The Transfer of Learning between Independent Direct Distributors: An Ethnographic Study in the Moroccan Context

Independent distributors play an outstanding role in direct selling, being sellers, brand ambassadors, and in direct relations with consumers. They transfer messages about their brands to their downstream networks. Direct selling entails questions about the learning transfer, the duplication of practices, and the transmission of information. A qualitative study was conducted using an ethnographic strategy through observations and interviews with independent direct distributors operating in the cosmetics sector in the central and northern regions of Morocco. The study found that the learning transfer process is not well-founded and does not rigorously respect the learning stages. It is qualified as a standard, monotonous learning whose efforts to improve and diversify are only maintained by certain distributors with a considerable level of education or a deep motivation and search for self-efficacy. Moreover, any brand message dissemination through training requires independent distributors to have interpersonal communication skills and an appropriation of digital tools to show a behaviour that matches the brand image.