- Apply for Authority
- P-ISSN1738-3110
- E-ISSN2093-7717
- SCOPUS
ISSN : 1738-3110
The Link between Number of Sales Accounts and Salespeople's Performance
- Downloaded
- Viewed
Abstract
Purpose - Previous research has shown that a very high level and a very low level of job scope can both be more stressful than intermediate levels of job scope. This study investigates the potential positive and negative effects of the number of accounts handled by sales personnel. The primary objective of this paper is to examine how the number of accounts salespeople handle affects their stress and performance. Research design, data, and methodology - This research conducted the data collection using a survey of salespeople in the pharmaceutical industry. I sent the survey to 420 salespeople, and received 318 usable responses. To assess measurement reliability and validity, I ran an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. I also employed structural equation modeling (SEM) to test all hypothesized effects in AMOS and also measured the interaction variable using Ping's (1996) approach. Results - These results show that there are linear and non-linear effects of the number of accounts handled by the salesperson on both role ambiguity and role conflict. First, the number of accounts handled by a salesperson is positively related to role ambiguity and role conflict. Second, the effect of the number of accounts handled on role ambiguity and role conflict decreases as the number of accounts handled by the salesperson increases. Third, as accounts increase from a low level, role stress increases; when the number of accounts reaches an optimal level, role stress decreases; and when the number of accounts increases to a high level, it can be detrimental to the salesperson's role stress. Fourth, while product complexity is positively related to role ambiguity, brand strength is negatively related to both role ambiguity and role conflict. Fifth, the greater the brand strength, the weaker the relationship will be between the number of accounts handled and salesperson role ambiguity. Finally, role ambiguity is positively related to salesperson performance. Conclusion - Too much and too little accounts increase the role ambiguity and role conflict of salespersons. Managers should identify the complex effect of the number of accounts handled by salespeople. Also, when products are complex, managers should provide training to eliminate any complex processes and complex information. These results suggest ways to decrease salespersons' role stress by ensuring an optimal level of the number of accounts and brand strength.
- keywords
- Number of Accounts, Brand Strength, Product Complexity, Non Linear Relationship
Reference
Anderson, S. W., & Dekker, H. C. (2005). Management control for market transactions: The relation between transaction characteristics, incomplete contract design, and subsequent performance. Management Science, 51(12), 1734-1752.
Beehr, T. A., & Newman, J. E. (1978). Job stress, employee health, and organizational effectiveness:Facet analysis, model, and literature review. Personnel Psychology, 31(4), 665-699.
Behrman, D. N., & Perreault, W. D. (1984). A role stress model of the performance and satisfaction of industrial salespersons. Journal of Marketing, 48(4), 9-21.
Bettencourt, L. A., & Brown, S. W. (2003). Role stressors and customer-oriented boundary-spanning behaviors in service organizations. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 31(4), 394-408.
Brown, S. P., & Peterson, R. A. (1993). Antecedents and consequences of salesperson job-satisfaction:Meta-analysis and assessment of causal effects. Journal of Marketing Research, 30(1), 63-77.
Browne, M. W., & Cudeck, R. (1992). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. Sociological Methods and Research, 21(2), 230-258.
Champoux, J. E. (1980). A three Sample Test of Some Extensions to the Job Characteristics a Model of Work Motivation. Academy of Management Journal, 23(3), 466-478.
Champoux, J. E. (1992). A multivariate analysis of curvilinear Relationships among job scope, work context satisfactions, and affective outcome. Human Relations, 45(1), 87-111.
Churchill, G. A. Jr., Ford, N. M., Steven, W. H., & Walker, O. C., Jr. (1985). The determinants of salesperson performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Marketing Research, 22(2), 103-118.
Dukerich, J. M., Golden, B. R., & Shortell, S. M. (2002). Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: The impact of organizational identification identity and image on the cooperative behavior of physicians. Administration Science Quarterly, 47(3), 507-533.
Epple, D., Argote, L., & Devadas, R. (1991). Organizational learning curves: A method for investigating intra-plant transfer of knowledge acquired through learning by doing. Organization Science, 2(1), 58-70.
Erdem, T., Swait, J., & Valenzuela, A. (2006). Brands as signals: A cross-county validation study. Journal of Marketing, 70(1), 34-49.
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39-50.
French, J. K. P. jr., & Caplan, R. D. (1973). Organizational stress and individual strain. In A. J. Murrow, The failure of success (pp.30-66). New York, NY: AMACOM.
French. J. R. P. Jr.. Capian. R. D., & Van Harrison, R. (1982). The mechanisms of job stress and strain. Chichester, England: Wiley.
Gapp, R., & Merrilees, B. (2006). Important factors to consider when using internal branding as a management strategy: A healthcare case study. Journal of Brand Management, 14(1-2), 162-176.
Gardner, D. G. (1986). Activation theory and task design:An empirical test of several new predictions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71(3), 411-418.
Gardner, D. G., & Cummings, L. L. (1988). Activation theory and job design: Review and reconceptualization. In B. M. Staw & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (10th ed., pp.81-122). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Hartline, M. D., & Ferrell, O. C. (1996). The management of customer-contact service employees: An empirical investigation. Journal of Marketing, 60(4), 52-70.
Homburg, C., Müller, M., & Klarmann, M. (2011). When should the customer really be king? On the optimum level of salesperson customer orientation in sales encounters. Journal of Marketing, 75(2), 55-74.
Jackson, S. E., & Schuler, R. S. (1985). A meta-analysis and conceptual critique of research on role ambiguity and role conflict in work settings. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 36(1), 16-78.
Jaramillo, F., Mulki, J. P., & Solomon, P. (2006). The role of ethical climate on salesperson's role stress, job attitudes, turnover intention, and job performance. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 26(3), 271-282.
Jaworski, B. J. (1988). Toward a theory of marketing control: Environmental context, control types, and consequences. Journal of Marketing, 52(3), 23-39.
Johnson, J. S., & Sohi, R. S. (2014). The curvilinear and conditional effects of product line breadth on salesperson performance, role stress, and job satisfaction. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 42(1), 71-89.
Jones, E., Brown, S. P., Zoltners, A. A., & Weitz, B. A. (2005). The changing environment of selling and sales management. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 25(2), 105-111.
Jones, E., Chonko, L., Rangarajan, D., & Roberts, J. (2007). The role of overload on job attitudes, turnover intentions, and salesperson performance. Journal of Business Research, 60(7), 663-671.
Kahn, R. L., Wolfe, D. M., Quinn, R. P., Snoek, J. D., & Rosenthal, R. A. (1964). Organizational stress: Studies in role conflict and ambiguity. New York, NY: Wiley.
Kanfer, R. (1990). Motivation theory and industrial and organizational psychology. In M. D. Dunnette & L. M. Hough (Eds.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychology.
Keller, K. L. (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity. Journal of Marketing, 57(1), 1-22.
Lindsley, D. B. (1951). Emotion. In S.S. Stevens(Ed.), Handbook of experimental psychology, New York, NY:Wiley.
Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W. B., & Leiter, M. P. (2001). Job Burnout. Annual review of psychology, 52(1), 397-422.
McAdams, D. P. (1995). What do we know when we know a person? Journal of Personality, 63(3), 365-396.
McQuiston, D. H. (1989). Novelty, complexity, and importance as causal determinants of industrial buyer behavior. Journal of Marketing, 53(2), 66-79.
Miao, C. F., & Evans, K. R. (2007). The impact of salesperson motivation on role perceptions and job performance - A cognitive and affective perspective. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 27(1), 89-101.
Newman, J. E., & Beehr, T. A. (1979). Personal and organizational strategies for handling job stress: A review of research and opinion. Personnel Psychology, 32(1), 1-43.
Nunnally, J. (1978), Psychometric Theory. New York, NY:McGraw Hill.
Oliver, R. L., & Anderson, E. (1994). An empirical test of the consequences of behavior and outcome-based sales control systems. Journal of Marketing, 58(10), 53-67.
Palmatier, R. W. (2008). Interfirm relational drivers of customer value. Journal of Marketing, 72(4), 76-89.
Ping, R. A. Jr. (1998). EQS and LISREL examples using survey data. In R. E. Schumacker & G. A. Marcoulides (Eds.), Interactions and nonlinear effects in structural equation modeling (pp. 63-100). Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Association.
Rentz, J. O., Shepherd, D. C., Tashchian, A., Dabholkar, P. A., & Ladd, R. T. (2002). A measure of selling skill:Scale development and validation. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 22(1), 13-21.
Rizzo, J. R., House, R. J., & Lirtzman, S. L. (1970). Role conflict and ambiguity in complex organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 15(2), 150-162.
Schaubroeck, J., & Ganster, D. C. (1993). Chronic demands and responsivity to challenge. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(1), 73-85.
Schuler, R. S. (1981). Definition and conceptualization of stress in organizations. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 25(2), 184-215.
Singh, J. (1993). Boundary role ambiguity: Facets, determinants, and impacts. Journal of Marketing, 57(2), 11-31.
Singh, J. (1998). Striking a balance in boundary-spanning positions: An investigation of some unconventional influences of role stressors and job characteristics on job outcomes of salespeople. Journal of Marketing, 62(3), 69-86.
Singh, J., Goolsby, J. R., & Rhoads, G. K. (1994). Behavioral and psychological consequences of boundary spanning burnout for customer service representatives. Journal of Marketing Research, 31(4), 558-569.
Singh, J., Verbeke, W., & Rhoads, G. K. (1996). Do organizational practices matter in role stress processes? A study of direct and moderating effects for marketing-oriented boundary spanners. Journal of Marketing, 60(3), 69-86.
Sohi, R. S., Smith, D. C., & Ford, N. M. (1996). How does sharing a sales force between multiple divisions affect salespeople? Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 24(3), 195-207.
Verbeke, W., Dietz, B., & Verwaal, E. (2011). Drivers of sales performance: A contemporary meta-analysis. Have salespeople become knowledge brokers? Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 39(3), 407-428.
Vinchur, A. J., Schippmann, J. S., Switzer, F. S., & Roth, P. L. (1998). A meta-analytic review of predictors of job performance for salespeople. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83(4), 586-597.
Walker, O. C. Jr., Churchill, G. A. Jr., & Ford, N. M. (1975). Organizational determinants of the industrial salesman's role conflict and role ambiguity. Journal of Marketing, 39(1), 32-39.
Walker, O. C. Jr., Churchill, G. A. Jr., & Ford, N. M. (1977). Motivation and performance in industrial selling:Present knowledge and needed research. Journal of Marketing Research, 14(2), 156-168.
Xie, J. L., & Johns, G. (1995). Job scope and stress:Can job scope be too high? Academy of Management Journal, 38(5), 1288-1309.
- Downloaded
- Viewed
- 0KCI Citations
- 0WOS Citations