Sales Force Automation Acceptance: An Exploratory Study Of The Role Of Job Experience

Abstract

<p class="MsoBlockText" style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><span style="font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">User perceptions of new technologies may ultimately affect their acceptance of that technology. Recent research has identified a clear connection between user perceptions of Sales Force Automation and their acceptance of Sales Force Automation technologies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Anecdotal evidence suggests that relative to less experienced salespeople, more experienced salespeople tend to have more negative perceptions of sales force automation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>This paper examines the relationship between job experience and perceptions of a sales force automation system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The results are based on a survey of 1,657 salespeople about their perceptions of several aspects of a sales force automation system in a large sales organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>This study finds significant differences by sales experience in areas such as perceived productivity/efficiency gain, perception of sales force automation as a micromanagement tool, and user satisfaction with system functionality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Based on these results several important managerial implications for the adoption of a sales force automation system are suggested. </span></span></span></p>