Workplace Values and Outcomes: Exploring Personal,Organizational, and Interactive Workplace Spirituality

Spiritual values in the workplace, increasingly discussed and applied in the business ethics literature, can be viewed from an individual, organizational, or interactive perspective. The following study examined previously unexplored workplace spirituality outcomes. Using data collected from five samples consisting of full-time workers taking graduate coursework, results indicated that perceptions of organizational-level spirituality (“organizational spirituality”) appear to matter most to attitudinal and attachment-related outcomes. Specifically, organizational spirituality was found to be positively related to job involvement, organizational identification, and work rewards satisfaction, and negatively related to organizational frustration. Personal spirituality was positively related to intrinsic, extrinsic, and total work rewards satisfaction. The interaction of personal spirituality and organizational spirituality was found related to total work rewards satisfaction. Future workplace spirituality research directions are discussed.     

Drivers of radical and incremental creativity—A moderated mediation framework

Researchers establish that rewards play an important role in shaping employees' creative behaviors. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms that transmit the effects of rewards for creativity on different types of creative behaviors. Drawing on the sense making perspective, this study identifies unique mediators and moderators of reward—creativity relationship. The results of this survey-based study, comprising of 220 independent employee - supervisor dyads, suggested that enjoyment in the activity mediated the relationship between intrinsic rewards and radical creative behaviors. Moreover, the interactional effects of extrinsic rewards and their perceived importance on creative behaviors were mediated through perceptions of climate for innovation. These results provide important insights and guide managers in promoting distinct types of creative behaviors.     

Personal characteristics of salespeople and the attractiveness of alternative rewards

How do personal characteristics of salespeople affect their desire for the various rewards available to them? Do younger salespeople desire different types and levels of rewards than older salespeople? Are there differences due to job tenure, marital status, family size, and so forth? In this article, the authors attempt to answer these questions. Based on an extensive investigation of the industrial sales forces from two large companies, the authors examine the relationship between personal characteristics and the sales force's valence for various rewards. Although some of the findings are consistent with current sales management practices, some are not, suggesting that present day thinking with respect to the design and administration of rewards may need more careful scrutiny.     

Processes underlying the development and evolution of salespersonsõ job satisfaction/dissatisfaction: a conceptual framework

A conceptual framework of salesperson satisfaction/dissatisfaction is presented and is used to develop several research propositions. Drawing from organizational behaviour and sales management research, the model incorporates various theories of motivation and emphasizes the role of intervening variables thought to be especially important in the context of sales occupations. Finally, the model draws attention to the dynamic nature of the relationships between salespersons' efforts, performance, intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, and job satisfaction/dissatisfaction. Copyright © 2011 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Interplay of Emotion Regulation and Sales Experience in Salesperson Conflicts: Evidence from an Emerging Economy

ABSTRACT

It is human nature that personal interactions are often charged with emotions and laden with conflicts. Workplace encounters are not immune from this reality. Despite this, few studies have examined ways to reduce interpersonal conflict in the workplace. This study examines the interpersonal impact of emotion regulation on salesperson relationships with stakeholders. Using structural equation modeling, results of the analysis showed that salesperson's regulation of emotions was negatively related to interpersonal conflict with co-workers as well as with customers; and positively impacted customer-oriented sales behaviors. The results also support the moderating role of selling experience in the relationship between emotion regulation and interpersonal conflict with customers. That is, the negative relationship between regulation and conflict with customers is stronger for salespeople with lower sales experience. These findings put forward important managerial implications with regard to the recruitment and training of sales professionals.     

Religiosity and Voluntary Simplicity: The Mediating Role of Spiritual Well-Being

Although there has been considerable theoretical support outlining a positive relationship between religiosity and voluntary simplicity, there is limited empirical evidence validating this relationship. This study examines the relationships among religious orientations (Allport and Ross in J Pers Soc Psychol 5(4):432–443, 1967) and voluntary simplicity in a sample of Australian consumers. The results demonstrate that intrinsic religiosity is positively related to voluntary simplicity; however, there is no relationship between extrinsic religiosity and voluntary simplicity. Furthermore, this research investigates the processes through which intrinsic religiosity affects voluntary simplicity. The relationship between intrinsic religiosity and voluntary simplicity is sequentially mediated by communal/personal well-being and environmental well-being. The findings not only identify a prosocial role of intrinsic religiosity in motivating voluntary simplicity, but also indicate that secular pursuits that enhance communal/personal well-being and environmental well-being may also motivate voluntary simplicity.     

The Impact of Personality Variables,Prior Experience,and Training on Sales Agents' Internet Utilization and Performance

ABSTRACT

Emerging literature on the impact of the Internet on business-to-business (B2B) marketing has primarily focused on examining this issue from the perspective of manufacturers and buyers. This study focuses on the sales agent, a third prominent actor in B2B markets, and tests a conceptual model that relates a sales agent's personality, demographic, and user-situational constructs to that sales agent's Internet utilization for selling activities. Further, the model tested in this study relates a sales agent's Internet utilization to perceived sales performance. Findings in this study indicate that internal locus of control, learning orientation, and sales related Internet training relate positively to a sales agent's Internet utilization, and that a sales agent's age relates negatively to Internet utilization. Further, the results support a positive relationship between a sales agent's Internet utilization and sales performance. This study emphasizes that the Internet can be a productive tool for sales agents. The implications of the results of this study for sales agents with respect to training and recruitment are discussed and avenues for future research are suggested.     

Generational Differences in the Importance,Availability, and Influence of Work Values: A Public Service Perspective

This study uses a sample of 832 Canadian public servants to test a theoretically derived framework which hypothesizes that generational cohort: (1) predicts the importance public servants place on intrinsic and extrinsic work values, (2) predicts the perceived availability of such rewards in public service workplaces, and (3) impacts the relationship between perceived availability of important rewards, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. Our study adds to the limited body of research on generational cohort and work values in the public service. Generational cohort had little impact on the importance of work values, but did predict perceived availability of work‐rewards and the relationship between perceived availability of important rewards, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. Findings could help public service organizations' recruitment and retention efforts. Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

正式控制对销售绩效的影响机制研究--一个被中介的调节作用模型

基于目标设定理论，构建了一个被中介的调节作用模型，探讨正式控制(包括结果控制和行为控制)对销售人员绩效的影响。实证结果表明：结果控制、行为控制分别与销售绩效显著正相关；结果控制与行为控制对销售绩效有交互的影响效应，结果控制与行为控制较强时，销售绩效更高；销售人员的顾客导向行为对上述交互效应与销售绩效的关系起部分中介作用。本研究的结论说明销售管理者需要通过结果控制为下属设置目标，配合使用行为控制提供反馈，从而激发销售人员迎合顾客需求的销售行为，提升其销售绩效。     

The Effects of Religiosity on Ethical Judgments

The relationship between religiosity and ethical behavior at work has remained elusive. In fact, inconsistent results in observed magnitudes and direction led Hood et al. (The psychology of religion: An empirical approach, 1996) to describe the relationship between religiosity and ethics as “something of a roller coaster ride.” Weaver and Agle (Acad Manage Rev 27(1):77–97, 2002) utilizing social structural versions of symbolic interactionism theory reasoned that we should not expect religion to affect ethical outcomes for all religious individuals; rather, such a relationship likely depends on specific religious attitudes including religious motivation orientation (intrinsic RMO vs. extrinsic RMO), perceived sacred qualities of work (job sanctification), and views of God (VOG, loving vs. punishing). We examined the effects of these three religious attitudes on participants’ judgments of 29 ethically questionable vignettes. Consistent with symbolic interactionism theory, intrinsic RMO and having a loving view of God were both negatively related to endorsing ethically questionable vignettes, whereas extrinsic RMO was positively related to endorsing the vignettes. Unexpectedly, job sanctification was positively related to endorsing the vignettes. However, both intrinsic and extrinsic RMO moderated this relationship such that sanctifying one’s job was related to ethical judgments only for those who were: (a) low in intrinsic RMO or (b) high in extrinsic RMO. We reasoned based on symbolic interactionism theory that intrinsically motivated participants, in contrast to extrinsically motivated participants, may have utilized their religious beliefs as a guiding framework in making ethical judgments.     

Working with customers: Cooperation and competition in relational marketing

The relationship and interaction between salespeople and their customers may be usefiilly examined in terms of how they believe their goals and interests are related. Twenty‐five sales persons and 40 travel agents and managers in charge of corporate travel were interviewed on specific interactions. Results support previous theorizing that productive conflict management and resulting trust and personal bonds contribute to successful marketing relationships and suggest that these dynamics occur when sales representatives and clients have developed strongly cooperative goals, but not when they have competitive or independent goals. Results were interpreted that the constructive discussion of opposing views complements cooperative goals as important contributors for developing successful relational marketing.     

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)'s Impact on B to B Sales Professionals' Collaboration and Sales Performance

Purpose: Sales literature has traditionally considered technology adoption from acceptance and diffusion perspectives. This article examines the impact of customer relationship management (CRM) technology on business-to-business (B2B) sales professionals' ability to collaborate with internal stakeholders and also assesses the relationship between CRM utilization and sales performance. The study moves from assuming that CRM utilization positively impacts salesperson effectiveness and performance to assessing this outcome from the perspective of the salesperson.

Methodology: A survey that was comprised of four scales was sent to 115 B2B sales professionals and usable surveys were received from 70 respondents. The data were analyzed using partial least squares regression to test the hypothesized paths. Partial least squares regression has been shown to work for small sample sizes.

Findings: There is empirical evidence that CRM adoption and utilization positively impacts sales performance, sales effectiveness, and collaboration. As a partial mediator, collaboration positively influenced CRM utilization's effect on sales performance. However, collaboration did not positively influence sales process effectiveness. Explanations of the findings are offered.

Managerial Implications: Sales managers can use CRM technology to make their sales team more effective and efficient. Second, increased collaboration across the firm positively mediates sales performance. Lastly, to increase collaboration, sales managers should stress that CRM leads to higher performance for both the sales team and the entire firm.     

Influence of Affective Traits on Entrepreneur's Goals and Satisfaction

Emotions are important to an individual's behavior. However, affective elements have rarely been included in the analysis of entrepreneurs' behavior. Using a sample of 335 entrepreneurs from multiple industries of the Spanish region of Castile and León, we analyze the role of emotions in entrepreneurs' statement of goals and in their satisfaction with business performance. The results show that positive affective traits influence an entrepreneur to state broad and ambitious goals, and personal negative affective traits influence an entrepreneur to state a narrow set of goals. We also find that positive (negative) affective traits are positively (negatively) related to entrepreneur satisfaction.     

Extrinsic Cues and the Evaluation of Political Candidates

In a political landscape where the content of politics is getting more and more complex and political parties less and less different, voters often base their voting behavior on extrinsic rather than intrinsic cues, a bundle of extrinsic cues constructed as an image and based on perceived personal traits. Based on survey data from a sample of Norwegian voters, this paper tests how a political candidate's credibility, charisma, and physical attractiveness are related to voters’ judgments of suitability for a leading political position. Across three different politicians, the results show that credibility plays a significant role in the evaluations performed by voters. More surprisingly, charisma does not have the expected effect, and to voters, physical attractiveness is found to be more important than charisma.     

Population changes and restaurant success

As a region's population grows, one might expect similar growth in restaurant sales. While that's generally the case, the relationship is not direct—and sometimes it doesn't work at all.     

Theory of Monetary Intelligence: Money Attitudes—Religious Values,Making Money,Making Ethical Decisions,and Making the Grade

This study explores (1) the effect of a short ethics intervention—a chapter of business ethics in a business course—on perceptions of business courses and personal values toward making money and making ethical decisions and (2) Monetary Intelligence (MI). Since attitudes predict intentions and behaviors, Monetary Intelligence, a form of social intelligence, is defined as the extent to which individuals monitor their own monetary motive, behavior, and cognition; apply the information to evaluate critical concerns and options; select strategies to achieve financial goals; and reach ultimate success and subjective well-being. I theorize that the affective (love of money motive) aspect of MI is unrelated to perceptions of “course work,” yet it is positively related to their “personal values” toward making money, but negatively related to making ethical decisions. Individuals with high MI (low affective love of money motive) have low interests in making money, but high levels of intrinsic religiosity and recall of the Ten Commandments and high interests in making ethical decisions and making the grade (objective academic performance). Based on data from multiple panels and multiple sources, this study provides the following discoveries. Contrary to expectations, there are no differences in students’ perceptions of course work and their personal values toward making money and making ethical decisions between two measures—before and after the ethics intervention. Results of this study not only provide empirical supports for the bright side of theory of Monetary Intelligence (MI, Monetary Quotient, MQ) but also reveal a new paradox—recall of the Ten Commandments (the priming effect) is positively related to making ethical decisions, but negatively related to making money. Results illustrate important theoretical, empirical, and practical implications to the literature of money attitudes, religiosity, intrinsic motivation, and business ethics.     

What motivates professional service firm employees to nurture client dialogues?

Dialogues between professionals and their clients are at the core of relationship marketing of professional service firms. To nurture dialogues, professionals need to extend the scope of the dialogue to new issues that impact the client organization's performance. We develop and examine (N?=?431) a model grounded in the theory of planned behavior to highlight factors that impact the willingness of professionals to initiate the extension of client dialogues. Three main results are found. First, affective and instrumental attitudes are distinct and different motivational antecedents that simultaneously impact willingness. Second, affective and instrumental attitude are intermediate psychological considerations shaped by extrinsic rewards, reciprocal relationships, and client relationship quality. Third, organizational pressure operates indirectly by instilling a personal professional norm to extend client dialogues.     

A personal construct analysis of adaptive selling and sales experience

Customer orientation is a key to successful marketing strategies. In personal selling, customer orientation has been shown to be related to the quality of the customer-salesperson relationship (Saxe & Weitz, 1978). Adaptive selling (Weitz, Sujan, & Sujan, 1986) is a theoretical perspective that suggests sales performance is related to salespeople's ability to shift their customer orientation, by adapting their behavior to different customers in different situations. This article presents personal construct theory (Kelly, 1955) as a framework for understanding how sales personnel perceive and adapt to customers. An interview technique known as laddering (Gutman, 1982; Hinkle, 1965) is used to elicit these constructs from sales personnel. Results of the interviews are compared across levels of sales experience. Consistent with the Sujan, Sujan, and Bettman (1988) findings relating sales effectiveness and breadth of knowledge structures, we find that the number of years of sales experience is related to the breadth of constructs obtained from the laddering interviews. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Predictive Power of Personal Factors in Studying Students' Perception of Sales Profession in Poland

Since Poland has become a member of the European Union, free market activities have increased dramatically. The purpose of this study is to explore university students' perceptions of personal selling as a career in Poland. Using logistic regression and Z-test methodologies, we analyzed the perceptions of 114 students. The results confirm the findings of previous studies that personal factors play a significant role in predicting students' perception of sales profession as a career. The findings presented in this study show that Polish students have a biased perception about sales as a career; however, interestingly, few dimensions show a significant effect. Understanding students' perceptions of the sales profession will help corporate recruiters achieve their goals by selecting those students most likely to excel in sales careers.     

The effects of empathy on salesperson effectiveness

Empathy is often described as a trait possessed by successful salespeople. Empirical studies that have uncovered a positive relationship between empathy and sales have failed, however, to use empathy measurement techniques deemed appropriate in counseling- psychotherapy, the field where most research pertaining to the empathic construct has been conducted. The research reported in this article examines the relationship between a salesperson's empathy and sales performance by using one of the most clinically acceptable empathy measurement instruments: The Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory. The empathy levels of salespersons were determined by new-car customers. Sales representatives' empathy ratings were then compared with their sales performance. The results of the research contradict the a priori assumption that empathy is positively related to sales performance.