Selling Politics? How the Traits of Salespeople Manifest Themselves in Irish Politicians

Dónal Ó Mearáin, Roger Sherlock, John Hogan

College of Business, Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin, Ireland.

DOI: 10.4236/ojps.2013.34024                

Abstract

This article seeks to uncover if some of the traits most associated with salespeople manifested themselves in the activities of candidates in the constituency of Dún Laoghaire during the 2007 Irish general election. Such a finding would suggest that just as political parties have looked to the marketing profession for their lead in developing political marketing, politicians are looking to, and adopting the traits of those in the sales profession. This would point to the traits that the modern politician must possess in order to get and remain elected. It would also raise significant questions in terms of how candidates present themselves to the electorate, as well as how they go about campaigning and formulating policy.

Keywords

Traits; Sales; Marketing; Election; Trust; Empathy; Ego

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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