When Sales Managers and Salespeople Disagree in the Appreciation for Their Firm: The Phenomenon of Organizational Identification Tension

Marketing literature emphasizes the importance of organizational identification in the sales force. However, empirical research has so far focused on the separate analysis of the consequences of either sales managers’ or salespersons’ organizational identification, largely ignoring their interactive effects. This study seeks to address this research void by exploring the phenomena of organizational identification agreement and organizational identification tension in the sales manager–salesperson dyad. In contrast to organizational identification agreement, organizational identification tension occurs in a sales manager–salesperson dyad if the sales manager and the salesperson differ in the strength of their organizational identification. Analysis of a triadic data set using hierarchical linear modeling supports the authors’ hypotheses that increasing the level of organizational identification agreement is beneficial but increasing organizational identification tension can have severe negative consequences for the satisfaction of a salesperson's customers and the salesperson's performance. The study additionally explores how sales managers’ leadership styles (charismatic vs. transactional), combined with the appropriate control system (behavioral vs. outcome control), can be effective in avoiding organizational identification tension.     

Does transparency influence the ethical behavior of salespeople?

This study introduces the concept of perceived salesperson transparency to the sales literature. It addresses how recent technological developments impact traditional agency theory concerns, while simultaneously creating a conceptual definition of perceived transparency for application on an individual level. Salesperson perceptions regarding managerial use of behavioral information obtained through technological means are empirically found to have a mediating effect on the relationship between managerial access to such information and the likelihood of unethical salesperson behavior. It concludes that salesperson ethical behavior is not influenced by management's ability to obtain behaviorally relevant information, but rather by the use of this information. Further, it is found that the mediating influence of use of information accessed via technology is itself moderated by the salesperson's job performance.     

Customer and selling orientations of retail salespeople and the sales manager's ability-to-perceive-emotions: A multi-level approach

Drawing from the mental ability framework and information processing theory, two studies embedded within the B2C retail setting investigate the role of the sales manager's ability-to-perceive-emotions in the complex non-linear relationships between salespeople's customer and selling orientations on one side, and its outcomes (sales performance and customer re-purchase intention) on the other. Using multilevel data from salespeople and their managers, Study 1 tests a theoretical model of salesperson orientation and performance, while Study 2 further verifies the results of Study 1 from the customer's perspective. Both studies find strong empirical support for a curvilinear, inverted U-shaped effect of a salesperson's customer orientation on sales performance and customer re-purchase intention. This effect is, however, reversed for the link between selling orientation and performance/re-purchase intention, where results indicate a U-shaped curvilinear relationship. Furthermore, we show that the sales manager's ability to perceive emotions facilitates the effect of salespeople's customer orientation on sales performance.     

Salesperson's listening in buyer–seller service relationships

Research has consistently shown that salesperson's active listening behavior leads to strong sales performance. Yet the influence of management policies on listening has received very limited attention, and prior research linking listening to customer retention has led to mixed findings. This study examines how listening is enhanced through control systems and the influence of listening on customer retention in a service context. Dyadic data from salespeople and their customers show that a behavior-based control system (measured as a second-order construct) positively influences listening and the salesperson's customer orientation totally mediates the influence of listening on customer commitment to the salesperson and loyalty to the service company. Our findings indicate that listening is a necessary but not sufficient condition for assuring relationship development. More specifically, customer orientation is the generative mechanism through which listening is able to influence customer retention. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

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.     

How critical events shape the evolution of sales organizations: A case study of a business-to-business services firm

While the literature recognizes that sales organizations evolve as they seek to improve their effectiveness, little is known about this evolutionary process. As a first step toward remedying this important knowledge gap, this case study uses event systems theory to explain the process through which critical events shaped the evolution of a sales organization over the course of a thirty-year period. The results reveal that (1) shifts in the sales organization were prompted by events that focused the unit's attention on the desire for growth or on the need to curb excesses, (2) the primary mechanism for effecting change in the sales organization was the flattening and de-flattening of organizational structures, and (3) a high degree of correspondence exists between shifts in organizational structure and, both, a salesperson's level of social capital and the incidence of unethical salesperson behaviors. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

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.     

Customer showrooming behavior,customer orientation,and emotional labor: Sales control as a moderator

Despite the popularity of customer showrooming behavior (CSB), few studies have investigated how this phenomenon affects salespeople's sales behavior. To answer this research call, we explored the effect of CSB on customer orientation (CO), as they are associated with emotional labor (EL) and perceived sales control as a moderator. We gathered data from 397 salespeople in South Korean department stores. Our study showed that CSB affected deep acting negatively by reducing CO. Perceived outcome-based sales control enhances CSB's negative impact on CO. Nevertheless, perceived behavior-based sales control does not moderate the relationship between CSB and CO. Our results indicate that supervising salespeople using outcome-based control only worsens the effect of CSB on salespeople who combat CSB.     

The Influence of the Compensation System and Personal Variables on a Salesperson's Effective Listening Behaviour

Effective listening is crucial for salespeople to succeed in today's personal selling environment, yet poor listening is still one of the most important factors contributing to a salesperson's failure. Despite its importance, very little research has focused on effective listening in this context. This study proposes a model that explains the effective listening behaviour of salespeople in terms of their method of compensation, ability to use customer knowledge, intrinsic motivation, gender, education and experience. The findings suggest that the above factors, with the exception of experience, are significant determinants of effective listening in the sales environment. A discussion of theoretical and managerial implications is presented, and key areas for future research are suggested.     

All pain,no gain? Why adopting sales force automation tools is insufficient for performance improvement

The dawning of the 21^st century brought a wave of research into the phenomenon of sales force automation (SFA)—technology tools aimed at enabling sales organizations to better practice customer relationship management. While the academic literature has offered great insight into how an organization can increase the likelihood that its sales force will adopt a new technology system, a great majority of research stops there. This is unfortunate in that companies mistakenly infer that use of an SFA system is the major hurdle and that simply motivating SFA use will be the key to unlocking improved performance. However, this is often not the case; many organizations are able to get their sales force to use an SFA system but do not see improvements in performance. As such, after briefly providing an overview of the factors affecting SFA use, this research provides insight into why use alone may not contribute to long-term improvements in a firm's sales performance. Key empirical findings and theoretical arguments from the extant literature are considered and a list of best practices is offered here to help managers bridge the gap between SFA use and improved sales effectiveness and efficiency.     

Personal Selling in Retail Settings: How Does the Internet and Related Technologies Enable and Limit Successful Selling?

Despite the proliferation of Internet usage both by retailers and by retail customers, little is know about the impact of the Internet on the retail salesperson's ability to add value to customer encounters. This article identifies and discusses Internet-related factors that potentially enable and/or limit the salesperson's successful execution of the personal selling process and also considers the effects of limitations of Internet retailing on achievement of desired retailer performance. Research questions are identified as a foundation for future work in the area.     

Gender’s moderating role in the relationship between organisational form and performance in the Spanish supermarket industry

This research seeks to discover how the organisational form (franchising vs. vertical integration) of 305 supermarkets belonging to a Spanish franchise chain influences unit-level performance measured through three key performance indicators commonly used in the retail literature: sales per square metre, sales per employee, and service quality scores. Additionally, we assess the moderating role of the manager's gender in each individual supermarket. We have analysed the research questions using multivariate analyses, with a panel dataset that includes quarterly establishment-level data covering the period from January 2017 to December 2019. We have found that franchised supermarkets record higher sales both per square metre and per employee than vertically integrated ones. This positive effect of franchising is lower in establishments run by females than in those run by males. The findings also reveal that franchised supermarkets record lower service quality scores than their company-owned counterparts, and this negative effect is again lower in establishments managed by females than in those managed by males.     

Optimal promotion planning for a product launch in the presence of word-of-mouth

Marketing managers concern that Word-of-Mouth (WOM) can affect the efficiency of sales promotion policy. Sales promotion might also amplify the strength of WOM which further complicates decision-making. In this study, we deploy an agent-based simulation optimization framework to find an efficient sales promotion plan in the presence of WOM for launching re-purchasable products. In this model, consumers' purchase decisions are influenced by price history, availability and satisfaction of the consumers, and positive/negative WOM. We show that taking WOM on board while determining the promotion plan can significantly increase the net present value. However, amplifying WOM might damage the firm's profit for some product categories.     

Do customers respond to the disclosure of internal control weakness?

In this study, we investigate the effects of firms' internal control weakness (ICW) disclosures on their customers. We hypothesize that ICW disclosure adversely affects customers' perceptions of firms' ability and incentive to honor implicit commitments to customers, and as such, customers are less willing to buy from such firms. We thus expect a decline in firms' sales growth after ICW disclosure. We find a significant decline in sales growth subsequent to Sarbanes–Oxley (SOX) Section 404 ICW disclosure after controlling for firms' past sales growth and other factors affecting sales performance and internal control. This result is robust to the consideration of selection bias in ICW disclosure. We also find that the decline is more pronounced for firms with company-level ICW disclosure, with industrial customers, in the durable goods industries, with high research and development (R&D) intensity, or without subsequent remediation of ICW. Taken together, these results are consistent with the argument that ICW concerns customers more when the implicit contracts between the firms and their customers are more intensive.     

Motivating industrial salesforce with sales control systems: An interactive perspective

This research examines the interactive effects on industrial salespeople's intrinsic and extrinsic (I/E) motivation of outcome control, activity control, and capability control above and beyond their main effects. I/E motivation are disaggregated into their cognitive and affective dimensions. Moderated regressions using a sample of industrial salespeople find that (1) outcome control and capability control have positive interactive effects on task enjoyment and recognition seeking, (2) outcome control and activity control have a positive interactive effect on compensation seeking but a negative interactive effect on task enjoyment, and (3) activity control and capability control have a negative interactive effect on recognition seeking. Moreover, we find that compensation seeking has a stronger positive effect on sales performance when salespeople deal with more new customers whereas the opposite is true for challenge seeking; compensation seeking appears to elevate job satisfaction only when there is a lower percentage of new customers but the positive effect of recognition seeking on job satisfaction is enhanced when salespeople handle a higher number of new accounts. These findings offer important theoretical and managerial implications by providing compelling evidence that sales control interactive effects should be considered when studying relationships among sales control systems, salesperson motivation, and job outcomes.     

Exploring communication differences between women and men sales representatives in a relationship selling context

The purpose of this exploratory research is to investigate the different styles of communication used by women and men sales representatives in relationship selling. An analysis of in-depth interviews revealed that the language used by women sales representatives is more conducive to building customer trust and more suggestive of relationship selling behaviour than the language used by their male counterparts. That women sales representatives may draw upon nurturing language and behaviour learned in developing other relationships (wife, mother, daughter, sister or friend) to build customer relationships is consistent with role theory and supports a theoretical explanation for the lower levels of role conflict surprisingly reported by women sales representatives in previous research. The results suggest that in a relationship selling task, marketing managers should consider using sales representatives with a 'feminine' style for sales jobs requiring extensive customer relationships. Directions for future research are also suggested.     

Impact of sales Promotion's benefits on perceived value: Does product category moderate the results?

The purpose behind the development of this research article is to assess the impact of sales promotions benefits on consumer perceived value and examine the moderating effect of product categories on the relation between sales promotions, their benefits, and consumer perceived value. The study used a sample of 400 consumers from India and ‘Structure Equation Modelling’ technique is applied to evaluate the research assumption. Finally, the moderating effect of the product category is evaluated by utilizing ‘Multi-Group Analysis' technique. Research findings reveal that the product category moderates the consumer's perceived value for hedonic and utilitarian benefits of sales promotion tools. It is found that utilitarian benefits of sales promotion have more impact on consumer perceived value in the context of personal care product while hedonic benefits are having more impact on consumer perceived value in the context of food products. A sales promotion plan can be made more effective when it is hedonic benefit oriented in the case of food products and utilitarian benefit oriented in the case of personal care products. The findings of this research can be useful for marketers to develop an effective sales promotion strategy considering the category wise differential impact of sales promotions benefits.     

FABRIC SPECIALITY STORES: CONSUMER DISSATISFACTION WITH SELECTED IN-STORE ATTRIBUTES

This consumer dissatisfaction study focused on selected in-store attributes of the fabric speciality store. The procedure was to select fifteen fabric speciality stores at random in the Phoenix area and distribute thirty questionnaires to customers at each store. The 264 returns were analysed by examining the respondents' comments about the fabric speciality store most often shopped in, the respondents' ratings of the statements concerning the average fabric speciality store's attributes and the complaints the respondents made to fabric speciality stores. The fabric speciality store attributes found to be both important and dissatisfying included: salesperson's helpfulness, variety of fabrics, quality of fabrics, salesperson's product knowledge and fabric price.     

Individual differences in emotional contagion of salespersons: Its effect on performance and burnout

This article explores the emotional contagion hypothesis, proposed by Hatfield, Cacioppo, and Rapson (1994), in a sales context. Specifically, the emotional contagion hypothesis explains how the emotions of two people (e.g., salesperson and customer) during a conversation are transmitted from one to the other via facial cues, and that these emotions affect the outcome of that interaction. The emotional contagion hypothesis implies that there are definitive individual differences concerning whether someone is either sensitive to emotions from others or able to transmit his or her emotions onto others. This study explores whether these individual differences are assets or liabilities over the long term for salespersons in a sales organization. The data in this study show that a salesperson's ability to infect others with his or her emotions is an asset (because it can lead to higher performance). In addition, being sensitive to the emotions of others is an asset (it can also lead to better performance); at the same time it is a liability (because of the higher risk of burnout). This study further explores how emotionally sensitive salespersons develop burnout as a consequence of role stress, which then affects their performance. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Customer Satisfaction

Abstract

Customer satisfaction, the cornerstone of the marketing concept, has been the subject of considerable research. Since 1970 over 15,000 academic and trade articles have been written on the subject. Salespeople, frequently the primary link between the company and the customer, have the opportunity to deliver/improve customer satisfaction. It is not surprising therefore that organizations seek to maximize salesforce performance and resolve customer complaints. However, attaining optimal performance is hindered by dysfunctional salesperson behavior and low levels of customer satisfaction. Research that improves our understanding of the critical roles salespeople and sales managers play in determining customer satisfaction is needed. A proposal that ties the theoretical gaps in the communication processes with the salesperson's role in affecting customer satisfaction is presented.