افزایش روحیه نیروی فروش در بازارهای پویا و پیچیده
Abstract
1- Introduction
2- Theoretical background
3- Methods
4- Measures
5- Results
6- Discussion
7- Limitations and future research
Appendix A. Sample characteristics
Appendix B. Assessment of selection bias-based endogeneity
References
Abstract
Sales force morale constitutes an important managerial topic that is often linked to key outcomes such as sales force turnover and productivity. Unfortunately, however, scholarly work in this area is strikingly limited. Accordingly, the goal of this study is to provide a first rigorous assessment of the role of morale in a sales context. Drawing on Job Demands-Resource (JD-R) as our theoretical lens and using a unique dataset that includes responses from three sources (i.e., sales managers, salespeople, and secondary objective data) from 81 companies over two time periods, our study makes several contributions. First, we offer a conceptualization of sales force morale and thus advance this timely and managerially relevant topic in a JD-R setting. Second, we show the negative impact of market demands (i.e., customer purchase complexity and market dynamism) on sales force morale. Third, the findings highlight the positive impact of morale on sales force turnover and productivity. Fourth, results show that two job resources attenuate the negative impact of market demands on sales force morale (i.e., sales capabilities training sales unit's cross-functional cooperation). Surprisingly, however, we find that a third job resource – that is, a firm's product portfolio depth – actually accentuates, rather than attenuates, the negative effects of market demands on sales force morale. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and managerial implications of our work and by elaborating on exciting avenues for future research in the area.
Introduction
Improving sales force morale is widely regarded among practitioners as a valuable strategy that can significantly enhance key outcomes such as job performance and turnover (Martin, 2015). Supernormal turnover at companies such as Groupon, for example, has been attributed to low levels of salespeople's morale (Ovide, 2012). Not surprisingly, therefore, proactive companies, such as John Deere, are investing substantial resources to systematically learn about, measure, and manage employee morale (Power, 2016). Despite this level of practitioners' interest, scholars have not demonstrated an equal amount of attention in the notion of sales force morale. As shown in Table 1, the topic of sales force morale has been the subject of very limited research in the extant marketing literature. As such, two important research gaps remain. First, the concept of sales force morale has not been the direct focus of much research in the extant marketing literature, with only tangential reference to the concept and without providing a clear definition or how it differs from other constructs, which seem to be overshadowing the concept of sales force morale (see Table 1). For instance, morale has been equated to and used interchangeably with the constructs of motivation (Cotham III, 1968), general feeling states and attitudes (Mantel, 2005), or satisfaction (Churchill, Ford, & Walker, 1976). Given this lack of attention, prior research offers little specific guidance concerning ways managers can employ to manage sales force morale.