An empirical test of linkages proposed in the walker,churchill, and ford model of salesforce motivation and performance

In their model of salesforce motivation and performance, Ford, Churchill, and Walker hypothesize that a salesman's selling experience, participation in his supervisor's decision making, and closeness with which he is supervised are negatively related to his perception of role ambiguity and positively related to his job satisfaction. In addition, they hypothesize that the salesman's perception of role ambiguity is negatively related to his job satisfaction. The present study supports these hypotheses in terms of the following findings: (1) participation and closeness of supervision were negatively related to the salesman's perception of role ambiguity, (2) closeness of supervision was positively related to his extrinsic job satisfaction, and (3) participation was positively related to intrinsic job satisfaction. Finally, role ambiguity was negatively related to both extrinsic and intrinsic job satisfaction. The author thanks Professor Norbert L. Enrick, Kent State University, for his useful comments on earlier drafts of this article.