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Sales Manager Behavior Control Strategy and Its Consequences: The Impact of Gender Differences
Abstract
Researchers have only recently focused attention on the importance of sales manager gender. Our study examines manager gender differences relative to behavior-based approaches to sales management control, and the consequences in salesperson attitudes, job stress, and work outcomes. Findings suggest that female field sales managers employ higher levels of behavior- control than males. Teams led by female managers display different and favorable attitudes, stress characteristics and work outcomes to those managed by male executives. © 2001 PSE National Educational Foundation. All rights reserved.
... Complexity is referred to by practitioners as the bane of the sales profession (Seriki et al., 2020). By considering the moderating effect of product complexity, this study can reveal the reason why previous studies show mixed results for the effect of behavioral control on job stress (Challagalla & Shervani, 1996;Katsikea et al., 2015;Piercy, Cravens, & Lane, 2001). An examination of a moderator also helps to clarify how much an organization's investment in time and effort to improve salespeople skills and abilities contributes to reducing their intention to leave an organization. ...
... Furthermore, several empirical studies confirm that supervisory control impacts salesperson turnover (e.g. Brashear, Manolis, & Brooks, 2005;Katsikea et al., 2015;Piercy et al., 2001). Based on the arguments and findings above, the first proposed hypothesis is as follows: ...
... Third, we delve into the relationship between sales management behavior-based control and job stressthe relationship between behavioral control and job stress is unclear in the literature. While some studies show a negative relationship between behavioral control and job stress (Katsikea et al., 2015;Piercy et al., 2001), other studies report a non-significant relationship (Challagalla & Shervani, 1996;Katsikea et al., 2015). This study examines the complexity of a product as a moderator in the relationship between capability control and work overload because mixed findings have indicated the existence of boundary conditions. ...
Drawing on the Job Demand-Resources (JD-R) theory, the present study investigates the underlying mechanisms through which capability control, a type of behavior-based control, influences salesperson turnover. Using a sample of 145 industrial salesperson–supervisor dyads from different industries, this study’s findings reveal that capability control contributes to decreasing salesperson turnover intentions, both directly and indirectly. Specifically, management capability control reduces work overload and increases work meaning, thus lowering salesperson turnover intention. The findings also confirm that these effects are contingent on the complexity of a product. When product complexity is low, capability control increases work overload and decreases work meaning, which has a positive effect on salesperson turnover intention. This study discusses these findings’ theoretical and managerial implications.
... The sales literature distinguishes between two types of selling performance: outcome and behavior (Anderson and Oliver 1987;Challagalla and Shervani 1996;Cravens et al. 1993;Krafft 1999;Oliver and Anderson 1994). Outcome performance is based on objective measures of sales-namely revenue, units, profit margin, or market share (Piercy, Cravens, and Lane 2001). Most salespeople are rewarded (via compensation) for achieving stated sales output goals (Galea 2005). ...
... Given data to confirm these types of sales outcomes, salespeople can be objectively measured relative to performance. Behavior performance is subjective in nature and is assessed by observing the various skills and activities that are important to fulfilling the responsibilities of the sales job (e.g., making sales calls, adaptive selling, teamwork, sales presentations, sales planning and sales support activities, etc.) and include actions such as active listening, adaptive selling, needs identification, teamwork, problem solving, sales planning, and sales support activities (Geok and Hsueh 2003;Piercy, Cravens, and Lane 2001;Piercy, Cravens, and Morgan 1998;Roman, Ruiz, and Munuera 2005). This dimension of sales performance is particularly important in business-to-business relationship selling. ...
... A total of 30 statements reflective of all five power bases were presented. To measure sales performance, we used the combination measure developed by Piercy, Cravens, and Lane (2001), which combines both sales outcome and sales behavior performance using four items and five items, respectively. Subjects were asked to rate their degree of agreement ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) with statements pertaining to their sales performance relative to output (e.g., sales revenue, units, profit margins, etc.) and behavior (e.g., sales calls, proposals delivered, post-sale support activities, etc.). ...
Purpose: The sales literature shows that motivation is a key determinant of salesperson performance. The literature also suggests that how managers use social power will have an effect on important organizational outcomes, including salesperson performance. This study examines the five bases of social power that sales managers use (reward, coercive, legitimate, referent, and expert) as moderating influences in the salesperson motivation (extrinsic and intrinsic)—salesperson performance linkage.
Methodology/approach: Data was collected from 128 salespeople using a cross industry survey. Eight hypotheses were developed and tested using SmartPLS (partial least squares).
Findings: The authors found support for five of eight hypotheses. Results and significant findings suggest that sales managers can impact sales performance in extrinsically motivated salespeople by using coercive and legitimate power. For intrinsically motivated salespeople, sales managers can impact sales performance by using coercive, legitimate, and referent power.
Research implications: Related to social power theory, the study suggests that salesperson performance is dependent upon a salesperson’s combined motivation orientation and the base of power used by the sales manager. The study also sets the stage for subsequent research on how managerial power can be studied as a moderator for other personal salesperson characteristics (e.g., self-esteem, self-efficacy, locus of control) and salesperson performance. In addition, understanding how these other personal characteristics interact with managerial bases of power to produce other organizational outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction, organizational commitment) are questions that sales researchers may wish to pursue via further study.
Practical implications: For practicing sales managers, the research study can provide guidance as to how they may tailor their use of power to best impact salesperson performance. For a manager to understand the motivational makeup of each salesperson, open communication and dialogue must occur at the onset of their relationship. Having the knowledge of what drives each salesperson, a manager can modify their leadership style (and choice of power base) to suit the situation. Customizing these sales management approaches may also have long-term benefits for the organization as studies show that doing so can lead to reduced levels of turnover as well as increased levels of performance.
Contribution of the article: This study is important to sales research, theory, and practice. The authors contribute to the selling and sales management literature by extending motivation and social power theories into the sales domain by showing that managerial power may be a key moderating determinant between a salesperson’s motivation and his/her sales performance. For practicing sales managers, we provide some insight and guidance for understanding how to throttle or moderate their use of various social power bases when dealing with individual salespeople who may differ in their motivation orientation, age, and degree of selling experience.
... Given the foregoing, it is clear that successful CSM activities should result in improved business results. Market orientation, according to Piercy and Cravens (2003), is a philosophy that governs the process of delivering customer value. Superior performance will result from superior customer value. ...
... This implies that the introduction of information technology has been of benefit to customers and the banks which has a greater impact on attracting the customers to the bank. The findings correlate with the work of Piercy and Cravens (2003) who derived market orientation as a philosophy contriving the process for delivering customer value. Also, Eta (2016) found out there is a positive link between the adoption of cutting edge technology by the firm and the banker/customer relationship. ...
The study examined the customers/banker's relationship and bank performance in Nigeria: An appraisal of Bank services. The specific objectives are Customer demand, Information technology, banker/customer, bank services and bank performance. Primary data were sourced through the use of a structured questionnaire while one hundred and twenty questionnaires were administered to customers of which eighty were returned and used for this research. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used. The descriptive involved frequency and percentage while inferential are regression and Correlation analysis. The results revealed that banker/customer and bank performance (r[80] = 0.975, p<0.01); customer demand (p< 0.05) and banker/customer and information technology (r[80] = 0.818, p<0.01). The study concluded that formal training of bankers on how to treat customers improves customer satisfaction and likewise, the effective policy on banker/customer relationship facilitates banks efficiency, there is high satisfaction of customer demand of bank services which means that there are effective and efficient services that enhance customers' satisfaction and with the way they treat their customers and the introduction of information technology has been of a benefit to customers and the banks which has a greater impact in attracting the customers to the bank.
... Sales performance has been studied relative to both salesperson measurable outcome (e.g., sales, market share, new accounts, profitability, etc.) and subjective behaviors (e.g., making sales calls, adaptive selling, teamwork, sales presentations, sales planning and sales support activities; Oliver and Anderson 1994). Thus, a combined sales performance scale constructed from eight items reflected both behavior and outcome performance (Piercy et al., 2001). Organizational commitment was measured using Mowday, Steers, and Porter's (1979) 14-item scale and five items from the scale developed by Churchill, Ford, and Walker (1974) were used to assess job satisfaction. ...
... Extrinsic motivation was not directly related to any of the outcomes of performance, organizational commitment, or job satisfaction and it is possible that this nonsignificant relationship could be due to the nature of our sales performance scale. According to Piercy et al. 2001, sales performance encompasses both subjectively observed sales behaviors as well as objectively measured sales outcomes. Given that our extrinsic motivation measure was centered on financial and monetary rewards typically linked to objective sales outcomes, it could be that the sales performance behavior component neutralized the extrinsic motivation effect on sales performance outcomes. ...
The purpose of this study is to develop and empirically test the mediating role of salesperson brand identification in the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivational dispositions and three salesforce outcomes–sales performance, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. We find salesperson brand identification mediates salesperson motivation’s impact on outcomes for extrinsically motivated salespeople. We combine motivational and social identification theories to provide a better understanding of the relationship between salesperson innate motivational dispositions and salesforce management outcomes. We provide additional insight as to how salesperson identification with the brand can boost performance, gain commitment, and increase job satisfaction among salespeople.
... Kidder (2002) did indeed find that individuals with a female identity were more likely to engage in altruistic OCB, while those with a male identity were likely to display civic virtue. A study by Piercy, Cravens, and Lane (2003) partly replicated these findings. The researchers found that male sales managers engaged in significantly more civic virtue behaviors, although no significant difference was found between men and women for altruism (Piercy et al., 2003). ...
... A study by Piercy, Cravens, and Lane (2003) partly replicated these findings. The researchers found that male sales managers engaged in significantly more civic virtue behaviors, although no significant difference was found between men and women for altruism (Piercy et al., 2003). Grounded in the underpinnings of cognitive resource diversity theory and empirical research, one would expect that an increased representation of women in selling teams would result in a larger variety, and therefore a larger number of OCB that are likely to improve team performance and benefit the organization in its entirety. ...
Team selling and the increasing representation of women in the sales force are two current trends contributing to the complexity of managing the sales environment, yet little work exists investigating the impact of women on selling team performance. This paper anchors on cognitive resource diversity theory and integrates relevant prior research to propose a new proposition-driven framework that explains why gender diversity of team members improves team performance. Specifically, we provide evidence to suggest that the addition of females to all-male selling teams should positively impact team performance by reducing the average turnover rate of high performers within the team; by enhancing relational skills, organizational citizenship behaviors, and shared leadership within the team; and by building on the favorable effects associated with team heterogeneity. We also consider the moderating effects that potentially deeply ingrained connections among members of all-male teams may have on changes in team gender composition, as well as the importance of a culture of organizational inclusion on the favorable effects of team heterogeneity overall. Managerial implications of increased female presence on teams are proffered, along with suggested next steps in research and limitations of the present conceptualization.
... Different dimensional structures have been employed. Some studies are based on Organ's (1988) five dimensions: OCB-altruism (helping), OCB-civic virtue, OCBconscientiousness, OCB-loyalty (courtesy), and OCB-sportsmanship (e.g., Kidder, 2002;Lin, 2008;Piercy, Cravens, & Lane, 2003;Ryan, 2001;Schusterschitz, Stummer, & Geser, 2012;Zhang, 2014). Other studies used two dimensions: OCB-I and OCB-O (e.g., Allen, 2006;Cheung & Cheung, 2013 We first summarize results based on Organ's (1988) five dimensions. ...
... However, results of this study should be viewed with caution given that the alpha values of all OCB facets were low (ranging from .54 to .72). Piercy et al. (2003) found male managers reported more OCB-civic virtue behaviors than did female managers and female managers reported more OCB-conscientiousness than did male managers. However, no gender differences were found on OCB-courtesy, OCBhelping behaviors, or OCB-sportsmanship. ...
The current chapter reviews theory and findings with regard to relationships between gender and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Based on self-report OCB studies, female employees tend to report that they perform more communal OCB (e.g., altruism) than do male employees, whereas male employees tend to report that they perform more agentic OCB (e.g., sportsmanship) than do female employees. However, supervisors do not appear to rate male and female employees differently on OCB performance. Our review also suggests that even with the same amount of OCB performance, female employees tend to be disadvantaged with regard to career-related outcomes (e.g., promotion) relative to male employees. For future research, we encourage researchers to distinguish between actual and perceived OCB performance and examine associated gender differences. Measurement invariance of OCB across gender, different career success outcomes between males and females, and the effects of gender egalitarianism in cultures also need further investigation.
... The widely used five-item scale by Spiro and Weitz (1990) was used to measure adaptive selling behavior (ADPS). Job performance (JOBP) was measured using the scale from Piercy et al. (2003). Tolerance to ambiguity (TOLA) was measured using the 12-item four-factor tolerance to ambiguity (TOLA) scale by Herman et al. (2010), which was based on the tolerance to ambiguity (TOLA) scale originally developed by Budner (1962). ...
Purpose
Tolerance to ambiguity (TOLA) is a personal trait influencing one’s comfort and proficiency in navigating uncertain situations. While the concept of role ambiguity is well-established in sales literature, the broader trait of ambiguity has been largely overlooked in this context. In the dynamic landscape of modern business, uncertainty is a regular phenomenon, and navigating ambiguity is an invaluable skill. While salespeople are celebrated for their customer focus, negotiation skills and product knowledge, their capacity to embrace ambiguity-a skill that could be an important contributor to their success in the diverse global market is rarely studied. This study contributes by linking a salesperson’s TOLA and two well-established dimensions of emotional intelligence to adaptive selling behavior. Using responses from a sample of 209 employees of financial institutions in a large metropolitan city in India, this study shows that TOLA, understanding others' emotions and regulation of emotions positively influence a salesperson’s adaptive selling behavior. Further, results also point out that TOLA moderates the relationship between understanding other emotions and adaptive selling. To our knowledge, this is the first study that has explored the link between these two important skills of salespeople, thus extending TOLA as a critical construct to the sales field. Managerial implications and directions for future research are provided.
Design/methodology/approach
Using responses from a sample of 209 employees of financial institutions, a model was tested using structural equation modeling. A measurement model was used to assess the validity of the scales used in the study. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted using AMOS 28 with the scale items for understanding other’s emotions (UOE), regulation of emotions (ROE), adaptive selling behavior (ADPS), job performance (JOBP) and three mean-centered dimensions of the TOLA scale. A structural equation model was run using AMOS 28 to test the relationships among variables.
Findings
The study results show that TOLA has a strong positive relationship with adaptive selling. Further, results show that TOLA acts as a moderator in the relationship between understanding others’ emotions, a fact of emotional intelligence and adaptive selling behavior.
Research limitations/implications
To our knowledge this is the first study that explored the link between TOLA and adaptive selling, a critical predictor of sales performance. While the concept of role ambiguity is well-established in sales literature, the broader trait of ambiguity has been largely overlooked in this context. By establishing the link between these two important skills of salespeople, this study extends the concept of TOLA as a critical construct to the sales field.
Practical implications
Study results validate the important role of TOLA on salesperson’s ability to use adaptive selling behavior which is critical for sales performance. This study highlights the different ways sales professionals who possess a high TOLA can benefit. Field sales managers can play a crucial role in fostering a TOLA culture in the sale team and help leverage the relationship between TOLA, emotional intelligence and adaptive selling. By integrating qualities of TOLA into recruitment and training, managers can create a sales team that is not only effective in navigating uncertainties and thrive in dynamic and competitive business environments.
Originality/value
In sales settings, the concept of role ambiguity is well-established, but the broader trait of ambiguity has been largely overlooked and has rarely been part of sales research. A recent review of 15 studies on TOLA shows that almost all the studies used student samples and only a handful of them were done in organizational or sales settings. The current study aims to fill the gap in sales research by exploring how TOLA influences adaptive selling, one of the critical constructs in sales research.
... These economic arguments center on potential bottomline benefits from a more gender-diverse sales force, such as higher sales quota attainment and customer satisfaction (Forrester, 2021;Jackson & Joshi, 2004). Specifically, research suggests that customer orientation (Srivastava et al., 2023), job satisfaction (Piercy et al., 2001), and also sales quota attainment, and thus sales productivity and company profits, rise as sales force diversity increases and women lead sales teams (Shea et al., 2021;Shoreibah et al., 2019;Voria, 2018;Xactly, 2019). Thus, a business case for a gender-diverse sales force exists beyond a social justice perspective. ...
Sales faces the second-largest gender gap of any corporate function, with women’s underrepresentation even more pronounced in business-to-business (B2B) sales and at higher hierarchical levels. Concurrently, the call for a more gender-diverse sales force is gaining momentum for social and economic reasons, moving the question of how to attract and promote women in B2B sales to the top of sales managers’ agenda. Using an inductive approach, we uncover male-centricity of communication and job structures in B2B sales as the underlying reasons deterring women from entering and advancing in B2B sales. Specifically, male-centricity implies a misfit between B2B sales and women’s self-conception and needs. By deriving contingencies of these relationships, we offer solutions to women’s underrepresentation in B2B sales by showing, for example, which sales positions are less prone to signal or create a misfit to women and what gender-inclusive resources sales departments can provide and saleswomen can build.
... According to scholars, behavioural control provides many opportunities to the managers to guide, train and coach employees (Babakus et al., 1996;Baldauf et al., 2002;Cravens et al., 1993;Oliver & Anderson, 1994;Piercy et al., 2001;Dewettinck & Buyens, 2006). Learning orientation refers to an employee's drive to develop his or her selling skills and approaches throughout time, regardless of success. ...
The aim of this research is to define, explain and study the influence of customer control that is the result of technological development. Technological evolution has transformed the past business practices and changed the role of customer from passive to active. This role change has the direct influence on employees. Customer being part of a business is studied in various forms such as a co-creator, co-producer, participator, enabler, coordinator, innovator and differentiator. This study is extending the role of customer to the controller. Customer control can improve social needs among employees but can also cause powerlessness, and role ambiguity. To keep employees aligned with organizational objectives, Management Control Systems (MCS) are adapted. In past, MCSs were mostly focused on the internal environment, yet the external environment such as market and customer has proved its importance. This study defined customer control as the authority given to the customer to evaluate employees. It will help to recognize the impact of customer control on employees’ behaviours such as affective commitment, job involvement and alienation. Another purpose of this research is to observe moderating effect of organizational and supervisory support. Furthermore, to investigate the impact of self-determination theory by studying its mediating role between customer control and employee behaviours. This study is conducted in two countries, Pakistan and France. The data for both studies is collected through questionnaires and analysed by using SPSS and AMOS.
... The literature suggests that attitude, behaviour, and outcomes may differ due to gender (Yadav and Rangnekar, 2015). It has been argued that gender affects several employees' perceptions related to the job (Moncrief et al., 2000;Piercy et al., 2001). Gender roles can influence personal relationships as well as work attitudes, job satisfaction and relationship with leaders relationships in organisations (Tziner et al., 2020). ...
The purpose of this paper is to unravel not only the effect of job satisfaction on millennial managers engagement but also the moderating effect of structural empowerment and gender in predicting engagement. Data collection is based on an online survey sent to managers of selected companies. 142 questionnaires were analysed using hierarchical regression analysis. Results suggest that job satisfaction positively relates to millennial managers engagement. The effect of job satisfaction on engagement is significantly moderated by structural empowerment. However, gender does not moderate the effect of job satisfaction on millennial managers engagement. Considering that job satisfaction is important for millennials' managers level of engagement, organisations must incorporate all motivational factors (e.g., advancement and professional development opportunities, possibility to use their knowledge in the work) to sustain Job satisfaction and a higher level of engagement. Future studies should examine the growing network of relationships (mediating and moderating) among job satisfaction, empowerment and millennial managers engagement.
... Sales employees are involved in sales encounters with their clients. These encounters and the resulting relationships have been the subject of numerous studies (Bitner, 1990;Babin et al., 1999;Piercy et al., 2001;Darian et al., 2005;Bäckström and Johansson, 2006;Jamal and Adelowore, 2008). The relationship between the employees and the brand, the so-called behavioral branding, is of particular importance (Manarioti and Kaufmann, 2014). ...
Maintaining and increasing brand equity is the top priority for most brand managers. This includes not only the areas of public relations and advertising, but also the way in which sales staff communicates regarding the brand. According to behavioral branding, the brand should be strengthened by the brand fit of the employees. To date, research and practice have developed more intuitive and heuristic methods for evaluating employee behavior and its impact on the brand. In this article, behavior will be operationalized and measured by personality and sales encounter experience. The method is based on Heider’s balance theory explaining the occurrence of cognitive dissonance in case of unbalanced states in triads, here the brand, the customer, and the salesperson. Findings show how discrepancies in personal behavior led to discrepancies in brand equities before and after the sales encounter.
... The former type of sales performance refers to the quantitative results of salespeople's efforts (e.g., dollar sales, profit margins, hitting sales targets, etc.) while the latter describes the activities and strategies that salespeople exhibit during the selling process. Behavior performance may be exemplified through providing excellent customer service, producing high quality sales proposals, or working to understand customer needs in order to propose the right solution (Piercy, Cravens, and Lane 2001). There is a well-established body of sales literature that links intrinsically motivated salespeople to higher levels of both outcome and behavior performance because these salespeople tend to work smarter (Sujan, Weitz, and Kumar 1994), experiment with various selling approaches and strategies (Weitz, Sujan, and Sujan 1986), and devote more time to the task of selling (Amabile et al. 1994). ...
This study integrates identification and motivation theory to show the relationship between a salesperson’s perceived personal identification with his/her supervisor, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and three sales outcomes (turnover intention, outcome performance, and behavioral performance). The study results find support in nine of ten hypotheses including the notion that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are important mediators of the linkage between a salesperson’s perceived personal identification with their supervisor and turnover intention as well as performance. This study serves to bridge a gap in the identification literature by focusing on perceived personal identification in the salesforce domain, as well as answering the call for more research on influences of salesperson work engagement (motivation) and drivers of sales performance.
... Early research found that salesmen and saleswomen have statistically comparable mean valences for pay, job security, promotion, recognition, liking and respect, personal growth, and feelings of accomplishment (Dubinsky et al., 1993). Since then, some authors have conjectured that women are more intrinsically motivated than men (Piercy et al., 2001) or discovered so in post-hoc empirical analysis (Jaramillo & Mulki, 2008;). To better understand the nuances of salesperson motivation related to gender, socialization theory provides a useful lens. ...
While companies devote extensive resources to sales force monitoring and compensation, executives continue to puzzle over how to properly motivate their sales personnel to perform more effectively and efficiently. Which matters more for performance—extrinsic incentives or intrinsic motivators—and under what conditions? While motivation has been studied for decades, the phenomenon remains a chief concern facing many organizations today. Findings from 293 effect sizes nested within 127 studies (n = 77,560) demonstrate that motivation is significantly associated with salesperson performance (r = .245, 95% CI = .238 to .252). In addition, the meta-analytic findings indicate that intrinsic motivation is more significantly associated with performance (r = .298, 95% CI = .287 to .308) than extrinsic motivation (r = .176, 95% CI = .166 to .186). The multivariate analyses also confirm that intrinsic motivation has stronger effects than extrinsic motivation on salesperson performance after controlling for sample characteristics such as age, gender, and tenure. Moreover, we find that the relationship between intrinsic motivation and performance is greater than that of extrinsic motivation and performance for both younger and older salespeople, salespeople with longer job tenure and years of sales experience, female salespeople, salespeople selling in a B2B context, and salespeople located within the U.S. We discuss the theoretical importance of these findings, offer practical implications for sales managers, and suggest avenues for future scholarly research.
... A smaller number of studies have also explored gender effects in other management functions (e.g.,Nigel et al., 2001;Piercy et al., 2002).2 Control systems often fall into the CFO's area of responsibility. ...
This chapter consists of two parts. The first part discusses theories of social capital and their application to networks of social work organisations. The theoretical perspectives of Granovetter, Coleman, and Burt are generally regarded as very influential within the study of social networks (Borgatti and Halgin, 2011). More specifically, these authors start from a network approach to the concept of social capital, defined as: “the sum of the actual and potential resources embedded within, available through, and derived from the network of relationships possessed by an individual or social unit” (Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998, p. 243). In other words, they view social capital as the result of the structure and content of social relationships between actors: the information and influence experienced within these relationships ensures that social capital is embedded in them. Generally speaking, an important question here concerns the relationship between the characteristics of the network and the social capital acquired by the individual. The theories of Granovetter, Burt and Coleman each assume that some networks are better able to realise social capital than others. However, they differ in their views on which networks can realise the most social capital. We briefly discuss the most important ideas and differences in this regard and illustrate this by applying these theories to the study of networks of social work organisations.
The second part (1) briefly discusses the link between structural embeddedness, transaction costs, and the emergence of network governance, and (2) illustrates this discussion with the case of mandated public-non-profit service networks. Structural embeddedness can be defined as “the impersonal configuration of linkages between people or units” (Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998, p. 244). Following a transaction cost economics logic, organisational networks are seen as a distinct form of coordinating economic exchanges besides markets and hierarchies (firms, governmental agencies, and non-profit organisations). In particular, Jones, Hesterly, and Borgatti (1997) postulate that certain configurations of exchange conditions as suggested by transaction cost economics will promote structural embeddedness among groups of organisations, which in turn will increase the likelihood of network governance emerging. We briefly discuss this idea and illustrate it with the case of mandated public-non-profit service networks (Van Puyvelde and Raeymaeckers, 2020).
... A smaller number of studies have also explored gender effects in other management functions (e.g.,Nigel et al., 2001;Piercy et al., 2002).2 Control systems often fall into the CFO's area of responsibility. ...
Non-profit economics (or the economics of non-profit organisations) involves the use of economic logic and methods to understand the existence, behaviour, and performance of organisations that are prohibited from distributing profits to those in control of the organisation.
... A smaller number of studies have also explored gender effects in other management functions (e.g.,Nigel et al., 2001;Piercy et al., 2002).2 Control systems often fall into the CFO's area of responsibility. ...
Liber Amicorum Marc Jegers
... A smaller number of studies have also explored gender effects in other management functions (e.g.,Nigel et al., 2001;Piercy et al., 2002).2 Control systems often fall into the CFO's area of responsibility. ...
Marc Jegers has made a remarkable and multifaceted contribution to the literature on the non-profit governance. For example, his 2009 review article (Jegers, 2009) does not only provide an interesting overview of the economic perspective on non-profit governance, it also summarises what Marc does best: i.e. a no-nonsense clarification of the research questions that matter. Similarly, his book ‘Managerial Economics of Non-Profit Organisations’ – which is currently in its fifth edition (2021) – is used by many scholars, including the authors of this chapter, for research and teaching. Moreover, Marc has enabled through several third-party funding projects to hire, engage, and co-author with a hand-full of scholars that proudly represent his non-profit governance succession for years to come. Non-profit governance refers to the systems and processes concerned with ensuring the overall direction, control, and accountability of non-profit organisations (Cornforth, 2014, p. 4–5). It has emerged as a separate field of study, with contributions from a wide range of disciplines (Jegers, 2009; Cornforth and Brown, 2014; Van Puyvelde, 2016). This chapter builds further on the abovementioned research by exploring some determinants of board effectiveness in non-profit organisations. Board effectiveness constitutes an important topic in the non-profit governance literature (Ostrower and Stone, 2006; Cornforth, 2012; Renz and Andersson, 2014; Wellens and Jegers, 2014; Van Puyvelde, 2016). For example, it has been found to be positively associated with judgments of organisational effectiveness (Green and Griesinger, 1996; Herman and Renz, 1997, 2004; Brown, 2005) as well as to shape innovation in non-profit organisations (Jaskyte, 2012, 2018). Based on previous literature (Cornforth, 2003; Miller-Millesen, 2003; Brown and Guo, 2010; Van Puyvelde, 2016), a distinction is made between three major governance roles (a controlling role, a partnership role, and a boundary-spanning role). We analyse the relationship between board human capital, board chair leadership, and the perceived effectiveness of the board in performing these roles. Although deemed important, empirical evidence pertaining to the effects of board human capital (Cornforth, 2001; Jaskyte, 2018) and board chair leadership (Harrison, Murray, and Cornforth, 2013; Van Puyvelde et al., 2018) is rather limited. The aim of this chapter is to add to this literature. Our results show that board chair leadership and the human capital of the board are positively associated with board effectiveness as perceived by board chairs as well as chief executives. In addition, board size is positively associated with board effectiveness in the boundary-spanning role. We conclude by formulating implications for theory and practice.
... Current practices in salesforce research argue the importance of a greater understanding of organisational and environmental factors that influence a salesperson's performance. Over the past three decades, sales performance research has focused predominantly on areas like the broad indicators of sales performance, sales performance and satisfaction or sales leadership, and not on the in-depth relevance of an identified driver, such as organisational and environmental factors on sales performance (Brown and Peterson, 1994;Churchill et al., 1985;Kohli, 1985;Piercy et al., 2001Piercy et al., , 2012Theodosiou and Katsikea, 2007;Verbeke et al., 2011;Walker et al., 1977). ...
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to confirm a conceptualised framework regarding organizational and environmental indicators of sales performance on sellers in a business-to-business environment. The study is based on the meta-analyses of sales performance by Churchill et al. (1985) and Verbeke et al. (2011).
Design/methodology/approach
A research instrument was used to establish whether three categories that were positioned into a framework of six dimensions can be perceived as valid and reliable. These categories related to organization and environmental indicators of sales performance. A wide variety of organization that are representative of different sectors and organizational sizes were included in the study. These industries and sectors are representative of the commercial sector of Norway.
Findings
A six-dimensional framework of organizational and environmental indicators was tested with success in the study. The different dimensions encompass a focus on the external environment, market orientation (internal environment), teamwork (internal environment), positive behavioral feedback (supervisory leadership), transformational leadership (supervisory leadership) and positive feedback (supervisory leadership).
Originality/value
A foundation is provided to structure the assessment of sales performance in business-to-business settings through the development of a business-to-business framework of organisational and environmental indicators in sales performance. In addition, a foundation for further studies on sales performance is delivered. Therefore, the study secures a practical orientation to organise and structure the process of business-to-business environmental and organisational planning through verified categories of organisational and environmental indicators, divided into six categories.
... Process controls are adopted to monitor whether the actual behaviors of franchisees tally with their pre-specified behaviors (Dekker, 2004). The extant literature has reported that process controls are associated with positive consequences such sales skills, motivation, job satisfaction, trust, performance, among others (Baldauf, Cravens, & Piercy, 2001b, Challagalla & Shervani, 1996Piercy, Cravens, & Lane, 2001;Attuahene-Gima & Li, 2002). In keeping with this, scholars like Anderson and Oliver (1987) have argued that process control is associated with higher intrinsic motivation which enables salespeople to learn better ways of doing things, reinforce appropriate behaviors, and gain procedural knowledge which are critical prerequisites in achieving organizational goals. ...
... JUSTIFICACIÓN Y PREGUNTAS DE INVESTIGACIÓNEn primer lugar analizamos la influencia del género del responsable del equipo comercial sobre el control del comportamiento y la disciplina que aplica a sus comerciales. En este sentido, el estudio llevado cabo porPiercy et al. (2001), concluye que los equipos dirigidos por mujeres utilizan sistemas de control basados en el comportamiento de forma más habitual que aquellos que son dirigidos por hombres. Sin embargo,Küster y Canales (2008), sobre una muestra de 108 jefes de ventas, (83 hombres y 25 mujeres) no encuentran diferencias respecto al tipo de control ejercido, quizás por la descompensación entre hombres y mujeres de la muestra. ...
Resumen
En este estudio exploratorio se analiza la influencia de la edad, el género y la formación académica del responsable comercial sobre el control y la disciplina ejercida en el equipo. Se entrevistaron a los responsables de equipos comerciales de una empresa a nivel nacional del sector financiero y de seguros, y se obtuvieron datos correspondientes a 377 individuos (171 mujeres y 206 hombres). Los resultados del análisis preliminar muestran cómo el control de comportamiento y la disciplina ejercida en el equipo comercial es mayor cuando los responsables del equipo comercial son mujeres (frente a los hombres). De la misma forma, los resultados obtenidos ponen de manifiesto que el control de comportamiento y la disciplina ejercidos en el equipo comercial son tanto mayores cuando se trata de mujeres que tienen estudios universitarios. Estos resultados tienen importantes implicaciones para la literatura y la dirección de ventas.
Palabras clave: Equipo comercial, control, disciplina, género, edad, formación, jefe de ventas.
Abstract
This exploratory study analyzes the influence of age, gender and academic education of the sales manager on the control and discipline exerted over the salesforce. Top staff of salesforce of a financial and insurance company at national level were interviewed, and data obtained correspond to 377 individuals (171 women and 206 men). The preliminary analysis shows how the control of behavior and discipline exerted over the salesforce is greater when sales top staff are women (compared to men). In the same stream, results showed that the control of behavior and discipline exerted over salesforce are even greater when it comes from women who have university studies. These results have important implications for academics and practitioners.
Keywords: Salesforce, control, discipline, gender, age, training, sales manager.
... JUSTIFICACIÓN Y PREGUNTAS DE INVESTIGACIÓNEn primer lugar analizamos la influencia del género del responsable del equipo comercial sobre el control del comportamiento y la disciplina que aplica a sus comerciales. En este sentido, el estudio llevado cabo porPiercy et al. (2001), concluye que los equipos dirigidos por mujeres utilizan sistemas de control basados en el comportamiento de forma más habitual que aquellos que son dirigidos por hombres. Sin embargo,Küster y Canales (2008), sobre una muestra de 108 jefes de ventas, (83 hombres y 25 mujeres) no encuentran diferencias respecto al tipo de control ejercido, quizás por la descompensación entre hombres y mujeres de la muestra. ...
This exploratory study analyzes the influence of age, gender and academic education of the sales manager on the control and discipline exerted over the salesforce. Top staff of salesforce of a financial and insurance company at national level were interviewed, and data obtained correspond to 377 individuals (171 women and 206 men). The preliminary analysis shows how the control of behavior and discipline exerted over the salesforce is greater when sales top staff are women (compared to men). In the same stream, results showed that the control of behavior and discipline exerted over salesforce are even greater when it comes from women who have university studies. These results have important implications for academics and practitioners.
... From the organizational literature, it has been found that there is a persistence of differences related to gender (Yadav & Rangnekar, 2015). A strong agreement has been developed that differences in gender prevail regarding several employees' perceptions related to the job (Moncrief et al., 2000: Piercy et al., 2001. There is an impact of gender on the techniques in which individuals of every gender are likely to act and the ways in which interpretation of their behavior is made (Cooper & Lewis, 1995;Williams & Best, 1982). ...
This study aimed to investigate the relationship of organizational commitment with organizational citizenship behaviors of university teachers. The current study also examined the moderation of gender on the association of organizational citizenship behavior with organizational commitment Though earlier investigations have observed demographic variables as precursors of organizational citizenship behavior, very few studies have observed the moderation of gender on the association among organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior. This study will fill the gap in the literature by delivering more insight. From a sample of (N = 250) university teachers including male (n = 126) and female (n = 124) teachers from the universities of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Attock, and Wah Cantt data were gathered. The revised form of organizational citizenship behavior scale was utilized to measure organizational citizenship behavior. The organizational commitment questionnaire was utilized to measure organizational commitment among teachers. The results indicated that organizational commitment positively and significantly predicted organizational citizenship behavior. The moderation analysis revealed that at a high level of organizational commitment, female teachers showed a high level of organizational citizenship behavior than male teachers. Regarding gender differences, female teachers scored significantly higher on both organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior than male teachers.
... Although studies have found perceived organisational justice to be linked with employee satisfaction and positive work attitudes (Moorman, 1991;Organ & Moorman, 1993, Hassan, 2002; other studies suggested the possibility of gender differences in job-related perceptions (Siguaw & Huneycutt, 1995;Piercy et al., 2001;Miao & Kim, 2009). According to Mathieu & Zajac (1990), gender may exert significant influence on employees' work attitudes and perceptions. ...
Organisations across the globe have had to contend with equity issues stimulated by the changing work demography. Such issues are very sensitive and can impact negatively on organisational outcomes. This study examined the differences in male and female employees' perception of organisational justice and affective commitment among employees in Lagos State. The ex-post facto design and the systematic random sampling technique were adopted in this study. A questionnaire was administered to three hundred and fifty-nine (359) employees between the ages of 19 and 59 years. Forty-two percent (42%) of the participants were males; fifty-six percent (56%) were females while the remaining two percent (2%) did not indicate their gender. Telecom staff accounted for 16% of the total sample, while teachers, health workers and bankers accounted for 28% each. Two hypotheses were raised and tested using t-test. The result revealed a significant difference between male and female perception of overall organisational justice and a significant difference in male and female perception of the dimensions of organisational justice: procedural justice and interactional justice. There was no significant difference in perception of distributive justice by male and female respondents. Consequently, findings from this study tend to suggest that gender has a significant effect on employees' perception of organisational justice, with male having better perception of justice than their female counterparts. It was recommended that fairness in reward allocation, procedures and interpersonal treatment be ensured and made transparent to both male and female employees.
... Sales performance can be said to signify a result of behavior which is evaluated in terms of its contribution to the company"s objectives and is determined by factors the salesperson can control, for example sales experience, active listening or adaptive selling (Johlken, 2006). A sales organization"s effectiveness is the consequence of many influences, both internal (management, salespeople) and external (working environment) and refers to some indicator of the result for which the salesperson is partially responsible and which is also influenced by a series of factors which the salesperson cannot control, known as non-personal factors or organizational and environmental variables (Grant & Cravens, 1999;Baldauf et al., 2001a b;Piercy et al., 2001;Roman et al., 2002;Ines & Pedro, 2010). ...
It is pertinent for firms who want to engage celebrities to endorse their products or services to look out for certain attributes in celebrities before using them for their adverts, because certain attributes could determine the effectiveness of the campaign. The study aims to investigate the relationship between celebrity endorsement and sales performance of telecommunication firms in Port-Harcourt. The dimension of this study is celebrity expertise while the measures are new customers acquired and timeliness. This study adopted cross-sectional survey research design. The population consisted of the four telecommunication companies in Port-Harcourt, which are MTN Nigeria, GLOBACOM, AIRTEL, and 9MOBILE. Data was collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire and validated for the study. Cronbach"s Alpha reliability for major constructs ranged between 0.70 and 0.92. This study adopted the quantitative method of data analysis which means that the gathered data from the retrieved research questionnaire was analysed statistically and in three phases"namely descriptive analysis, univariate analysis and bivariate analysis. The findings revealed that celebrity endorsement has a significant relationship with sales performance of telecommunication firms in Port-Harcourt. In view of the foregoing, we recommend that telecommunication companies should adopt effective celebrity endorsement policies and ensure that they take the expertise of the ambassadors very seriously.
... Perceived performance FLE achievement of key metrics and expectations associated with their customer-facing roles Job performance (Piercy, Cravens, and Lane 2001) Building effective relationships with customers. ...
Long-term customer relationships develop over repeated interactions, underscoring the importance of frontline employees (FLEs) engaging in ethical behaviors. Therefore, organizations must understand how a strong ethical climate (EC) may affect attitudes and behaviors among FLEs. This study reviews frontline-related EC research and employs a meta-analytic approach to investigate the direct, indirect, and contingent effects of EC on FLE actions, attitudes, and outcomes. The authors reviewed 67 frontline-related studies comprising a sample of 21,118 respondents to assess meta-analytic associations and derive a model for structural testing. The findings from this study show that a strong EC drives customer-oriented behaviors, fosters desirable job attitudes, reduces felt stress, increases perceived performance, and decreases turnover intentions among FLEs. The strength of theses associations is often predicated on individual-level (FLE experience), study-level (response rate), and country-level (perceived corruption, individualism/collectivism) factors. This study offers theoretical and managerial contributions germane to multiple uncertainties in service literature about EC’s implications on FLEs, including EC’s ability to break through sources of tension-facing FLEs, the mediated nature of EC’s impact on perceived performance through frontline actions, and the generalizability of the economic and human benefits of EC across service contexts and frontline roles that foster greater diffusion in practice.
... The promotion mix forms one of the major four 'Ps' This Journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License in Marketing which include product, price, place and promotion according to Kotler and Armstrong (2014). Study have showed that a well-defined product or service that meets customer needs is important for effective marketing but not sufficient for market success (Baldauf et al., 2005;Piercy et al., 2003). They alluded that customers must know that the product is available and must understand its benefits and its advantages over the competitors and therefore promotion comes in to inform and remind prospective customers of the company's offer and advocate a position in the minds of its audiences. ...
The of the aim of this study was to compare the influence of advertising through online and offline media channels on consumers’ attitude as used by selected commercial banks in Nairobi County, Kenya. A cross-sectional study using a stratified sampling technique was used to sample the respondents from selected three commercial banks in Nairobi County, Kenya (Kenya Commercial Bank, Equity Bank, and Co-operative Bank). A sample size of 384 from three selected banks in Nairobi County was used. The data was then collected using a questionnaire, with questions comprising Likert scale type to measure consumers’ attitude. The data was then analysed using SPSS software to determine descriptive and inferential statistics. The results revealed that TV (73.93) was ranked first followed by Google Ads (71.26%) by the consumers from the three selected bank. Offline media channel had highest overall score on consumer awareness (mean=3.552; CV=30.91%), liking (mean=3.491; CV=31.40%) and action (mean=3.454; CV=31.08%) compared to online media channels which had awareness (mean=3.02; CV=38.16%), liking (mean=2.913; CV=41.86%) and action (mean=2.881; CV=39.65%). Correlation analysis indicates that there was a strong and positive correlation between offline channels and consumers’ attitude compared to online media channels. In addition, strong, positive and statistically significant relationship between use of TV and consumer awareness(r=0.799, p-value= 0.000), liking (r=0.898, p-value =.000) and consumer action tendency (r=0.718, p-value =.000). Regression analysis revealed that offline media channels significantly influence (F=3.994; p=0.0131) consumer attitudes compared to online media channels (F=2.551; p=0.0341) when accessing bank advertisement. Age had no significant moderating effect on offline media channels 78.5 % (R2=.559) and consumer attitudes whereas online media channel 55.9 % (R2=.559). In conclusion, this study has demonstrated that advertising through offline media channel by the selected bank significantly influence consumer attitudes and age plays no significant moderating effect on consumer attitude and media channels.Keywords: Advertising, Consumers’ Attitude, Online Media, Offline MediaJEL Classification: M3https://doi.org/10.32479/irmm.8757
... Process controls are adopted to monitor whether the actual behaviors of franchisees tally with their pre-specified behaviors (Dekker, 2004). The extant literature has reported that process controls are associated with positive consequences such sales skills, motivation, job satisfaction, trust, performance, among others (Baldauf, Cravens, & Piercy, 2001b, Challagalla & Shervani, 1996Piercy, Cravens, & Lane, 2001;Attuahene-Gima & Li, 2002). In keeping with this, scholars like Anderson and Oliver (1987) have argued that process control is associated with higher intrinsic motivation which enables salespeople to learn better ways of doing things, reinforce appropriate behaviors, and gain procedural knowledge which are critical prerequisites in achieving organizational goals. ...
... Third-and of considerable practical importanceresearch in this area either ignores the performance implications of ethical issues or measures performance using self-reported survey items. For instance, Mulki et al. (2009) show that ethical climate positively influences job satisfaction, which leads to increased self-reported performance (Piercy et al. 2003). Similarly, B2B sales research offers evidence that ethical actions are positively associated with "outcome sales performance" (Schwepker and Good 2011), a self-perceived measure that assesses the extent to which salespeople achieve their sales targets (Sujan et al. 1994). ...
Recent events and popularized stereotypes call into question the ethics of salesperson behaviors. Although prior research demonstrates that salespeople’s emotional exhaustion can have negative consequences for several job outcomes, little is known about the factors that can mitigate such relationships—particularly the relationship between emotional exhaustion and ethical behavior. To remedy this knowledge gap, we draw from self-control theory to propose a novel theoretical framework and develop hypotheses. These hypotheses are tested on a unique dataset consisting of survey data collected from 123 matched business-to-business (B2B) salesperson–manager dyads. The findings reveal that (1) emotional exhaustion is negatively associated with sales performance, (2) emotional exhaustion is negatively associated with ethical behaviors, (3) ethical behaviors are positively associated with sales performance, (4) ethical behaviors mediate emotional exhaustion’s negative effect on sales performance, (5) perceived supervisor support attenuates the negative association between emotional exhaustion and ethical behaviors, and (6) contrary to expectations, grit strengthens the negative association between emotional exhaustion and ethical behaviors. As we show here, perceived supervisor support may attenuate the undesirable effects of emotional exhaustion on ethical behaviors and sales performance. The article’s broader contribution thus lies in its suggestion that managers pay special attention to these factors. Moreover, factors such as grit can have unexpected and undesirable influences; therefore, we draw attention to the importance of scrutinizing these interactions, even when the factors involved are almost universally touted as beneficial. Theoretical and practical implications of the research are discussed.
... The literature shows that organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) improve teamwork among salespeople (Netemeyer, Boles, McKee, & McMurrian, 1997). OCBs have important cognitive and affective implications (Bolino, Turnley, & Bloodgood, 2002) that directly influence aspects such as salespeople's performance (Marshall, Moncrief, Lassk, & Shepherd, 2012;Piercy, Cravens, Lane, & Vorhies, 2006) and turnover (Piercy, Cravens, & Lane, 2003). These kinds of behaviors can be predicted by attitudes such as satisfaction and organizational commitment (Marshall et al., 2012). ...
The influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on salespeople's organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) has been widely neglected by academic literature. This paper analyzes the influence of salespeople's perceived dimensions of CSR on the salespeople OCB through organizational commitment. Additionally, the study proposes that interpersonal justice and ethical climate have a moderate effect on the relationship between CSR and commitment, and consequently, the relationship between CSRs and OCBs. The empirical analysis is based on dyadic data from 176 salespeople and their supervisors from 96 companies. The findings not only confirm the importance of the social, environmental, and economic actions to influence on salespeople OCBs, but also, it reveals unexpected conclusions about moderating variables. In addition, the paper identifies the main implications of these results for management and makes some suggestions for future studies.
... Piercy, Cravens and Lane (2003) examined the sales manager gender issue across multiple companies from the perspective of sales managers. Their study on 267 manufacturing organizations in U.K. revealed that female sales managers performed significantly higher levels of behavior-based control activities than male managers and sales units led by female managers displayed higher effectiveness than those led by male managers. ...
As the competition among firms is increasing, each firm is making effort to be more profitable than its
competitors. In such a scenario, the importance of sales organization effectiveness increases. Some
studies have emphasized the role of salespeople in influencing sales organization effectiveness while
others have stressed the role of sales managers in improving the effectiveness of the sales organization.
As, a sales force control system is an organization’s process to monitor, direct, evaluate and reward
salespeople (Anderson and Oliver, 1987), it is likely to have an impact on sales organization
effectiveness. This paper examines the impact of sales force control systems on sales organization
effectiveness. Based on the review of the studies, the findings reveal that behaviour based sales force
control system has more positive effect on sales organization effectiveness as compared to outcome
based sales force control system, and the effect of sales force control system on sales organization
effectiveness is mediated through sales force performance and sales territory design. Based on these
findings, implications and directions for future research are stated.
... Outcome variables were measured using established scales from the sales management literature. A sales performance scale comprised of eight items reflecting both behavior and outcome performance borrowed from Piercy et al. (2001). Mowday et al. (1979) 13-item scale was used to measure organizational commitment and the five items from the "job component" dimension of the satisfaction scale developed by Churchill et al. (1974) was used to assess job satisfaction. ...
Purpose
Our purpose is to address the gap in understanding how the brand influences sales outcomes by focusing our attention on the salesperson perceptions of the brand and the salesperson brand selling confidence.
Design/methodology/approach
We utilize a cross-section survey of professional salespeople. SmartPLS was used to estimate the measurement model and test the hypothesized path relationships.
Findings
Our results indicate that salespeople who believe in the strength of the brands they represent are more likely to identify with the brand, are more confident in selling the brand and, overall, tend to perform better, have higher job satisfaction, and are more committed to their companies.
Originality/value
Our paper contributes to the sales literature by further exploring the relationship between the brand and sales function in the firm. This area has recently received academic attention but has not yet considered the mediating processes that connect the two areas. We identify perceptions of brand strength and brand selling confidence as mechanisms that mediate the impact of brand on sales outcomes.
... However, none of the controls were reported to have influenced overall performance in the fixed-but-stable cluster (Flaherty, Arnold, and Hunt 2007). Along similar lines, while there was no reported difference in the way male and female salespeople perceived controls use, salespeople on teams led by female managers reported greater use of behavioral controls; this led to higher organizational commitment and job satisfaction, but lower performance (Piercy, Cravens, and Lane 2001). ...
Sales management control systems (SMCSs) are designed to align salespeople's activities and actions with organizational objectives. This article reviews and synthesizes over 50 SMCS articles published in sales, marketing, and management journals over the past 30 years. We begin by building a comprehensive framework that enables us to classify prior research into digestible categories (e.g., SMCSs as antecedents, SMCSs as consequences). Next, we present an analysis of gaps in the literature. Among other findings, our analysis reveals that there is an overwhelming focus on the use of formal (specifically behavior- and outcome-based) controls as compared to their informal control counterparts. Finally, we suggest avenues for future research: (1) mapping and understanding the full spectrum of control mechanisms, (2) developing a fuller understanding of the often-overlooked forms of control (e.g., input and cultural controls), and (3) more thoroughly analyzing how controls operate (or do not operate) as an integrated system.
... Understanding Others' Emotions was measured with the four-item scale for emotional intelligence from Law et al. (2004). Job Performance was measured with an eight-item scale used by Piercy et al. (2001). Felt Stress was measured with a four-item scale used by Netemeyer et al. (2005). ...
Sales and customer service employees often face demanding or even abusive customers. This study utilized structural equation modeling to develop a preliminary model identifying relationships between interpersonal customer conflict, key consequences of such conflict, and potential means to avoid or reduce that conflict. Results confirm that interpersonal conflict with customers has a direct negative influence on job performance, and works through felt stress to increase turnover intentions among employees. However, results suggest that a salesperson's emotional understanding and customer-directed extra-role performance reduce that conflict and increase job performance. Comparisons with prior related studies, although none of those cover all relevant factors, indicate that these relationships are likely to be similar in developed and developing economies. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.
... As a result, export relationships have been found to achieve a higher performance when managed using a social management control system characterized by interpersonal interactions between partners (Flórez et al., 2012). In sales management, some findings suggest that men pursue a more behaviour-control oriented approach than women, who are characterized by a higher proactive discussion, participative training, intrinsic motivation, and interpersonal relationships (Piercy, Cravens, & Lane, 2001). Moreover, management literature proposes that women are more democratic and oriented towards interpersonal relationships than men and have a perception about the world that gives more importance to social relations and networks (e.g., Burke & Collins, 2001;Linstead, Brewis, & Linstead, 2005). ...
This study analyses the presence of gender segregation in Spanish exporting firms. Both women's access to managerial positions (vertical segregation) and women's achievement of managerial roles that are socially associated with communal attributes (horizontal segregation) are tested. We argue that boundary-spanning (henceforth, boundary management) in export interfirm relationships benefits from relational and communal skills and therefore could not only offer an opportunity for women to gain access to management positions but also put them at risk of falling into a rut before achieving other control-based managerial roles. This empirical study examines the characteristics (personal and firm-level) of Spanish female managers in charge of export management through independent channels. A multivariate analysis has been performed to compare female managers with male managers both in boundary management and in the position of finance director, a control position closer to a socially stereotyped masculine role. The results show that women have slightly higher access to boundary management jobs than finance management jobs, as well as a significantly lower promotion time than male colleagues, but they also corroborate that there is a smaller percentage of women than men in any management positions, with female managers working in younger firms with fewer resources for export activity.
... Employee gender differences regarding attitude, behavior, and outcomes attracted considerable research attention during the last decade. A strong consensus has emerged that few, if any, gender differences exist concerning various employee job-related perception (Moncrief et al., 2000;Piercy, Cravens, & Lane, 2001;Siguaw & Huneycutt, 1995). Gender influences the ways in which members of each gender are expected to behave and the manners in which their behavior is interpreted (Cooper & Lewis, 1995;Williams & Best, 1982). ...
We examine the effect of internal employee coordination on customer trust, focusing specifically on employees’ responsiveness to each other as an important, quantifiable, and objective aspect of internal coordination. Using proprietary data from a company with exogenous assignment of employees to teams that serve individual customers, we study how inter‐employee responsiveness influences customer trust. Each customer is served via an app‐based group chat by a randomly assigned team of employees. Our data include more than 2 million group chat messages with over 16 thousand customers. We find that inter‐employee responsiveness serves as a credible signal that helps build customer trust, as evidenced by their subsequent contracting choices. The effect is more pronounced when the signal is (1) more frequent and (2) more intense. Our findings highlight the novel value of internal employee responsiveness as a credible signal that helps build trust with external stakeholders.
Managers often accompany salespeople to customer meetings, and their presence can be invaluable to the interaction. However, at times, managers may act in ways that are harmful rather than helpful. Scant scholarly attention has been allocated to understanding the dark side of managerial involvement. When negative manager behaviors manifest in customer-facing situations, salespeople must understand and mitigate these occurrences to prevent deleterious outcomes. This study conducts a qualitative inquiry of professional salespeople and organizational buyers to uncover the ways customer-facing adverse manager behaviors (CFAMBs) occur and affect sales calls. Specifically, manifestations of manager arrogance, apathy, and awkwardness can negatively affect customer outcomes. In addition, factors affecting the severity of CFAMBs’ impact include timing in the sales cycle, customer status, and pre-, in-, and post-call mitigation strategies. Collectively, the findings advance role theory and theory germane to the salesperson–sales manager interface and provide practical guidance for dealing with CFAMBs.
In an era where governments and organisations dedicated to improving education worldwide are concerned about quality teacher education and dominate the national discourse, it is crucial to emphasise teacher quality, gender parity, satisfaction, and commitment. This article examines the role of gender as a moderator between tutor job satisfaction and organisational commitment in Ghanaian Colleges of Education. A research hypothesis was formulated with a cross-sectional survey to guide the study. A sample of 319 tutors was used. Multivariate multiple regression, SEM and Process Analysis were used to test the hypothesis. The study revealed that gender was a significant moderator between job satisfaction and organisational commitment of tutors in Ghana. As a result of this, it was recommended that the governing council focus on factors affecting the extrinsic and intrinsic motivations (job satisfaction) of their tutors so that stronger commitment and greater loyalty may be demonstrated by the tutors.
Purpose
For the past several decades, the sales control literature has focused on the outside sales context. This study aims to extend sales control research by examining formal and informal sales controls, embodied by cultural controls, used by sales managers in an inside sales context, where the sales agent’s performance focus extends beyond sales outcomes to include the influence of operational phone outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on 232 B2C and B2B inside sales agent survey responses, this study presents evidence that in an inside sales department, this study focuses on the congruent effect of formal sales and cultural sales controls on inside sales agent overall performance.
Findings
Based on 232 B2C and B2B inside sales agent survey responses, this study presents evidence that in an inside sales department, the operational focus of sales activities and resultant operational performance mediates the relationship between sales controls and inside sales agent sales performance, whereas cultural controls centered on maximizing inside sales autonomous motivation positively moderates the effect of operational outcomes on an inside sales agent’s sales performance.
Practical implications
By focusing on the tenants of an inside sales agent’s overall performance, this research provides practitioners a holistic view of the inherent conflict inside sales managers must balance between the impact of formal sales controls and the benefits of cultural controls.
Originality/value
By being the only study to examine sales controls in an inside sales context, with a broad definition of overall performance to include both sales and operational phone outcomes, this study extends sales control research to a new sales context. The need to jointly focus on operational results, as well as sales outcomes, illustrate the importance of cultural controls compared to other sales processes and outcome controls
The paper reveals the 4T alignment sales strategy model. The article provides an account of its implementation in restructuring a multinational pharmaceutical company's sales organization. The new structure matches the physician with the salesperson using their predisposition toward innovative or classic drugs. The alignment went deeper to include the tools designed as sales collaterals used by the medical representatives in their presentations and their training. Matching salespeople and physicians via their disposition toward innovative (or conventional) drugs enhances engagement's value. This matching improves the promotion of the innovative (or established) drugs in the company's portfolio. The alignment sales strategy involving the target audience, product mix, medical reps, training, and sales tools produced the growth spike that investors demand and management aspires.
Salesforce is one of the main assets of any organisation. As salesforce is controlled by a control system, it is important to know what kind of impact a salesforce control system has on the salesforce. This paper contributes to the salesforce control literature by providing a comprehensive review based on research published in the area of salesforce control system in the last 43 years (1975-2018). The objectives of this review are to examine the chronological trends in the area of salesforce control system research in terms of research focus, research methods, research type, geographical region, etc. Most of the studies included in our review have concluded that the salesforce control systems (behaviour-based and outcome-based) have different impact on salesforce characteristics, sales territory design, salesforce performance and sales organisation effectiveness. The study has important implications for sales organisations.
Despite the large body of research that examines the determinants of salesperson performance, significant variation exists regarding how scholars can operationalize salesperson performance using secondary, firm-provided data. Moreover, this variation often exists without explanation or justification. We explore the issue in three parts. First, we conduct practitioner surveys to discover various salesperson performance operationalizations (SPOs) in use by salespeople and sales managers. Second, using a carefully constructed and theoretically driven evaluative framework, we conduct a systematic review of the literature on salesperson performance that encompasses over thirty years of empirical research on the subject; this review allows us to better understand the SPOs that scholars use. Third, we compare these practitioner and scholarly perspectives to create a comprehensive conceptual model of the different types of SPOs. The model highlights theoretical insights and provides guidance to scholars and reviewers related to the selection of appropriate SPOs for meeting specific research objectives.
Salesforce is important for sales organizations in generating revenue and building image of the organization among the
customers. Organizations are making efforts to improve the productivity of the salesforce and the organization. Ever since
the study of Anderson and Oliver (1987), several studies have attempted to highlight the relationship between salesforce
control system and its different consequences for salesforce and sales organizations. Taking into consideration the review of
studies conducted from the year 1987 till 2016, this paper proposes a comprehensive framework which includes the impact of
salesforce control system on salesforce as well as the sales organization. The study contributes to the existing salesforce control
literature by finding that salesforce characteristics, salesforce performance, sales territory design and sales organization
effectiveness are affected by the salesforce control system that is being used. The study has important implications for sales
organizations as well as researchers.
Understanding the tangible and intangible benefits contributions to business development is vital for sustainable future success of the organization. Resource accounting tools can quantify the benefits of investment by accounting and valuation methods, optimizing business performance through human capital building strategy responding to changing business needs. Enterprise progresses with a focus on waste elimination and the customer’s needs in all parts of its operations, manufacturing, and administration; emphasis to lean structures and processes, flexibility of response, and methods and techniques to continually seize new opportunities arise to become LEAN. VSM is for understanding the current organization
and begin directing resources to high-leverage areas, re-evaluates the purpose to lean benefit the future state of the organization.
Sales people of an organization tend to exhibit different skills to complete the sales pitch, which sometimes may prove to be more effective. Their effectiveness is difficult to measure, unless a thorough primary survey is conducted on the field. The present competitive situation demands a successful effective tool in closing down a sale. In this scenario, a traditional and much debated communicative skill along with a high caliber interpersonal skill is found to be lacking among the sales persons due to the penetration of online resources. The present study had made an attempt to find out the relevance of the interpersonal skills in one industry where still the salespeople are considered as bread winners.
In recent years researchers have shown interest in studying sales management (Powers et al., 2010; Shepherd & Ridnour, 1995; Tanner & Castleberry, 1990; Castleberry & Tanner; 1986; Butler & Reese; 1991; Anderson, Mehta & Strong; 1997). Some of this research has focused on the relationship between the sales manager and the sales person (Lagace, 1991; Tanner & Castleberry; 1991). Another research stream has examined leadership style and its effect on sales performance (Butler & Rees, 1991), whilst others have looked at the type of training that sales managers need to equip them for their role (Powers, De Carlo, & Gupte, 2005; Shepherd & Ridnour, 1995; Shepherd & Heartfield, 1991; Anderson et al., 1997). Yet, with the exception of Butler & Reese’s (1991) paper on sales leadership skills, extant literature lacks an overall definition and categorization of the skills and capabilities needed by sales leaders.
Studied changes across time in measures of organizational commitment and job satisfaction as each related to subsequent turnover among 60 recently employed psychiatric technician trainees. A longitudinal study across a 101/2-mo period was conducted, with attitude measures (Organizational Commitment Questionnaire and Job Descriptive Index) collected at 4 points in time. Results of a discriminant analysis indicate that significant relationships existed between certain attitudes held by employees and turnover. Relationships between attitudes and turnover were found in the last 2 time periods only, suggesting that such relationships are strongest at points in time closest to when an individual leaves the organization. Organizational commitment discriminated better between stayers and leavers than did the various components of job satisfaction. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Marketing boundary spanners-especially customer service representatives-are notably susceptible to burnout. The authors define the burnout construct and develop hypotheses to examine if burnout acts as a partial mediator between role stressors and key behavioral and psychological job outcomes. Responses from 377 customer service representatives reveal that burnout levels are high relative to other burnout-prone occupations (e.g., police, nursing) and that burnout has consistent, significant, and dysfunctional effects on their behavioral and psychological outcomes. Moreover, burnout mediates the negative effects of role stressors on job outcomes, whereas the positive effects of role stressors are unmediated.
This research evaluates determinants of sales organization effectiveness in a sample of British companies, and contributes to an important new research stream by following recent empirical studies in the USA and Australia. We discuss a model of sales organization effectiveness determined by salesforce outcome performance and behavioural performance, as well as by the use of a behaviour-based control approach. Sales territory design is also considered as a particularly important managerial variable, which has received little analytical attention in the traditional literature, but which appears to be an important influence on the effectiveness of the sales operation. Our exploratory path analytical model suggests that sales territory design has a large effect on sales organization effectiveness both directly, and indirectly through its relationship with salesforce behavioural performance. These findings are somewhat different to those in similar studies in other countries, and suggest some important implications for managers as well as for researchers in this field.
A scale designed to assess various aspects of the burnout syndrome was administered to a wide range of human services professionals. Three subscales emerged from the data analysis: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Various psychometric analyses showed that the scale has both high reliability and validity as a measure of burnout. Since the publication of this article in 1981, more extensive research was done on the MBI, which resulted in some modifications of the original measure. The present article has been re-edited to reflect those modifications. However, it does not include other new additions (which are contained in the MBI Manual distributed by the publisher, Mind Garden).
A conceptual model is developed and empirically tested, examining the relationships among the sales management control system, sales territory design, salesforce behavior and outcome performance, and sales organization effectiveness constructs. A sample of 58 Australian chief sales executives and 146 field sales managers was used to test the model. The hypotheses based on the conceptual model were tested using LISREL 7. The test result were significant and in the direction hypothesized. Managerial implications and research directions are discussed.
The purpose of the present research was to define job involvement, develop a scale for measuring it, gather evidence on the reliability and validity of the scale, and to learn something about the nature of job involvement through its correlation with other job attitudes. This paper describes the development and validation of a scale measuring job involvement, the resulting scales, the relation between job involvement, and other job attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
Although role ambiguity and role conflict have been studied extensively in the organizational sciences, there remain numerous empirical discrepancies among the reported research results. Consequently, disagreement exists as to what can be concluded about the role ambiguity and role conflict research. Coupled with this empirical impasse has been a persistent and relatively singular approach to conceptually studying role ambiguity and role conflict. In response to this empirical and conceptual situation, a meta-analysis and a conceptual reevaluation of the role ambiguity and role conflict research were performed. Using the Hunter, Schmidt, and Jackson (1982, Meta-analysis: Cumulating research findings across studies, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage) meta-analysis procedures, this study analyzed 29 correlates of role ambiguity and role conflict. These correlates include ten organizational context variables, five individual characteristics, ten affective reactions, and four behavioral reactions. Meta-analysis procedures were used to measure the strength and consistency of the relationship found between each of the 29 correlates and role ambiguity and role conflict. Meta-analysis was also used to determine where moderator variables should play a critical part in future role ambiguity and role conflict research. Based on the results of the meta-analysis, several empirical summaries and conclusions are presented. Along with these, several conceptual observations and reconceptualizing suggestions are offered. It is concluded that while a great deal is known about role ambiguity and role conflict in the organizational sciences much remains to be learned.
To examine the antecedents and consequences of the development of salespeople's organizational commitment during early employment, the authors conducted a longitudinal study. The study focused on how changes in three key antecedents (leadership behavior, role stress, and job satisfaction) influence the development of commitment and how changes in commitment, in turn, affect turnover intentions and behavior. Results suggest that role ambiguity and job satisfaction (but not leadership behavior) are significant contributors to the development of organizational commitment during early employment. The results also show that organizational commitment influences turnover through its significant impact on propensity to leave.
The author summarizes 11 hypotheses from agency theory, transaction cost analysis, and Ouchi's theoretical approach about the impact of environmental, company, and salesperson characteristics on the design of sales force control systems (outcome- versus behavior-based) and tests them on a data set of 270 German sales organizations. Many of the hypotheses receive empirical support. Sales force size, the only construct for which the author derives two opposing hypotheses, is related negatively to the use of behavior-based control in sales forces. Thus, the hypothesis derived from Ouchi's approach is supported, whereas the contradictory hypothesis from transaction cost analysis is rejected.
While the unique characteristics of the industrial salesman's role has stimulated much recent research, this uniqueness requires the development and use of occupation-specific measurement instruments. A job satisfaction measure specifically designed for industrial salesmen is presented together with norms, a detailed description of the methodology employed, and techniques to evaluate the new instrument's factor structure, reliability, and construct validity.
Empirical investigations of differences between females and males in the industrial salesforce have not been published. This study is an attempt to begin to fill this void. Women and men are compared on six job satisfaction components, value importance of the job components, performance, role clarity, and propensity to leave the organization. The findings generally support the hypothesis of “no difference” between males and females. However, women did have lower role clarity scores and higher propensity to leave scores.
The rapid influx of women into the industrial salesforce over the last decade has created a need to upgrade understanding of the female salesperson. The authors examine gender differences in job-related attitudes and performance outcomes in an integrated salesforce. Results showing few gender differences bring into question anecdotal suggestions that women require special programs to facilitate their assimilation into the salesforce. Specific recommendations are provided about individual treatment for both male and female salespeople.
The topic of management control systems has received limited attention in the marketing literature. Though previous research has tended to view each organizational control in isolation, the authors argue that research should examine the simultaneous use of multiple controls. On the basis of previous work, a conceptual framework for combinations of controls is constructed with associated research hypotheses. Four alternative combinations or “systems” of controls are identified: (1) a traditional bureaucratic management control system with a primary emphasis on formal controls, (2) a clan system with a primary emphasis on informal controls, (3) a low control system, and (4) a high control system. The findings indicate that SBU characteristics and task complexity variables predict the type of system that is likely to be emphasized. In turn, the results indicate that the high control system is associated with highest job satisfaction followed sequentially by the clan, bureaucratic, and low control systems. The high control system also produced the lowest levels of person-role conflict and ambiguity. No significant relationship is found between the four systems and job performance. Study limitations and directions for future research are discussed.
I: Background.- 1. An Introduction.- 2. Conceptualizations of Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination.- II: Self-Determination Theory.- 3. Cognitive Evaluation Theory: Perceived Causality and Perceived Competence.- 4. Cognitive Evaluation Theory: Interpersonal Communication and Intrapersonal Regulation.- 5. Toward an Organismic Integration Theory: Motivation and Development.- 6. Causality Orientations Theory: Personality Influences on Motivation.- III: Alternative Approaches.- 7. Operant and Attributional Theories.- 8. Information-Processing Theories.- IV: Applications and Implications.- 9. Education.- 10. Psychotherapy.- 11. Work.- 12. Sports.- References.- Author Index.
Women have only recently begun to join the ranks of managers in large numbers. The emergence of women into the work force has precipitated many discussions. This paper discusses some of the major issues surrounding women in management and proposes some organizational and individual responses to better utilize the diversity of skills and talents available within the work force.
Historically, marketing control research has involved either the development of output-oriented financial controls or the analysis of how financial controls affect performance. This work on marketing control is limited in that it (1) has focused primarily on the control of marketing plans/activities, not on the control of marketing personnel, (2) fails to capture all controls operating within the marketing unit, (3) does not consider environmental conditions that both influence the use and moderate the effects of controls, and (4) ignores the behavioral and psychological impact of controls on individuals. To overcome these limitations, a theory integrating environmental context, controls, and the consequences of controls is proposed. Previous research is categorized within the framework, relevant propositions are advanced, and directions for future research are proposed.
This research proposes an integrative model of the antecedents and consequences of salesforce role stress, with particular emphasis on two outcomes important to sales reps and firms alike: salesforce performance and satisfaction. Drawing on data from 196 sales representatives for five major industrial firms, the linkages in the proposed model are tested with path analysis procedures. The model is sufficiently comprehensive that it provides a basis to replicate and extend, in one study, much of the key research on the sales representative's role environment, especially as it relates to role conflict, role ambiguity, and their relationships with job performance and satisfaction. Implications of this research for sales managers and researchers in the sales area are given.
Forms of control systems used in salesforce evaluation and based on the monitoring of outcomes or of behaviors are described, contrasted, and evaluated in terms of emerging theories in economics, organization theory, and cognitive psychology. Generally, the principles of behavior control as opposed to outcome control are found to be consistent with these theoretical perspectives with exceptions as noted, though studies of descriptive trends suggest that outcome control remains useful as a sales management philosophy. The authors conclude with a set of propositions intended to stimulate research on the managerial and behavioral consequences of the two control philosophies.
A three-phase quantitative investigation of relationships involving salesperson job satisfaction was undertaken. First, the strength, valence, and consistency of pairwise relationships were assessed by means of a meta-analysis. Second, methodological characteristics coded as moderator variables were used to account for variability in study effects. Finally, weighted mean correlations resulting from the analysis of pairwise relationships were used to evaluate a causal model of antecedents and consequences of job satisfaction. In general, relationships involving job satisfaction were robust across study contexts. Systematic moderating effects of type of salesforce and operationalization of job satisfaction were found. Several summary conclusions about antecedents and consequences of salesperson job satisfaction are drawn from the analyses.
The authors extend the conceptual work of Anderson and Oliver (1987) and Jaworski (1988) on control in three ways. First they account for the independent effects of the reinforcement dimension of control, in addition to the information dimension traditionally studied. Second, to reflect the varied behaviors that supervisors attempt to control, they disaggregate behavior control into activity control and capability control. Third, they delineate the direct and mediated effects of control on salespeople. Their proposed framework was tested with data collected from 270 salespeople in five industrial product divisions of two Fortune 500 companies. The findings suggest that managers must carefully match controls-in-use with desired results. Overall, the results show that information and reinforcement effects vary which suggests the need to distinguish between the information provided and the actual reinforcements administered to salespeople. They also show that activity and capability control have different effects and draw a sharp distinction between two types of behavior control. Finally, the results suggest that supervisory controls primarily have indirect effects on salesperson performance, but both direct and indirect effects on satisfaction.
This article reports the results of a study assessing sales managers' perceptions of their subordinate saleswomen's sex role identity and performance effectiveness. It was found that managers perceived both “masculine” and “feminine” traits, as measured by a short form of the Bem Sex Role Inventory, to contribute to effective performance by the women. Masculine traits seemed to be more important than feminine traits in effective prospecting, contacting customers, probing for needs, stimulating desire, and closing. However, feminine traits tended to dominate when explaining retention activities. Implications for selection and training of saleswomen are discussed.
The authors examine how the practice of personal selling and sales management is changing as a result of the increased attention
on long-term, buyer-seller relationships and identify some implications of these changes. Changes in the traditional personal
selling and sales management activities are needed to support the emergence of the part-nering role for salespeople. For salespeople
in the part-nering role, the personal selling shifts from a focus on influencing buyer behavior to managing the conflict inherent
in buyer-seller relationships. The emphasis on building relationships rather than making short-term sales and the use of sales
teams dictates changes in the way firms select, train, evaluate, and compensate salespeople and members of sales teams. In
this article, the authors have suggested some issues concerning the emerging partnering role for salespeople that deserve
the attention of scholars interested in personal selling and sales management research.
The authors develop a conceptual model depicting relationships between salesforce control systems, characteristics, performance, and sales organization effectiveness as a framework for testing the propositions formulated by Anderson and Oliver (1987). The results from a study of 144 diverse sales organizations provide support for the relationship between behavior-based salesforce control systems and specific salesforce characteristics, different salesforce performance dimensions, and sales organization effectiveness. The results imply a limited role for incentive compensation in salesforce control systems. They also suggest the need for a proper blend between field sales management and compensation control and identify important avenues for future research.
A model of the turnover process is developed by synthesizing three turnover models: those of Price and Mobley and the model which has developed around the organizational commitment variable. This model is tested via path analysis and is generally supported. An attempt to cross-validate the new model also provided reasonable support Jor it.
For the past several decades women have been moving into the United States workforce in greater numbers and they have been gaining access to the types of jobs that were, traditionally, performed exclusively by men. Despite this progress, they are still having difficulty penetrating the so-called “glass ceiling” into upper management positions (Alimo-Metcalfe 1993; Tavakolian 1993). Many reasons have been advanced, but the most compelling of these concerns the “glass walls” that support the “glass ceiling”. The “glass walls” refer to those invisible barriers that limit the ability of women and minorities to gain access to the type of job that would place them in a position to break through the “glass ceiling” (Townsend 1996). If women are to gain parity with men in the workforce, they need to succeed in the positions that lie inside the “glass walls” that will enable them to rise through the “glass ceiling” to upper management.
To examine the antecedents and consequences of the development of salespeople's organizational commitment during early employment, the authors conducted a longitudinal study. The study focused on how changes in three key antecedents (leadership behavior, role stress, and job satisfaction) influence the development of commitment and how changes in commitment, in turn, affect turnover intentions and behavior. Results suggest that role ambiguity and job satisfaction (but not leadership behavior) are significant contributors to the development of organizational commitment during early employment. The results also show that organizational commitment influences turnover through its significant impact on propensity to leave.
Sought to (1) develop a conceptual model of salesperson job satisfaction building on the S. P. Brown and R. A. Peterson (1993) model and examine the relationships in a different sales setting as called for by them, and (2) extend job satisfaction research by considering the effects of intrinsic motivation and organizational variables on the model. 186 salespeople (median age 40 yrs) in an international services sales environment were surveyed on the following measures: role ambiguity and conflict, performance, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, met expectations, and propensity to leave. Results were generally consistent with the Brown and Peterson meta-analysis. The job/task and motivation antecedents included in the current model provide additional insights into job satisfaction relationships. Both compensation and training positively impact perceived organizational support, which has a positive impact on intrinsic motivation, job satisfaction, and met expectations, and a negative impact on role conflict. Training also has a direct relationship with intrinsic motivation, and job satisfaction. Compensation positively impacts met expectations (but not intrinsic motivation). Incorporating intrinsic motivation into the model provided limited additional explanation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
As women have entered industrial sales in significant numbers, many companies have devised separate selection, training, and motivation programs for females. This study examines gender-related differences regarding job satisfaction, organizational commitment, role conflict, role ambiguity, and performance for both male and female industrial sales persons. Simultaneously, perceptions of market- and customer-orientation and adaptive selling are investigated. Women reported lower levels of role conflict and role ambiguity and higher levels of customer-oriented selling than men. Women also believe that they perform as well as men in industrial sales situations and do not require special managerial considerations to succeed. Implications for managers are provided.
A key concern in implementing organizational controls is that little is known about when controls lead to “negative” employee
responses. Previous research has suggested that lower levels of negative responses will be observed only if the controls that
are being employed “fit” the characteristics of the tasks being controlled. The two task characteristics usually referred
to include performance (outcome) documentation and procedural (cause-effect) knowledge. Unlike previous studies, however,
this study assumes that the two task characteristics should have a joint, rather than independent, influence on employee responses
to controls. The reason is that knowledge of how well one is doing is not sufficient for expecting lower levels of negative
responses if information on procedures that may lead to better performance is not available. Knowledge of procedures, likewise,
is not sufficient for lower levels of negative responses if performance documentation is not available. Results of an empirical
study provide general support for the above line of reasoning.
Emotional exhaustion is a potentially important construct in examining sales force behavior and attitude relationships. A
conceptual model and hypotheses are developed to study the antecedents and consequences of the emotional exhaustion construct.
The hypotheses are tested using LISREL 7 to analyze data from a sample of field salespeople from a large international services
organization. The empirical results offer strong support for relationships involving role ambiguity and conflict antecedents
and organizational commitment, job satisfaction, performance, and intention-to-leave consequences of emotional exhaustion.
The purpose of this study is to report the development and tests of a model of organizational behavior. The model was developed out of theory, research, and an interpretation of interview findings in the firm studied. A characterization of the firm is made in terms of current theory and research. Questionnaires and measurement scales designed to test the model are described. Measures of organizational and leadership practices served as predictors. Dependent measures were satisfaction, perceived effectiveness, anxiety, and propensity to leave. Role conflict and role ambiguity scales were treated as predictor, intervening, and as dependent variables in the model. Selected hypotheses are presented and tested. Predictors tended to relate in expected directions to role measures and dependent variables. Role measure hypotheses were generally supported, and role ambiguity was a better predictor and intervening (partialled) variable than role conflict.
We develop and test hypotheses about the moderating impact of experience, gender, and performance on the relationships among job satisfaction dimensions, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions. In the sales force studied, gender moderates the link between organizational commitment and turnover intentions. Experience and performance moderate the links between job satisfaction dimensions and organizational commitment. There also appears to be a joint moderator effect of gender and experience on the strength of the relationship between turnover intentions and organizational commitment. These results suggest the need for sales managers to manage adaptively, recognizing differences in different segments of the sales force. Researchers also need to recognize these differences in developing theory and testing it empirically.
The rapid increase of women in the sales world has brought about debates on the role of gender in contemporary sales organizations. The key question is whether gender differences, in and of themselves, create different attitudinal and behavioral relationships. A small but expanding stream of research and the expanded participation of women in many lines of business question whether the traditional position of differences based on gender is valid today. A conceptual basis is developed in support of no differences based on gender and hypotheses are developed to test this premise across several constructs that have been found important in sales management research. This research examines a Fortune 500 international service organization with a sales force that is gender balanced. The results indicate few significant differences between genders. A gender classification scheme is proposed based on a gender balance in the sales force and customer base. Results are discussed and compared to previous studies.
The importance of sales force turnover has led researchers to search for variables that moderate the relationship between job satisfaction and intention to leave the current sales job. Studies of male and female employees have suggested that gender can cause differences in job attitudes, job satisfaction, and intent-to-leave. Other studies have used job performance, satisfaction, and intent-to-leave to show that low and high performing employees leave their jobs for different reasons. The present study used a sample of 138 salespersons drawn from a variety of companies to explore whether (1) gender and (2) performance do moderate the relationship between job satisfaction and intent-to-leave. The study showed a tendency for men and women salespersons to leave their current sales position because of dissatisfaction with different aspects of the job and also confirmed previous research that had showed that high and low performing salespeople leave for different reasons.
Sales force performance is a critical concern of most industrial firms, yet in this area of research there are difficulties in measuring salespersons performance. Issues relevant to measuring the performance of industrial salespersons are reviewed. A self-report performance scale developed and evaluated based on the responses of 200 salespersons and 42 managers from five major industrial firms is presented.
A psychological success model of the relationships between sales performance and job attitudes is developed and tested. The model posits that feelings of success mediate the relationship between work performance and job satisfaction. Previous research based on purely cognitive theoretical models has posited a direct relationship between performance and satisfaction, but typically has found no empirical relationship. The psychological success model posits that the relationships between performance and job attitudes are indirect and mediated by feelings of success. The results generally validate the model. Implications for theory and managerial practice are drawn and directions for future research incorporating affect into models of work behavior are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science is the property of Springer Science & Business Media B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
INDSALES is the most comprehensive scale available to measure the job satisfaction of industrial sales representatives (reps); however, the scale has not found widespread use in the literature. This limited use could be due to the lenght of the scale. With the use of a split sample of 295 sales reps, qualitative techniques were combined with the LISREL procedure to reduce INDSALES to a balanced 28-item scale. The reliabilities of the reduced scale dimensions continued to exceed .75. Cross-validation using LISREL produced goodness of fit indices in excess of .80. Finally, nomological validity was successfully confirmed through comparison with variablr relationships established in the existing sales literature.
The salesforce of a national consumer goods manufacturer was used to conduct two distinct tests of the model of salesperson role perceptions and work-related attitudes developed by Fry, ET AL. (1986). In addition, the model was extended by examining the moderating role of job tenure. Results of the study support, in general, the results of Fry et al. (1986). Job tenure does influence the form of the relationships between variables in the model.
In Search of Innovation
- Robert Buderi
- Buderi Robert
As Leaders, Women Rule
- Week Business
“The Role of Women in Sales: Addressing the New Challenges,”
- Nikala Lane
- Lane Nikala
The Changing Role of the Salesforce,’ Marketing Management
- David W Cravens
- Cravens David W.
“A Path-Analytic Study of a Model of Salesperson Performance,”
- Alan J Dubinsky
- Stephen W Hartley
- Dubinsky Alan J.
America's Gender Gap Travels Abroad
- Alison Maitland
- Maitland Alison
“An Empirical test of the Consequences of Behavior- and Outcome-Based Sales Control Systems,”
- William C Moncrief
- Emin Babakus
- David W Cravens
- Mark W Johnston
- Moncrief William C.