A Multi-Cultural Study of Salespeople's Behavior In Individual Pay-For-Performance Compensation Systems: When Managers Are More Equal And Less Fair Than Others

In this research, we examine salespeople's behavior in individual pay-for-performance compensation systems and show how perceived management fairness seems to energize sales employees in some environments but not in others. We use a large multicountry database of individual-level remuneration for more than 2,500 salespeople across four B2B industry sectors to demonstrate cultural adaptations of the effect of perceived management fairness. The results indicate that top management should be concerned with employees' perceptions of fairness in addition to the more typical concerns of control and motivation widely acknowledged in the microeconomics-based sales-force compensation literature. In particular, we show that perceptions of management fairness are key to salespeople's proportion of total pay generated by pay-for-performance formulas.     

Adapting Motivation,Control, and Compensation Research to A New Environment

The authors discuss the need to adapt research in three substantively related but paradigmatically diverse research domains (salesperson motivation, control systems, and compensation) in light of the evolving selling environment. A key objective is to suggest the desirability of integrating these literatures, which, ultimately, all seek to inform management regarding how salespeople and sales organizations can be encouraged to become more productive. The authors maintain that specification of the right goals and metrics constitutes a fundamental common denominator across the three literatures.     

Marketing Control and Sales Force Customer Orientation

This study is predicated on the premise that internal sales force control mechanisms are strategic and operational forces that directly affect the behaviors of the sales force and their accompanying orientation toward customers. Sales managers represent a very different component of the sales force than salespeople. Their motivations, interests, role, and methods of operations all represent different approaches than those embraced by their coworkers: salespeople. Yet, although sales managers operate under an outcome-based control system and can be expected, to some degree, to be motivated by selfinterest (Oliver and Anderson 1994), upper management expects managers to be directed by organizational needs. However, in a results-oriented environment, the foundation of many compensation systems, sales quotas can focus sellers and managers in a direction inconsistent with customer-oriented selling (particularly if this behavior is deemed necessary to achieve quota). Based on this premise, this study examines the influence of sales managers’ quotas on their response to salespeople’s unethical behavior and its resulting effect on the customer orientation of the sales force. To fully explore this condition, this study also examines the role of an important formal process control, the ethical climate (e.g., rules and regulations), in influencing customer orientation. Providing important implications to sales organizations, results indicat that sales quotas can negatively affect sales force customer orientation via their effect on sales managers’ responses to salespeople’s selling behaviors. Interestingly, however, the company’s ethical climate was found to positively influence sales force customer orientation.     

Compensation and Control Systems: A New Application of Vertical Dyad Linkage Theory

Compensation and control systems offer much for study. In this paper, we provide directions for future research by considering the system of influences that operate to shape salesperson behavior in the presence of formal and informal systems attempting to influence behaviors and outcomes. By applying vertical dyad linkage theory to the issue of control, we illustrate how the field remains fertile for continued study to improve the understanding of how incentives influence sales managers, salespeople, and customers. Of particular interest is the interplay between superiors and subordinates across sales force management layers and in the context of compensation/control. Further, the chain of linkages extends to customers, also providing fruitful opportunities for research.     

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.     

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.     

Communication Between Hispanic Salespeople and Their Customers: A First Look

This paper presents the results of an exploratory investigation into the cultural communication styles of Hispanic salespeople. Depth interviews were conducted with 14 “key informants” who were familiar with issues facing Hispanic salespeople. The analysis suggests that (1) a cultural communication style exists for Hispanic salespeople, (2) Hispanic salespeople alter their communication style when selling to Anglo-American customers, and (3) culture clashes may occur when Hispanic salespeople interact with Hispanic customers of a different national origin and/or a different stage in the acculturation process. These findings have implications for the management of Hispanic salespeople in the U.S.     

The Role of Top Management in Developing a Customer-Oriented Sales Force

A national random sample of industrial salespeople was surveyed to examine the effects of salespeople’s perceptions of top management long-term orientation, top management emphasis, and top management risk aversion on customer-oriented selling behaviors. The results indicated that perceived top management long-term orientation had a significantly positive effect on perceived top management emphasis and a significantly negative effect on perceived top management risk aversion. In turn, perceived top management emphasis positively affected customer-oriented selling, whereas perceived top management risk aversion did not affect customer-oriented selling. The study underscores the importance of salespeople’s perceptions of top management factors for implementing the marketing concept. The managerial implications of these findings are discussed and several directions for future research are proposed.     

Coping Strategy Profiles Used by Salespeople: Their Relationships with Personal Characteristics and Work Outcomes

Sales research to date has focused on coping styles as measured by problem-focused coping (PFC) and emotion-focused coping (EFC), but it has excluded time management perceptions and behaviors as ways of coping with stress (Srivastava and Sager 1999; Strutton and Lumpkin 1993). This study examines a coping model that integrates EFC, PFC, and time management behaviors in the rubric of a profile. The profile allows for practice of several coping behaviors simultaneously. Using data gained from salespeople, four tentative coping strategy profiles are developed and examined relative to personal characteristics and job outcomes. Study results suggest that salespeople who are able to better handle stress use time management behaviors more often in addition to using high levels of PFC and low levels of EFC.     

Sales Technologies,Sales Force Management,and Online Infomediaries

An information intermediary (or infomediary) is an online firm that plays an important role in the information component of a transaction but not in the logistics component. Infomediary sales channels in which leads that originate online are converted to sales by an offline sales force are particularly important in areas such as automobile retailing, real estate, insurance, mortgages, and many other contexts. This research examines the role of sales technologies and the organization of the sales force in creating value for infomediary sales channels, formally examining channel outcomes using an analytical model and empirically examining channel outcomes using a survey of 678 automobile dealerships. The analyses indicate that adoption of sales technologies for lead management and channel-specific salespeople influence leads purchased (from infomediaries) and infomediary channel sales for the retailer. These findings integrate important technologies from outside the organization (infomediaries) and technologies and management structures inside the organization (sales technologies for lead management and channel-specific salespeople) into an understanding of retailer use of infomediary channels. These findings also suggest that it is in the best interest of infomediaries to offer sales technology and services to retailers, bundling information products with technologies for channel management.     

A New Conceptual Framework of Sales Force Control Systems

An important stream of research has recently studied sales force control systems (SFCS). Most studies have relied on a simple conceptualization of control, especially outcome-/behavior-based and formal/informal controls. Because most empirical studies based on such conceptual frameworks have led to contradictory or inconsistent findings, this paper attempts to identify a few important causes, especially management style (centralized or decentralized) and the different managerial objective’s time horizons (short and long run). Relying on an extended definition of an SFCS, the proposed new conceptual framework recognizes the dynamic nature of controls, introduces the concepts of usage intensity, depth of usage, and rigor of enforcement of control and feedback tools. The effects of the SFCS on salespeople’s transactional and customer relationship-building performances are considered. A series of research propositions is proposed.     

Bringing “Social” Into Sales: The Impact of Salespeople’S Social Media Use on Service Behaviors and Value Creation

The explosive growth in the use of social media has evoked a “gold rush”–like response from organizations. However, firms in general, and salespeople in particular, are uncertain about the fit between social media tools and their overall sales strategy. To address this issue, we advance a theoretical framework to explain the mechanisms through which salespeople’s use of social media operates to create value, and propose a strategic approach to social media use to achieve competitive goals. We draw on the existing literature on relationship marketing, task–technology fit theory, and sales service behavior to sketch a social media strategy for business-to-business sales organizations with relational selling objectives. The proposed framework describes how social media tools can help salespeople perform service behaviors leading to value creation.     

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.     

It is all in good humor? Examining the impact of salesperson evaluations of leader humor on salesperson job satisfaction and job stress

Abstract

Salesperson job stress and job satisfaction have been identified as critical factors affecting job performance. Academic research suggests that sales managers can influence salesperson job stress and job satisfaction. Interestingly, a review of the sales literature finds very little research on the impact of sales leader humor usage on the stress and satisfaction of salespeople. Consequently, we explore how salespeople’s evaluation of their manager’s use of humor influences their individual levels of job stress and satisfaction. We investigate both the positive and negative roles of humor by analyzing the impact of salesperson evaluations of their managers’ use of affiliative and aggressive humor on their job stress and job satisfaction. Furthermore, we examine the mechanism by which these evaluations affect salesperson stress and satisfaction by identifying two critical mediating variables – social loneliness and willingness to cooperate. Using a sample of 299 professional salespeople, we empirically test this process model to find that affiliative humor usage by sales managers, as evaluated by salespeople, reduces social loneliness and stress for salespeople while also increasing followers’ acceptance of cooperation. Evaluations of aggressive humor, on the other hand, increase stress levels among salespeople. Both social loneliness and acceptance of cooperation, in turn, significantly affect job satisfaction.     

From selling to managing strategic customers - a competency analysis

An increasing number of companies select strategic customers, who are then treated differently from standard customers. Thus, the customer-facing function has been divided into two separate functions: traditional selling and strategic account management. This article seeks to provide a comprehensive overview that compares the competencies of salespeople with the competencies of strategic account managers. The article's objective is to highlight a competency path that can lead salespeople to transition successfully into strategic account managers. Leveraging the two distinct competency classifications, we identify the key skills that traditional salespeople must be trained in or “unlearn” to successfully transition. From a theoretical perspective, this article bridges the gap between the literature on sales and the literature on strategic account management and pinpoints the major differences between those two customer-facing dimensions. From a managerial perspective, the article helps practitioners draw a competency grid to assess both salespeople's ability to succeed in their role transition and the training required to support this transition.     

The Influence of Sales Management Control on Innovativeness of Sales Departments

This study examines the influence of sales management control (outcome based, behavior based, and knowledge based) on the innovativeness of sales departments. Using data from Japanese sales departments, the results indicate that sales departments tend to be innovative when salespeople are evaluated based on their behavior and knowledge rather than on outcome. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Challenges of CRM Implementation in Business-to-Business Markets: A Contingency Perspective

In this paper, the authors discuss the importance of customer relationship management (CRM) systems in complex and simple selling settings and examine how CRM is implemented in both contexts. Specifically, they suggest that CRM strategies can be implemented from the top-down, originating from top management decisions, or from the bottom-up, stemming from the knowledge and experience of the frontline salespeople. After discussing the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches, the authors develop a CRM continuum using bottom-up and top-down CRM strategies as end points. Finally, the authors offer concrete propositions and research initiatives for future investigation.     

Increasing Sales Productivity by Getting Salespeople To Work Smarter

Recent research indicates that sales productivity can be substantially improved if salespeople place more emphasis on an aspect of working smarter, i.e., practice adaptive selling. This paper suggests ten approaches that sales managers can use to improve sales performance by encouraging and assisting their salespeople to practice adaptive selling.     

When openness to experience and conscientiousness affect continuous learning: A mediating role of intrinsic motivation and a moderating role of occupation1

Research on the effects of personality on work behaviors has adopted either the motivational meditation perspective or the person‐situation interaction perspective. This study attempted to integrate both of the perspectives in a single causal model. Specifically, using data collected from systems engineers and car salespeople in Japan, we investigated the mediating role of intrinsic motivation in the links from openness and conscientiousness to continuous learning, and the moderating role of occupation on the mediation mechanism. The results indicated that, for systems engineers, the effects of those personality traits on continuous learning were completely mediated via intrinsic motivation. For car salespeople, however, the trait effects on the outcome variable are direct, rather than transmitted through intrinsic motivation. The meanings of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

The Relationship Between Optimism and Coping Styles of Salespeople

Despite an awareness of the inverse relationship between stress levels and job performance, researchers have not addressed the specific coping strategies used by salespeople in their efforts to cope with sales-related stress. A framework is developed that suggests dispositionally optimistic salespeople may employ different coping strategies than do pessimistic salespeople. Support for hypotheses that have been grounded in this broad proposition was developed in a study that employed a multi-firm sales sample. Optimists were found to employ more problem-focused coping tactics, while pessimists used more emotion-focused coping. Issues relating to why problem-focused coping tactics are preferable as well as how greater use of problem-focused coping may be promoted within a sales organization are discussed.