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While companies devote extensive resources to sales force monitoring and compensation, executives continue to puzzle over how to properly motivate their sales personnel to perform more effectively and efficiently. Which matters more for performance-extrinsic incentives or intrinsic motivators-and under what conditions? While motivation has been studied for decades, the phenomenon remains a chief concern facing many organizations today. Findings from 293 effect sizes nested within 127 studies (n = 77,560) demonstrate that motivation is significantly associated with salesperson performance (r = .245, 95% CI = .238 to .252). In addition, the meta-analytic findings indicate that intrinsic motivation is more significantly associated with performance (r = .298, 95% CI = .287 to .308) than extrinsic motivation (r = .176, 95% CI = .166 to .186). The multivariate analyses also confirm that intrinsic motivation has stronger effects than extrinsic motivation on salesperson performance after controlling for sample characteristics such as age, gender, and tenure. Moreover, we find that the relationship between intrinsic motivation and performance is greater than that of extrinsic motivation and performance for both younger and older salespeople, salespeople with longer job tenure and years of sales experience, female salespeople, salespeople selling in a B2B context, and salespeople located within the U.S. We discuss the theoretical importance of these findings, offer practical implications for sales managers, and suggest avenues for future scholarly research., Author(s): Valerie Good [sup.1] , Douglas E. Hughes [sup.2] , Ahmet H. Kirca [sup.3] , Sean McGrath [sup.4] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.256549.9, 0000 0001 2215 7728, Department of Marketing, Seidman [...]

Much of the current research on salesperson motivation focuses on extrinsic reward expectancy related to compensation, contests, incentives, and quotas. We find that while salespeople want to make money, they also want to make a difference and contribute to society through their work. In Study 1, the qualitative findings reveal that a sense of purpose-the belief that one is making a contribution to a cause greater and more enduring than oneself-is a significant motivator for salespeople. Hence, in Study 2 we develop a measure for sense of purpose and distinguish it from related constructs. Finally, in Study 3 we use a dynamic modeling approach with longitudinal salesperson data to empirically demonstrate that sense of purpose is an antecedent to intrinsic motivation. We also discover that intrinsic motivation is more positively associated with increased salesperson effort, adaptivity, and performance than is a desire for money on average over time, particularly for younger salespeople. These findings not only contribute to theory but also have important ramifications for the effective management of modern sales organizations., Author(s): Valerie Good [sup.1] , Douglas E. Hughes [sup.2] , Hao Wang [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.256549.9, 0000 0001 2215 7728, Grand Valley State University, Seidman College of Business, , [...]

We explore the complexity of salesperson competitiveness and the concept of self-oriented competitiveness (SOC). Study 1 develops and validates a measure of SOC within a nomological network of achievement-related and personality constructs. Study 2 leverages a field experiment with a corporate sales force to explore alternative financial incentive structures facilitating performance across salespeople possessing different types of competitiveness. Using a contingency approach to leadership behavior and a multilevel field study with salesperson-sales manager dyadic data, Study 3 shows that other-oriented competitiveness (OOC) and SOC lead to conditionally distinct salesperson behaviors and differential performance outcomes. Collectively, the three investigations suggest that SOC is a unique construct having important sales management and future research implications., Author(s): Wyatt A. Schrock [sup.1] , Douglas E. Hughes [sup.2] , Yanhui Zhao [sup.3] , Clay Voorhees [sup.4] , John R. Hollenbeck [sup.5] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.17088.36, 0000 0001 2150 [...]

This research draws on effectuation theory and service dominant logic to develop the concept of effectual selling. Effectual selling is focused on resource integration, stakeholder interaction, and value co-creation under environmental uncertainty. The effectual selling perspective developed here is consistent with the emerging service ecosystem view. As such, it is holistic and dynamic. Broadly, this investigation represents the longstanding and continuous effort to understand and articulate the important and evolving role of the salesperson. Several testable propositions are developed to facilitate further study of effectual selling behavior. Guided by the motivation, opportunity, ability (MOA) framework, the propositions suggest different salesperson characteristics, sales manager leader behaviors, and firm-level characteristics that will drive effectual selling behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sales managers often take on the dual responsibilities of managing a sales team and selling to customers. This practice raises questions about how sales managers' time allocation to managing and selling activities affects sales team performance. Building on qualitative findings, this research first highlights and categorizes activities that are regularly competing for the limited time resources of today's sales managers. Our qualitative results reveal a prevalence of sales managers taking a "hybrid" approach to managing their sales teams by regularly allocating time toward both managing and selling activities. Through a resource allocation lens, we investigate how the time allocation decisions of these hybrid sales managers influence sales team performance. Our findings underscore the importance of effective time management for sales managers across a core set of leader behaviors, including managing people, managing information (planning and analysis), customer interaction, and administrative tasks. Ultimately, boundary conditions suggest counterintuitive implications of team experience on the value derived from various manager activities. Findings suggest that when managing more (less) experienced teams, managers should focus on spending more time on managing people (customer interaction). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2007.09.003 Byline: Michael Ahearne (a), Douglas E. Hughes (a), Niels Schillewaert (b) Keywords: Operational CRM; SFA usage; Sales productivity; Targeting; Performance Abstract: This study seeks to answer the following question: Can sales representatives enhance their performance through their acceptance of information technology (IT) tools? Using data collected from two companies, we show that despite uncertain results and the frequent resistance among salespeople to IT interventions, IT acceptance indeed has a positive effect on sales performance. This occurs because salespeople using IT expand their knowledge and, in turn, gain improved targeting abilities, enhanced presentation skills, and increased call productivity. Thus, sales representatives have a strong incentive to accept IT because doing so is likely to sharpen their own job performance. Author Affiliation: (a) University of Houston, USA (b) Vlerick School of Management, Belgium Article Note: (miscellaneous) First received in September 21, 2006 and was under review for 5 months

This research uses a combination of text mining, co-word analysis, and social network analysis (SNA) to review 132 international sales and sales management (ISSM) articles published between 1980 and 2017. The study provides a unique view of the past and future of ISSM research and provides three principal contributions. First, from a social network-analytic perspective, it offers a unique examination of the ways ISSM research topics are interconnected, as reflected by keyword network structure. Second, by conducting SNA across two periods (1980-1999 and 2000-2017) and examining the changes in network centrality measures, the study offers initial insights into the evolving nature of the ISSM literature. Third, the study reports keyword network disconnections (i.e., structural holes) to propose a fruitful agenda for future ISSM research. Taken together, this research offers a current perspective of the ISSM research domain's evolving nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]