Important First-line Sales Management Qualifications: What Sales Executives Think

Abstract

What personal characteristics and performance dimensions are important in determining who is promoted to first-line sales management positions? This question concerns those who aspire to sales management positions, as well as managers who are involved in the first-line sales management process. Despite the significance of the topic, virtually no published research has examined this issue. This paper reports the results of a nationwide survey of senior-level sales executives that focused on criteria that are important in the selection of first-line managers.     

Gender Differences in Attitudes Toward Women as Sales Managers in the People's Republic of China

The present study promulgates a research stream in the area of understanding women's position in the management of the Chinese sales force. The study investigates attitudes toward women as sales managers held by Chinese salespeople. Male salespeople consistently rated the female sales managers lower than did female salespeople on three sets of attitude items. This finding indicates the presence of male resistance to women in sales management positions.     

Salesperson Ethical Decision Making: The Impact of Sales Leadership and Sales Management Control Strategy

Enhancing the moral behavior of salespeople is increasingly important, but difficult, in today’s fast-paced and complex selling environment. Sales organizations need to emphasize ethical codes of conduct, but must also address the potential impact of all sales management decisions on the ethical behavior of salespeople. We expand the focus on ethical codes to include an interpersonal dimension of sales organization ethical climate and the cognitive moral development of salespeople. Relationships among sales leadership and sales management control strategy, the structural and interpersonal dimensions of sales organization ethical climate, salesperson cognitive moral development, and salesperson moral judgment are discussed and specific propositions presented. These propositions suggest specific directions for future sales ethics research and have key implications for sales organizations.     

A Qualitative Study of the Recruiting of Men and Women for Sales Positions in Turkey

This study examines the effects of gender on recruitment of salespeople in Turkey, an emerging economy with a male-dominated society where historical and cultural values have frequently limited women’s employment opportunities. Based on 16 interviews with male and female recruiters from four industries actively hiring productive salespeople, the study addresses gender effect on recruiting of men and women for sales positions in Turkey. The findings of this qualitative study provide an opportunity to expand our understanding of gender effects in an emerging economy.     

Increasing Sales Productivity Through Improved Sales Call Allocation Strategies

Abstract

Analytical tools have been found to greatly assist sales managers in making better sales call allocation decisions, but many of these approaches are either too simplified to provide meaningful results or too complex for many sales organizations to use. Recently a grid analysis approach has been suggested as a promising way to increase sales productivity by improving sales call allocations. We present several methodological improvements for developing the grid and report a successful application of grid analysis.     

Sexual Harassment in the Sales Force: The Customer is NOT Always Right

This study utilizes historical data to explore the effects of sales management succession, the characteristics of the successor, and type of succession on post-succession performance of an industrial sales organisation while controlling for pre-succession performance and economic conditions. Three theoretical positions were contrasted: (1) that a change in a sales manager will lead to a decline in a performance, (2) that such a change will lead to an increase in sales performance, and (3) that the change will have no impact on performance. The results demonstrated a positive effect due to succession, thus supporting the commonsense notion that a sales management change leads to improved performance. There was also some support for the proposition that experience and ability may mediate the succession effect.     

Attracting Graduates to Sales Positions: The Role of Recruiter Knowledge

Corporate recruiting on college campuses has been an important vehicle for selecting and hiring new employees. Previous research has focused on identifying, locating, and selecting new employees, but the recruiting function of attracting good prospects to the interview and job has received less research attention. Increased importance of the attraction function of recruiting may be indicated for the future, particularly given projections of a decline in business college enrollments. The purpose of this article is to examine recruitment of college graduates for sales positions, using the perspective of attracting employees by communicating aspects of the job and company which are important to them. A survey of students and recruiters was used to reveal the attributes of importance to students, differences among students, and the extent to which recruiters are aware of student importance ratings. Differences between students and recruiters perceptions are identified for half of the 50 attributes examined, revealing an opportunity for recruiters to obtain better knowledge of students' perceptions and, thus, to improve their ability to attract graduates to sales positions.     

Stereotyping,Affiliation, and Self-Stereotyping of Underrepresented Groups in the Sales Force

This study adds theoretical and managerial insights to the sales literature regarding the unfortunate but prevalent issue of stereotyping in sales by supervisors toward underrepresented groups of sales employees. Specifically, we examine (1) the self-evaluative, social, and emotional consequences of being stereotyped by a supervisor, and (2) the moderating role of employees’ self-construal (i.e., the employee’s level of independence versus interdependence) as it relates to their responses toward a supervisor who holds stereotypical expectations. The results suggest that when a sales supervisor endorses stereotypical views, more interdependent (versus independent) sales employees will likely affiliate more with, and experience fewer negative emotions toward, the supervisor. The results also suggest that sales employees’ self-construal moderates the impact of intentions to affiliate with the supervisor on positive stereotypical traits (that are valued in the sales context) but not negative stereotypical traits. While not every sales employee comes from an underrepresented background, every company is interested in the success of their underrepresented sales employees. And, simply being interested in hiring underrepresented employees is not enough. Rather, firms need to understand how to effectively manage diversity and facilitate strong sales supervisor employee relationships. This research provides such understanding.     

The Performance Effects of Outcome-Based Incentive Pay Plans on Sales Organizations: A Contextual Analysis

The contextual role of sales volatility, the complexity of customers’ purchase decisions, and the level of monitoring on the performance impact of incentives are examined. Results reveal that the use of an incentive plan is positively related to all three dimensions of organizational performance. This relationship is moderated positively by the customers’ purchase decisions and negatively by sales volatility and monitoring. In addition, the contextual role of sales volatility, the complexity of customers’ purchase decisions, and the level of monitoring differ according to the performance measure used. Implications of the findings are presented, followed by limitations and future research directions.     

Effect of Applicant's Clothing on Interviewer's Decision to Hire

This research investigated the extent to which an applicant's clothing influenced interviewer's perceptions of management characteristics and decisions to hire women for management positions. One hundred nine respondents (from marketing and banking) viewed color videotapes of four women applicants interviewing for a management position. The applicants were wearing one of four experimental costumes which differed in masculinity. The respondents rated each applicant on five management characteristics and made hiring recommendations for each applicant. Clothing masculinity was significant in predicting the perception of all the management characteristics examined. Applicants were perceived as more forceful, aggressive and so on when wearing more masculine clothing. Applicants also received more favorable hiring recommendations when wearing more masculine clothing. The mediating effect of the respondent's gender and occupation on perception of management characteristics and hiring decisions was not significant. The findings are discussed from an integrated conceptual framework.     

Sales Force Turnover and Retention: A Research Agenda

Identifying, acquiring, and retaining top sales talent remains a priority in many sales organizations because salesperson turnover remains such an intractable management problem. This paper seeks to encourage and enrich continued research on sales turnover by introducing recent methodological and theoretical advances in psychological, economic, and organizational theory. First, we suggest an examination of sales turnover guided by social network theory. Second, we propose the simultaneous consideration of the interplay between variables within a comprehensive, integrated multilevel framework. Third, in keeping with the shift in research designs initiated in management, our model includes the concept of “shocks”—jarring events that could drive turnover decisions. Finally, we propose to examine sales turnover within an international context. The conceptual framework we present outlines how sales organizations might effectively address sales force turnover and, as a consequence, improve productivity. We conclude by suggesting some specific research questions intended to provide direction for researchers interested in identifying and investigating underresearched linkages.     

产品销量和推荐数对网络消费决策的影响:价格的调节效应

基于目标感染理论,探究了产品销量和产品推荐数对大学生网络消费决策的影响,并进一步探究了产品价格在大学生网络消费决策中的调节作用。两项研究均表明,产品销量和推荐数均会促进大学生做出消费决策。其中,产品价格调节了两者对网络消费决策的影响,具体表现为在选购低价格产品时,大学生更加看重产品销量,倾向选购高销量产品;而在选购中高价格产品时,大学生更加看重产品推荐数,选购高推荐数的产品。本研究为网络电商平台如何针对不同价位产品制定产品展示方案提供了理论支持和实践指导。     

Impact of Sex Role Differences Upon The Frame of Reference: of Male and Female Residential Real Estate Salespeople in Their Evaluation of Career Opportunities

Abstract

The influence of sex-role stereotyping upon employee performances for job rewards has been researched in great depth. Little work has been done with men and women in a commissioned sales field. This study examines the influence of sex-role stereotyping upon the communication frame of reference and upon the evaluation of a career opportunity through two new hypotheses. Evidence was found that a sex-role identity and stereotyping can influence the frame of reference and the quality of information about a career.     

Drug Abuse in the Sales Force

Drug abuse in the workplace is a national problem of frightening proportions and there is no reason to suspect that the nations's sales forces should be immune. This study examines the problem of sales force drug abuse and reports the findings of a nationwide survey of field sales managers concerning the extent of drug abuse in the nation's sales forces, the methods of dealing with the problem, and factors related to drug abuse problems in the sales force. Implications for sales managers, sales management educators and trainers, and researchers in the field of sales and sales management are also discussed.     

Alcohol Abuse in the Sales Force

Abstract

Much of the literature on the problem of alcohol abuse in the nation and in the work place implies that salespeople should be particularly susceptible to problem drinking. Most discussion of alcohol abuse by salespeople has been anecdotal and speculative in nature, however, and little empirical research has been reported to support the anecdotes and speculations. This study examines the problem of sales force alcohol abuse and reports the findings of a nationwide survey of field sales managers concerning the extent of this problem in the nation's sales forces, the methods of dealing with alcohol-abusing salespeople, and factors related to problem drinking in the sales force. Implications for sales managers, sales management educators and trainers, and researchers in the field of sales and sales management are also discussed.     

Experimental tests of an attitudinal theory of the gender gap in voting

This research examined the hypothesis that gender gaps in voting stem from differences in the extent to which men and women agree with candidates' issue stances. Two initial experiments portraying candidates by their sex and attitudes and a third experiment that also included information about political party produced the predicted attitudinal gender-congeniality effect: Participants of each sex reported greater likelihood, compared with participants of the other sex, of voting for the candidate who endorsed positions typically favored more by their own sex than the other sex. In addition, this gender-congeniality effect was present among Republican and independent participants but absent among Democratic participants because Democratic men as well as women favored candidates who advocated the positions typically favored by women. Interpretation invoked the importance of group interest based on gender as an influence on women's voting.     

Effects of Social Conditions on the Expression of Sex-role Stereotypes

In this study, 129 female and 83 male undergraduates were asked to make judgments about identical male and female law school applicants. Evaluations of the candidate employed two types of measures: (a) direct measures set up to assess judgments based upon objective criteria such as GPA and aptitude test scores, and (b) indirect measures designed to provide more opportunity for subjective factors and subtle ways for stereotyping to operate. It was hypothesized that increased social awareness of sex discrimination would reduce more blatant types of stereotyping expressed in the direct measures and force stereotyping into more subtle forms, measurable through the construction of the indirect indices. The results revealed no differences between male and female candidates on the direct measures. However, stereotyping appeared on indirect measures associated with personality characteristics and employment alternatives. The investigators concluded that prejudicial attitudes toward women continue to exist and are expressed in more subtle or „hidden” forms. Suggestions for developing means for measuring these attitudes as well as practical considerations for reducing discrimination in employment settings were presented.     

Sex role stereotyping in women with agoraphobia and their husbands

Thirty-two married women with Diagnostic Statistical Manual (3rd edition, revised) diagnosis of agoraphobia and their husbands were compared with 32 matched control women and their husbands on self-report measures of sex role stereotyping, psychological symptoms, personality, and marital adjustment. The experimental women scored significantly lower than the control women on the sex role measure of Autonomy and significantly higher on Intropunitiveness. Significant inverse correlations occurred between women's self-ratings of Masculinity and Autonomy and their agoraphobic symptoms. In the experimental couples, but not the control couples, significant and substantial disagreements occurred on ratings of each other's Masculinity and Autonomy, and husbands' marital satisfaction correlated strongly with wives' self-rating of Femininity. The findings justify further study of sex role stereotyping in agoraphobia, especially where the syndrome coexists with marital dissatisfaction and/or personality disorder.     

The effects of competent behavior on interpersonal attraction and task leadership

Past research relating to competence and the status of sex-role stereotypes has produced highly divergent and confusing results, while research into their effects on leadership choices has been scarce. With these issues in mind, the current study varied subject sex, competence, and confederate sex to evaluate their influence on attraction, leadership choice, and sex-role stereotyping on a number of bipolar items. Results revealed that competent womenw ere found to be as attractive as competent men, while incompetent women were found to be more attractive than incompetent men. Leadership remained a masculine trait; women assumed much less responsibility for leadership than did men. Thus, while women may be viewed as being as attractive as men when both are competent, they are not given, nor do they assume equivalent amounts of responsibility for leadership. There was generally a lack of sex-role stereotyping on bipolar items.     

The Recruiting Interview as Perceived by College Student Applicants for Sales Positions

The recruiting interview experience as perceived by college students applying for sales positions is the subject of this research study. The results, based on actual recruiting interviews through placement centers at two university campuses, describe the relative importance of various factors in the job offer and recruiting process, including characteristics of the recruiter. Analysis shows how these factors relate to the applicant's perceived success of the interview, the chance of getting a job offer, and the chance of accepting a job offer.