Contribution of sales control in salespeople’s creative selling: Work engagement as a mediator

This study investigated the effects of outcome-based control (OBCS) and behavior-based control (BBCS) on creative selling, by exploring their mediating effects on creative selling through work engagement. We also explored the joint effect of the two sales control systems on work engagement, which can eventually increase creative selling. We collected data from salespeople working at an insurance company in South Korea; 270 of the 303 participants were included in the analysis. Our results revealed that OBCS and BBCS increase creative selling. In addition, work engagement was found to mediate the relationship between OBCS and creative selling but not the relationship between BBCS and creative selling. The joint effect of OBCS and BBCS on work engagement was found to function as a hierarchical combination, meaning that work engagement is enhanced when OBCS is high and BBCS is low. These findings suggest that OBCS and BBCS function through different mechanisms to creative selling when they function separately, and the former acts as a primary control and the latter as a supplement to work engagement when they perform jointly.     

试论旅游商品的开发与促销

随着我国旅游事业的兴起，旅游商品越来越丰富。因此，在旅游商品开发与促销方面，有必要针对目前存在着的一些欠缺和不足，提出和研究一些应对策略和措施。     

Salesperson navigation: The intraorganizational dimension of the sales role

Salespeople require the ability to navigate within their own organization to get what they need to be successful given today's demanding customers. The literature on personal selling provides little guidance on this dimension of the sales role and how it might impact selling performance. We develop the notion of Salesperson Navigation (SpN), embed SpN within a conceptual framework, and show how SpN works to impact individual sales performance. We develop both managerial and research perspectives around this phenomenon.     

The ABC's of ACB: Unveiling a clear and present danger in the sales force

While anti-citizenship behavior (ACB) is under-researched across all academic domains, sales and marketing researchers have not done any work in the area. This oversight is significant given recent survey data that suggests sales representatives are misbehaving at an alarming rate; 60% of sales managers have caught their reps cheating on expense reports (an example of ACB) and 36% believe such behavior has gotten worse over the past several years. Directed towards the goal of understanding salesperson ACB, this research provides the first conceptual model of ACB in the sales force. The model contends that characteristics of the organization (justice and intra-firm competition) and contextual factors (fit and job stress) directly affect the performance of ACB while individual level factors (locus of control, self-monitoring and introversion) moderate the performance of these behaviors. In addition, this research explains the intra- and inter-organizational consequences of salesperson ACB and suggests several ways by which managers can address this issue.     

相知服务与相遇服务之差异性

美国亚利桑那大学教授古德克和商业作家威尔史在2000年合著的《勇敢的新服务策略》一书中,提出了相知服务与相遇服务的概念,在服务内容、顾客获取服务的方式、服务速度、服务便捷性、服务成本、服务人员与顾客情感交流方式、顾客反馈问题方式、服务效率度量难易程度、管理服务供求关系难易程度、顾客忠诚度、服务提供者报酬方式、员工满意度、经理职责、企业盈利水平方面存在差异,区分这些差异,有助于指导不同类别的服务企业制定有针对性的营销和管理对策。     

Willingness to pay in negative restaurant service encounters

The aim of this research is to propose and test a comprehensive research model to understand the influence of food quality, service quality, ambiance, and value on consumer WTP in negative service encounters. Using DINESERV as the theoretical background, a mixed methodology (ANOVA and structural equation modeling) was utilized for the study using a between-subjects experimental design. Data was collected using an online survey from students (Study 1) as well as restaurant consumers (Study 2). The structural equation modeling provided evidence for the arguments that food quality, ambiance, and value are significant predictors of customer WTP in a negative restaurant service encounter. Theoretical and managerial implications were discussed.     

A white-boxed ISSM approach to estimate uncertainty distributions of Walmart sales

We present our solution for the M5 Uncertainty competition. Our solution ranked sixth out of 909 submissions across all hierarchical levels and ranked first for prediction at the finest level of granularity (product-store sales, i.e. SKUs). The model combines a multi-stage state-space model and Monte Carlo simulations to generate the forecasting scenarios (trajectories). Observed sales are modelled with negative binomial distributions to represent discrete over-dispersed sales. Seasonal factors are handcrafted and modelled with linear coefficients that are calculated at the store-department level.     

Consumers between supermarket shelves: The influence of inter-personal distance on consumer behavior

Recent research underlines the important influence on consumer behavior of the mere presence of consumers on other consumers in retail businesses. While these results mainly relate to overall behavior, it is largely unknown how consumers behave in stores and how they react to customers present around them. This study examines the impact of an encounter between two consumers, directly in front of the same shelf row, on diverse consumer behavior. By means of two pilot studies we gained initial insights into the mutual influence. An image-based scenario study shows that the proximal distance is important for consumers' emotional state. In addition, the results indicate that these triggered negative and positive emotions mediate the effects of the distance on shopping satisfaction, aversive behavioral tendencies, willingness to buy, and number of alternatives considered.     

Profiling the flyer-prone consumer

The purpose of this paper is to predict the differences between highly prone and less prone consumers to store flyers in terms of their sensitivity to economic, shopping-related and demographic variables. The empirical findings show that the flyer-prone consumer׳s profile somehow differs from the characteristics of consumers more prone to other types of promotion and to deals in general. The managerial implications underline that including a price-discount support is not essential if manufacturers and retailers wish to increase the probability of store flyers being consulted by a consumer. Nevertheless, the credibility of flyers depends on consumers’ perception of potential savings being maintained.