Seligman, M. E., & Schulman, P. (1986). Explanatory style as a predictor of productivity and quitting among life insurance sales agents. Journal of personality and social psychology, 50(4), 832-838.

Tested the prediction of the reformulated learned helplessness model, which claims that the tendency to explain bad events by internal, stable, and global causes potentiates quitting when bad events are encountered. Two studies were conducted, using a total of 197 life insurance agents as Ss. Explanatory style, as measured by the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ), correlated with and predicted the performance of the Ss. In a cross-sectional study, Ss scoring in the top half of the ASQ sold 37% more insurance in their 1st 2 yrs of service than those scoring in the bottom half. In a prospective 1-yr study of newly hired agents, Ss who scored in the top half of the ASQ when hired remained in their job at twice the rate and sold more insurance than those scoring in the bottom half of the ASQ. These 2 studies support the claim that a pessimistic explanatory style leads to poor productivity and quitting when bad events are experienced, and they extend the usefulness of the ASQ to the workplace.

 

 

Seligman, M. E., & Schulman, P. (1986). Explanatory style as a predictor of productivity and quitting among life insurance sales agents. Journal of personality and social psychology, 50(4), 832-838.