Understanding sales representatives’ unreliable lead management efforts: contingent impacts of sales managers’ goal and process control behaviors

Abstract

Sales representatives (reps) frequently exhibit a lack of lead management effort and sales managers need to determine why so that they can address the problem. Scant insights exist into which leadership behaviors might increase sales reps’ lead management efforts, depending on sales reps’ individual feelings of responsibility for lead management activities. To address and empirically investigate this research void, this article reports on a qualitative, preliminary study of 11 sales managers and 10 sales reps, along with a large-scale, cross-sectional quantitative study of 410 sales reps. The mixed-method studies reveal contingent effects of sales managers’ goal and process control behaviors on sales reps’ lead management efforts dependent on sales reps’ feelings of responsibility for lead management. Whereas sales reps’ feelings of responsibility weaken the effect of goal control, they strengthen the effect of process control on lead management efforts. The simultaneous use of goal and process control reveals circumstances in which both control behaviors can have a combined, positive effect on sales reps’ efforts. In addition to extending the literature on leadership behaviors for lead management, this study provides sales managers with clear guidance on how to deal with sales reps’ unreliable lead management efforts.