Abstract

The purpose of the study was to compare the knowledge structure among the high, middle and low performance groups of insurance salespeople. The knowledge structure of salespeople were analyzed in terms of categorical knowledge and script knowledge. The number of categories used to classify customers was used to measure the horizontal dimension of categorical knowledge. The script knowledge was examined using 3 dimensions: contingency, distinctiveness and hypotheticality. Research findings can be summarized as follows: Firstly, the higher the level of performance, the higher the scores of overall knowledge structure. Secondly, in the case of categorical knowledge, significant differences were found between high group and middle or low group. On the other hand, the score of script knowledge was higher in the middle and high groups than in the low performance group. Thirdly, analyses of 3 dimensions of script knowledge showed that the scores of contingency and distinctiveness dimensions were higher in the middle and high group than the low performance group. The score of hypotheticality, on the other hand, was higher in the high group than the middle and low performance group. Finally, the study discussed managerial Implications, limitations of the research and suggested several directions for future research.