write them down. If I do, it is because my manager

has asked me to do so.”

A consideration that might explain why specific, written goals are not common

for these study individuals at this point in their careers (average 22 years in the business)

is that written goals, particularly when suggested to be done by an outside source

(managers) feels controlling to them. Deci and Ryan (2002) suggested in cognitive

evaluation theory that controlling aspects of the social environment that represent

pressure for a specified outcome (goals written to please a manager could be one)

undermine intrinsic motivation. All of the study participants scored high in intrinsic

motivation.

The change in how goals and aspiration were expressed over time by the study

participants may also support Maslow’s basic position that as one becomes more self-

actualized and self-transcendent, one becomes more wise (develops wisdom) and

automatically knows what to do in a wide variety of situations (Huitt, 2001). Maslow’s

ultimate conclusion that the highest levels of self-actualization are transcendent could

ultimately be the true source of motivational evolution for the highly successful real

estate salesperson. The complexities of human motivation support the need to address all

of the variables in a holistic manner to allow us to have a more complete understanding

of what drives behavior, including career success.

65

Future Research Considerations

Several changes to this study may uncover other findings in future research. For

example, changing the criteria for the selection of participants may be useful. Top

producers who have been in the business between 5 and 10 years might yield a different

set of quantitative values that could better relate to a beginning agent who is thinking

about getting into the business. The current participants had an average of 22 years in the

business, which may have placed them in a different category of needs and motivation.

A focus on self-esteem assessment and its contingencies could produce results

that might be better predictors of future sales performance of real estate salespeople.

Some of the top sales producers have teams of selling assistants that collectively

report sales volume under the credit of the primary agent. Though all of the top producers

in this study had high sales volumes as individuals prior to setting up a team, part of the

answer for the sustained top sales performance comes from a functioning group or team.

Some level of leadership and managerial skills beyond the inquiry of motivation could

play a role in their sales success. “Getting what you want by helping others get what they

want” would be a useful topic for future study.

A moderately high mean score rather than very high score for the need to achieve

was reported in the data for the highly successful (Figure 3 above). Because the

participants had already achieved wealth from their success in sales, it may be possible

that the need to achieve dimension may have softened and the need to affiliate or need for

power may have become more present. Further research could investigate this possibility.

A larger study sample of both top producers and sales producers with less than $2

million annually could yield a greater depth of data. The findings from this study are

66

limited to the data generated by the participants in this study. This may not reflect the

possibility that a broader understanding of what motivates highly successful real estate

salespeople may occur by using a much larger sample from the population of highly

successful real estate salespeople.

Developing hiring assessments that determine whether a person has a high self-

esteem may be useful in future research. Assessments that uncover a person’s

contingencies for high self-esteem may be the kind of inquiry that could lead to a better

understanding of whether a person is well matched for real estate sales.

67

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