Susan K. Delvecchio

• East Carolina University

For a variety of reasons, corporations have turned their attention to diversifying the sales force. If firms are to attract racial minorities, sales recruiters must be aware of differences in how African-American students perceive sales careers. This study evaluated 488 African-American and Caucasian business students in terms of their appeal for a...

At the strategic level, the role of the industrial salesperson has been described as managing a portfolio of different buyer– seller relationships. This study identifies specific sales tactics (i.e., customer-focused, competitor-focused, or productfocused) that support the development of these strategic relationships. Data gathered from a national...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of salespersons' attributions about managerial e‐monitoring on salespersons' customer orientation. Design/methodology/approach Hierarchical linear modeling was used to test the six study hypotheses. A main effects model was used to test the first two hypotheses, with a comparison of r...

How much latitude should the field sales manager allow his or her subordinates? Two schools of thought have addressed this question. This study tests proposals from these two approaches. The control-system approach contends the field sales managers behavior should be consistent with other sales organization controls. The findings here do not suppor...

Do higher levels of variable pay reduce salesperson intrinsic motivation? The pattern of findings from past sales management studies is intriguing and may suggest self-determination concepts are applicable. Testing this applicability on a cross-section of industrial salespeople, we found pay plans with higher variable proportions can lead to higher...

Purpose A strong and repeating theme in sales force automation (SFA) tool research is perceived usefulness. When salespeople perceived high levels of SFA tool usefulness, they report higher intent and actual use. The authors aim to apply agency theory to the concept of perceived usefulness (from the technology acceptance model) to explain why sales...

Although mobile computing offers the field salesperson distinct dvantages, adoption lags. This study examined differences in sales organisations. We found distinctive differences between non-adopters, adopters and innovators. Adopters tend to be more customer-driven relying on smaller well supported sales forces. Field sales forces yet to adopt are...

While salespeople are coached and trained to use an adaptive approach to selling, sales training tends to be assumptive about the inclusion of specific selling techniques. Part of this assumptive approach is the belief that the old-tried-and true techniques such as the testimonial form of closing are consistent with an adaptive selling approach. Re...

As firms attempt to broaden the racial diversity of their corporate sales force through recruiting activities, the perceptions of sales careers held by college recruits is an important issue. Although both black and white college students rate sales careers as being less appealing, previous research suggests that students differ in how they reach t...

Retailers offer consumers assurances and attempt to allay their fears over using their credit card for online transactions. Consumers, however, may not be reacting to these assurances. This exploratory study examines how consumers assess the risks associated with using their credit card online. Results of this study support the notion that consumer...

The most fundamental aspect of commerce is interaction between buyers and sellers. Accordingly, the psychological study of selling techniques can be considered as old as trade. This study investigated two categories of selling techniques composed of 17 objection-addressing and 13 sale-dosing strategies. Reported are survey responses from 242 indust...

This study examined the degree to which racial differences affect business studtents' perceptions of, and preferences for, several business career options. Because the conceptual and empirical literature is split on the effect that race has on a student's major selection, our study was exploratory. We used MANCOVA analysis to compare African Americ...

This study compared the perceptions of the salesperson to those of his or her respective manager. In this paired comparison of matched responses, findings indicate that salespeople’s evaluations of the degree of latitude they have over the sales call are significantly different from those of their managers. Salespeople perceive they are given more...

Tested the proposals of Leader–Member Exchange by examining the exchange of manager contributions (allowing the salesperson more operating freedom or latitude) and those of the salesperson. Data were obtained from surveys completed by 155 sales manager-salesperson dyads employed by manufacturing firms. Results show that while the receipt of manager...

Compares salespeople’s and managers’ perceptions of control. Salespeople in this sample of manufacturing firms perceive they are granted more control over sales-call related activities than their managers perceived they were granting. This lack of congruity, however, may not necessarily have a negative effect on job-related outcomes. A comparison o...

This study compares users and non-users of differenttypes of hardware and software to assess how information technology tools helpthe field salesperson in small businesses meet customers' needs. Under theassumptionthat small businesses are making substantial investments ininformation technology, a related goal of this research has been to assess th...

Despite two decades of studying career stage theory, sales management studies have yet to agree on whether significant changes occur sequentially. Given the methodological hurdles of any one study, it is not surprising to find this lack of agreement. Thus, the purpose of this study was to pool the results from previous studies to compare sequential...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1992. Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 162-174).