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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 [...]

Drawing on fit theory and the revised achievement goal theory, this study investigates supervisor-sales rep fit for innovation commercialization according to three goal orientations: learning, performance, and failure avoidance orientation. Two large-scale dyadic studies of a total of 387 supervisor-sales rep dyads revealed that supervisor-sales rep fit strongly affects the sales success of innovations but only negligibly influences the sales success of established solutions. Further investigations showed that this difference occurs because both supplementary and complementary relationships between supervisors' and sales reps' goal orientations can alter reps' role stress regarding innovation selling. Moreover, results reveal that firms can magnify the effects of supervisor-sales rep fit on innovation sales success by tying sales reps' variable compensation more closely to innovation sales. Results also show that firms interested in reducing the negative consequences of a problematic supervisor-sales rep match should facilitate and encourage supervisors' appreciative communication with the sales reps., Author(s): Sebastian Hohenberg [sup.1] , Christian Homburg [sup.2] [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (Aff1) 0000 0004 1936 9924, grid.89336.37, McCombs School of Business, Department of Marketing, University of Texas at Austin, , [...]

Drawing from the interactional psychology of personality and multitasking paradigm, we examine the contingencies of salesperson orientation ambidexterity in the 'exploration' of new customers (i.e., hunting) and the 'exploitation' of existing customers (i.e., farming) to achieve sales growth and make time allocation decisions. The results from a field study and an experiment indicate that the impact of salesperson orientation ambidexterity is contingent on a salesperson's customer base characteristics. First, a salesperson's orientation ambidexterity in both hunting and farming leads to significantly higher (lower) sales growth when his or her existing customer base is large (small). Second, high levels of customer base newness in a salesperson's customer portfolio weaken the relationship between hunting time allocation at time t - 1 and hunting time allocation at time t, suggesting that salespeople are not subject to a success trap in hunting. However, salespeople are subject to a success trap in farming. These findings shed new light on how a salesperson's customer portfolio influences salesperson behaviors and performance, with implications for how to better manage ambidextrous behaviors in customer engagement., Author(s): Son K. Lam [sup.1] , Thomas E. DeCarlo [sup.2] , Ashish Sharma [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (Aff1) 0000 0004 1936 738X, grid.213876.9, Terry College of Business, University of Georgia, , [...]

Salesforce compensation theory assumes that given proper design of the incentive structure, salespeople will rationally allocate effort to maximize returns to their firm and themselves. However, faced with large sunk investments over long selling cycles, salespeople continue to commit resources to opportunities with little or no chance of being won, to the exclusion of viable leads. This article theoretically explores and empirically tests this over-investment effect under four potentially moderating conditions using a large multinational corporation's industrial salesforce. The findings from this field study indicate that escalation of commitment is more likely to occur in non-strategic accounts and accounts not involving channel partners. In addition, salespeople with lower ability demonstrate greater escalation of commitment. The study indicates that without targeted managerial intervention, salespeople will over-invest precious selling resources in unprofitable, unwinnable opportunities., Author(s): Robert Mayberry [sup.1] , James Sanders Boles [sup.2] , Naveen Donthu [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (Aff1) 0000 0004 1936 7400, grid.256304.6, Department of Marketing, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, [...]

We study the effects of the introduction of cross-channel functionalities on the overall sales dispersion of retailers and the implications of these effects for inventory management. To do that, we analyze data from a leading U.S. retailer who introduced a 'ship-to-store' (STS) functionality that allows customers to ship products to their local store free of charge when those products are not available in their local store. Based on the fact that stores prioritize carrying products for which local demand is high, we test the hypothesis that introducing the STS functionality increased the retailer's overall sales dispersion. We find that, on average, the contribution of the 90% lowest-selling products to total sales increased by 0.75 percentage points, increasing sales dispersion. Calibrating conventional inventory-ordering models, we show that to respond optimally to the observed increase in dispersion, the retailer would need to increase its cycle and safety inventories by approximately 2.7%. Our paper points out the effect of an increasingly important retail phenomenon (channel integration) on a key factor for inventory management (sales dispersion). History: Accepted by Vishal Gaur, operations management. Keywords: retail operations * online retail * channel integration * sales dispersion * long tail * empirical operations * inventory management * omnichannel retail, 1. Introduction Consumer demand for omnichannel shopping experiences (i.e., the ability to utilize both online and offline channels in a given transaction) has been increasing in recent years (Deloitte 2013). [...]

We consider a seller who can sell her product over two periods, advance and spot. The seller has private information about the product quality, which is unknown to customers in advance and publicly revealed in spot. The question we consider is whether the seller has an incentive to signal quality in advance and, if so, how she can convey a credible signal of product quality. We characterize the seller's signaling strategy and find that rationing of capacity in the advance period is an effective tool of signaling product quality. We find that the high-quality seller can distinguish herself by allocating less capacity than the low-quality seller in the advance period. We show that this signaling mechanism exists whenever advance selling would be optimal for both the high-quality and low-quality sellers if quality were known by the consumers. Interestingly, the seller's ability to ration (rationing flexibility) sometimes disadvantages the seller; this effect is independent of product quality. Keywords: advance selling; signaling quality; capacity rationing History : Received September 1, 2012; accepted November 13, 2013, by Yossi Aviv, operations management. Published online in Articles in Advance June 16, 2014., 1. Introduction Advance selling is used in service industries, including travel and entertainment, as well as in many retail areas, including toys, books, electronics, and media products. With advance selling, [...]