Hybrid sales structures in the age of e-commerce

Sales organizations continue to exhibit meaningful changes in their structures during the e-commerce era. This article examines the impact of Internet technology on the evolution of sales organizations and identifies key components underpinning a successful hybrid sales structure. A comprehensive review of sales organization studies leads to the derivation of a hybrid sales structure model, as well as a series of key recommendations pertaining to the organization and sales performance. These findings establish a platform for further research into the hybrid sales structure. The transition from a reliance on traditional, outside sales forces to a concomitant use of inside sales personnel produces hybrid sales structures that can accommodate online buyer–seller interactions and also leverage technological advances in sales automation and business intelligence to boost sales performance.     

A second-generation motor rhythm analysis system

This report describes the design and operation of a second-generation motor rhythm analysis system (MRAS). The system enables quantification of spatial and temporal characteristics of movements performed in synchronization with audio-visual rhythmic stimuli. The MRAS also provides for assessment of preferred tempo in performance of repetitive movements. In addition to discussing the rationale for developing the system, consideration is given to procedures for its utilization in research regarding motor rhythm and preferred tempo.     

Negotiating the Reality of Visual Impairment: Hope, Coping, and Functional Ability

A consecutive sample of 63 adventitiously blinded American military veterans in a interdisciplinary inpatient rehabilitation program participated in this study examining the relation of hope to self-reported functional ability level. Scores from a modified oral administration of the Hope Scale and the Millon Behavioral Health Inventory basic coping styles were used as predictor variables to test regression-based models of mediation and moderation relations to functional ability level. Results support a mediating role for hope in the relation between a proactive sociable style and perceived level of functional ability.     

Review of the theoretical underpinnings of loyalty programs

A review of the extant literature reveals that the theoretical underpinnings of the majority of loyalty program research rest on psychological mechanisms from three specific domains—status, habit, and relational. We propose that to understand how loyalty programs actually work, a broader, more holistic research perspective is needed to account for the simultaneous effects across these three theoretical domains as well as both cross-customer and temporal effects. The contribution of this approach is a fresh research agenda advanced in 15 research propositions.     

The Role of Omission Neglect in Response to Non-Gains and Non-Losses in Gasoline Price Fluctuations

Research on omission neglect has shown that people are insensitive to many different types of missing, unmentioned, or unknown information. However, prior research has not examined the role of omission neglect in non-gain and non-loss framing. The present research shows that gain/loss framing effects are greater than non-gain/non-loss framing effects on judgments of the ease with which various scenarios can be imagined, judgments of believability, attributions to price gouging, and attributions to inflation. The results also show that negative outcomes are more influential than are positive outcomes in judgments of imaginability, believability, and fairness, and in attribution judgments. Considered together, the results suggest that omission neglect plays an important role in insensitivity to non-gains and non-losses.     

Effect of salespeople's acquisition–retention trade-off on performance

This research examines the impact of the acquisition–retention resource allocation at the individual salesperson level – that is, the proportion of their time dedicated to acquisition versus retention activities – on their sales performance. We extend prior research that investigates the acquisition–retention trade-off below (i.e., customer value approach) or above (i.e., firm portfolio approach) the salesperson's perspective by also incorporating many ‘within-firm’ factors that are critical to capturing the contingent nature of the allocation decision. The results suggest that firms can double their sales gains by implementing a trade-off strategy that customizes the acquisition allocation at the salesperson level. Using matched triadic data gathered from 227 salespersons, 106 supervisors and the seller's database, the authors find an inverted U-shaped linkage between the proportion of time allocated to acquisition activities and sales performance. Moderation analyses show that salespeople's optimal acquisition allocation depends on their knowledge breadth and job commitment, their supervisor's experience and job commitment and the quantity and quality of the prospects in their relationship portfolio.