The Effects of Formal Controls on Supervisee Trust in the Manager in New Product Selling: Evidence from Young and Inexperienced Salespeople in China*

Abstract

How should sales managers enhance the support and commitment of young, inexperienced salespeople during a new product selling? Some scholars have suggested sales managers should use formal controls (i.e., output and process controls) to develop the salespeople's trust in their benevolence. Drawing on a sample of young, inexperienced salespeople with rather low education selling new products in China's competitive, volatile, and transitional economic environment, the present study investigates the relationship between output and process controls and supervisee trust (i.e., the salesperson's trust in the sales manager). The empirical results of the study suggest that process and output controls have differential effects on supervisee trust. Specifically, the results indicate that process control enhances supervisee trust by itself and also under conditions of intense training for new product selling and when market volatility is perceived as high. However, process control hinders supervisee trust when the manager is long‐term oriented and engages in participative supervision. It was found that output control engenders supervisee trust when the manager is long‐term oriented but hinders supervisee trust when salespeople have undergone intensive training for new product selling. Implications of these results are provided for both researchers and practitioners involved in launching and selling new products.