Salesperson Job Satisfaction Research Articles

Using MASEM to explore the psychological mechanisms linking salespeople's job satisfaction and performance

Satisfied and involved salespeople not only benefit themselves but also contribute to the profitability of their sales organisation. However, no sales research focuses on salespeople's psychological states driving salesperson involvement to sales performance. This study classified salespeople's psychological states influencing sales performance by the objects related to salespeople and the motivational states. The three psychological states are salespeople's motivations for the salespeople themselves (intrinsic motivation), their organisation (organisational commitment) and their customers (customer orientation). In addition, no meta-analysis or empirical sales study has yet identified and clarified the interactions between the salespeople's three psychological states or shown how they mediate the link between salespeople's job satisfaction and performance. This study involved the collection of 141 empirical sales articles (1971–2022) from 26 journals and coded 275 effect sizes with 72,668 survey responses. Meta-analytic structural equational modelling (MASEM) was used to analyse the data and test the conceptual model. The results support the hypotheses: salespeople's job satisfaction is positively related to intrinsic motivation and organisational commitment; salespeople's intrinsic motivation is positively related to job performance, organisational commitment and customer orientation; salespeople's organisational commitment is positively related to job performance; salespeople's customer orientation is positively related to job performance. However, two are not supported: the hypothesis proposing a relationship between salespeople's job satisfaction and customer orientation, and that proposing a link between salespeople's organisational commitment and customer orientation. Based on the findings, a map of the salespeople's three psychological states is proposed, illustrating the link between salespeople's job satisfaction and performance, revealing the dominant role of salespeople's intrinsic motivation in driving the other two psychological states, and identifying the two-way causal relationship between salespeople's intrinsic motivation and job satisfaction. This study also offers marketing analytic professionals a clear roadmap for what the crucial variables are and marketing managers practical advice on how to promote and control the sales force.

Internal marketing and salespeople's out-of-role behaviour: The mediating role of job satisfaction

This study examines the effect of internal marketing (IM) on salespeople's in-role and out-of-role behaviours and how these behaviours affect customer satisfaction and sales performance. It also tests the mediating role of job satisfaction as an emotional response and adopts survey design. Data from 322 companies in Daegu and Gyeongbuk Province in the Republic of Korea are collected and used to test the conceptual model using structural equation modelling. The findings reveal that organisations’ IM strategy for motivating employees positively affects salespeople's job satisfaction and out-of-role behaviour. The results also indicate that the salespeople's out-of-role behaviour enhances customer satisfaction and sales performance. This study suggests that organisations should provide guidelines and create an organizational culture that supports various IM activities to encourage employees’ spontaneous behaviours. It is among the very few, if not the first, studies that demonstrate how companies’ IM strategies could be leveraged to enhance job satisfaction and in-role and out-of-role behaviours in employees and how these behaviours could enhance customer satisfaction and sales performance.

Effect of Salesforce Control System and Supervisory Behaviour on Job Satisfaction of Salespeople:A Review of Studies

A salesforce control system is an organization's process to monitor, direct, evaluate and reward salespeople (Anderson and Oliver, 1987). It has an impact on salesforce job satisfaction, job performance as well as on the results achieved by the organization. Due to its importance in affecting salespeople and organizational variables, sales organizations are making efforts to choose the right kind of salesforce control system (either behaviour based or outcome based or hybrid salesforce control system). Moreover, the other factor that is closely related to salesforce control system and which has important influence on salesforce characteristics like job satisfaction is supervisory behaviour of sales managers. This paper contributes by making an attempt to analyze the effect of salesforce control system as well as sales manager supervisory behaviour on job satisfaction of salespeople.The analysis is based on the review of studies taken from the period 1976 to 2014.Based on the findings of the review, research implications are stated.

Servant Leadership Effects on Salesperson Self-Efficacy, Performance, Job Satisfaction, and Turnover Intentions

ABSTRACT Purpose Servant leadership has been tested as having a positive impact on employee self-efficacy which has been tested in the marketing literature within a service-delivery context. To date, there are no studies testing the Servant Leadership → Self-Efficacy path leading to salesperson job satisfaction, sales performance, and turnover intentions within a B2B context. The purpose of this study is to assess whether servant leadership has a direct relationship on salesperson self-efficacy (positive), job satisfaction (positive), performance (positive) and turnover intentions (negative). Second, the intent is to test whether servant leadership indirectly affects turnover intentions through self-efficacy, job satisfaction and performance as single and serial mediated paths. Finally, the study tests whether gender, firm size and job demands as challenge and hindrance stressors serve to moderate these hypothesized paths. Method Data was gathered over a 10-day period using an online survey from a survey panel of U.S. sales professionals who sell products and services to businesses within their sales role. The data was approximately evenly split between females and males and between smaller firms (less than 250 employees) and larger companies (more than 250 employees). The authors used Hayes Process Model 4 to test the hypothesized relationships. Findings Key results in this study suggest that servant leadership has a direct impact on salesperson job satisfaction (positive), self-efficacy (positive), and turnover intentions (negative), but fails to influence salesperson performance directly. Further, salesperson job satisfaction directly decreases turnover intentions; performance directly increases turnover intentions; but self-efficacy fails to have a direct impact on turnover intentions. Servant leadership has a direct impact on turnover intentions and indirect influence through job satisfaction (single mediator) and through self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and performance as serially mediated paths (Self-Efficacy → Job Satisfaction and Self-Efficacy → Performance). One significant finding is that servant leadership fails to directly influence salesperson performance suggesting that self-efficacy may exhibit suppressing the effects on Servant Leadership → Salesperson Performance path. Finally, the results indicate that gender (binary) and firm size (< 250 employees and > 250 employees) fail to serve as moderators on the proposed paths. However, servant leadership behaviors buffer the effects of challenge and hindrance stressors at low and moderate levels, but fail to have a buffering effect at high levels of challenge and hindrance stressors. Implications This study confirms that sales managers should consider adopting servant leadership to raise salesperson job satisfaction to aid in retaining sales talent (lower turnover intentions). Furthermore, sales managers who adopt servant leadership behaviors raise salesperson self-efficacy, which is a new finding that has not been tested to date in the marketing literature. Further, self-efficacy seems to suppress the direct link between servant leadership and salesperson performance indicating that servant leadership positively influences salesperson self-efficacy leading to higher salesperson performance as a mediated path. Also, salespeople who are high performers experience higher turnover intentions, possibly suggesting that high sales producers may perceive they should leave for better compensation or growth opportunities elsewhere. These relationships seem to hold regardless of gender and firm size. Finally, servant leadership seems to buffer the effects of low and moderate levels of challenge and hindrance stressors on job satisfaction, performance and turnover intentions. Originality This study provides further clarity as to whether servant leadership has a direct, partially mediated, or fully mediated influence on salesperson job satisfaction, performance and turnover intentions. The results support that servant leadership fails to directly influence salesperson performance; however, servant leadership increases self-efficacy, which in turn increases salesperson performance. This is a new finding within a business-to-business sales context. Another contribution to the nomological net is that servant leadership indirectly lowers salesperson turnover intentions through serial mediated paths consisting of self-efficacy, job satisfaction and performance as mediators.

Manager directives for salesperson ambidextrous selling and resulting job satisfaction: a regulatory focus perspective

Purpose To sustain firm profitability, it is critical for sales managers to direct business-to-business (B2B) salespeople to generate revenues by simultaneously acquiring new customers and selling to current customers. However, emerging research indicates territory-based B2B salespeople have a preferred customer engagement orientation that reflects a tendency for engaging in selling activities to new (i.e. hunters) and/or existing (i.e. farmers) customers, suggesting that managerial ambidexterity directives could have deleterious effects on salespeople. This paper aims to address this possibility by investigating the moderating effects of salesperson regulatory focus on the relationship between managerial directives for salesperson ambidexterity and salesperson job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a mixed-method approach by using a field study of 106 matched sales manager–salesperson dyads from a large Fortune 500 B2B industrial distributor sales force and an experiment involving 152 B2B salespeople from a cross-section of industries. Findings The results indicate that sales manager ambidexterity requests reduce salesperson job satisfaction. However, the findings also demonstrate that salesperson regulatory focus moderates these negative effects such that the negative effect of manager ambidexterity requests on job satisfaction is reduced for salespeople with high vs low levels of regulatory focus ambidexterity balance. The results from the cross-sectional experimental study illustrate the cognitive mechanism that helps explain why this occurs. Research limitations/implications The Fortune 500 firm used in Study 1 uses a territory-based generalist sales force model where salespeople are not incentivized to prioritize hunting over farming (and vice versa). As a result, the findings may not generalize to firms with hunting/farming incentive systems or to those that operate in particular industries requiring a focus on either hunting or farming. Practical implications The findings show why managers attempting to direct territory-based salespeople to increase their ambidexterity behaviors may undermine the job satisfaction of certain salespeople by triggering a decrease in motivation while the same directives have the opposite effect for other salespeople. The findings also demonstrate salesperson reactions to ambidexterity requests, which provide additional insights for effective salespeople hiring, training and management. Originality/value The findings have implications for better understanding the effectiveness of sales management leadership directives. The study also offers a promising direction for future research to investigate salesperson receptivity to managerial controls.

The impact of skill discretion and work demands on salesperson job satisfaction: the mediating influence of the burnout facets

This study seeks to advance our understanding of how skill discretion and hindrance demands impact both salesperson burnout and job satisfaction. Findings support that skill discretion and hindrance demands impact burnout, although to differing degrees. Skill discretion had the largest influence on personal accomplishment, while hindrance demands had the largest influence on depersonalization. When examining the influencers of job satisfaction, personal accomplishment had the largest total effect, while emotional exhaustion had the largest direct effect. Skill discretion had the largest indirect influence on job satisfaction, followed by depersonalization. In addition, our understanding of the mediating role of burnout is further developed. Overall, findings from this study help develop the understanding of how skills and demands influence both multi-faceted burnout and job satisfaction.

Thirty years of research on salesforce control systems and sales territory designs: An update on progress and research gaps

Sales territory design is an important component of a sales organisation as it is associat ed with salesperson incentives, performance, job satisfaction and overall effectiveness of the organisation. Sales literature suggests that salesforce control systems are likely to have a strong impact on sales territory design. Therefore, this study makes an attempt to analyse the impact of two types of salesforce control system, behaviour-based and outcome-based salesforce control systems, on sales territory design and also the impact of sales territory design on salesforce performance and sales organisation effectiveness. The paper is based on a review of studies published between 1987 and 2018, and reveals that a behaviour-based control system is more positively related to satisfaction with sales territory design than an outcome-based salesforce control system. These findings hold important implications for sales organisations as they will help sales managers in choosing the right kind of salesforce control system.

Revisiting and replicating the dominant logic on salesperson job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover

This study addresses a significant gap in the sales and marketing literature, limited replication of key research phenomena. The present study uses a longitudinal design to replicate and extend the principle theoretical model in sales management research suggested by Brown and Peterson (1993) meta-analysis and reevaluates our understanding of the drivers and antecedents of salesforce job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Current replication overcomes various limitations found in previous sales research such as the limitedness longitudinal data, static panel of early hire salespeople, while providing additional evidence to support previous findings and extend the body of knowledge.

It is all in good humor? Examining the impact of salesperson evaluations of leader humor on salesperson job satisfaction and job stress

Salesperson job stress and job satisfaction have been identified as critical factors affecting job performance. Academic research suggests that sales managers can influence salesperson job stress and job satisfaction. Interestingly, a review of the sales literature finds very little research on the impact of sales leader humor usage on the stress and satisfaction of salespeople. Consequently, we explore how salespeople’s evaluation of their manager’s use of humor influences their individual levels of job stress and satisfaction. We investigate both the positive and negative roles of humor by analyzing the impact of salesperson evaluations of their managers’ use of affiliative and aggressive humor on their job stress and job satisfaction. Furthermore, we examine the mechanism by which these evaluations affect salesperson stress and satisfaction by identifying two critical mediating variables – social loneliness and willingness to cooperate. Using a sample of 299 professional salespeople, we empirically test this process model to find that affiliative humor usage by sales managers, as evaluated by salespeople, reduces social loneliness and stress for salespeople while also increasing followers’ acceptance of cooperation. Evaluations of aggressive humor, on the other hand, increase stress levels among salespeople. Both social loneliness and acceptance of cooperation, in turn, significantly affect job satisfaction.

Reconceptualizing the measurement of multidimensional salesperson job satisfaction

Job satisfaction is a key construct in many models examining salesperson attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. Job satisfaction has often been conceptualized and measured as a multidimensional construct – often via the INDSALES scale. Yet many researchers have not utilized this scale due to its length. Further, extant versions of reduced INDSALES scales are lengthy and have been questioned about whether they accurately represent the dimensions measured. The current research revisits the INDSALES scale and provides a reduced version based on more-advanced techniques than used previously. The proposed reduced scale is of benefit to subsequent research using a multidimensional measure of job satisfaction.

Impact of religiosity and culture on salesperson job satisfaction and performance

This research is a multinational study of the effect of religiosity on salespeople’s attitudes about their jobs, even after controlling for cross-cultural differences and the particular management practices in their sales organizations. We theorize moderator effects between religiosity and the salespeople’s traits and attitudes, as well as interactive effects between organizational factors and the cultures in which the firms are embedded. We test the effects of these joint culture and religiosity influences on multiple facets of job satisfaction and find support for our hypotheses. We also demonstrate financial consequences for both individual salespeople and their sales organizations. We test these effects in a survey of salespeople working in 38 countries operating in diverse industries.

영업사원의 고객 공감과 직무만족, 정서적 몰입, 고객지향성 간의 관계 연구

영업사원의 고객 공감과 직무만족, 정서적 몰입, 고객지향성 간의 관계 연구

Impact of Religiosity and Culture on Salesperson Job Satisfaction and Performance

This research is a multinational study of the effect of religiosity on salespeople’s attitudes about their jobs, even after controlling for cross-cultural differences and the particular management practices in their sales organizations. We theorize moderator effects between religiosity and the salespeople’s traits and attitudes, as well as interactive effects between organizational factors and the cultures in which the firms are embedded. We test the effects of these joint culture and religiosity influences on multiple facets of job satisfaction and find support for our hypotheses. We also demonstrate financial consequences for both individual salespeople and their sales organizations. We test these effects in a survey of salespeople working in 38 countries operating in diverse industries.

The Relationship between Salesperson’s Adaptive Selling Behavior, Rapport, Job Satisfaction, and Organizational Commitment in the Distribution Channel

Background/Objectives: This study investigates the relationship between the salesperson's adaptive selling behavior, rapport, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment in the distribution channel. Methods/Statistical analysis: The salespeople working at a distributor of a food-related manufacturer were asked to complete a survey questionnaire. The participants were asked to answer the questionnaire from the perspective of a salesperson. The reliability and the validity were tested. This study tested the hypotheses through Structural Equation Modeling analysis. Findings: This study attempted to examine the relationship between salespersons' adaptive selling behavior, rapport, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment in the distribution channel. The results of hypotheses testing indicated that hypothesis 1, which stated that adaptive selling behavior of salespeople has positive effects on rapport, was supported. In addition, hypotheses 2 and 3, which stated that rapport has positive influence on job satisfaction and organizational commitment, were supported. Finally, hypothesis 4, which stated that job satisfaction of salesperson has a positive influence on organizational commitment, was also supported. Improvements/Applications: By substantiating the relationship between adaptive selling behavior, rapport, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, the process of adaptive selling behavior influencing job satisfaction and organizational commitment was identified.

Dimensions and contingent effects of variable compensation system changes

Compensation systems are regarded as one of the best incentives to motivate salespeople. Organizations aim to align compensation incentives with organizational strategies in order to integrate top-level initiatives with ground-floor implementation, often requiring periodic adjustments to reflect fluctuating market conditions. What is not known, however, is to what extent variable compensation system changes (VCSCs) impact the attitudinal and performance outcomes of salespeople. Using a sample of 306 business-to-business salespeople, the authors study the conditional effects of VCSC. Specifically, the authors conceptualize a multi-dimensional assessment of VCSC – frequency, magnitude, and implementation speed – and investigate each dimension's effect on salesperson job satisfaction and performance, contingent upon two environmental conditions—technological turbulence and competitive intensity. Findings show a mixture of accentuating and attenuating effects on both outcomes, allowing future researchers to gain a better understanding of under which conditions VCSCs impact salesperson attitudes and performance.

Absolute versus relative sales failure

Researchers and practitioners alike are striving to understand the consequences of sales failures on salespeople and sales organizations. This aim is increasingly important as organizations seek to persist toward goals, despite the occurrence of sales failures. However, despite indications that sales failure is not the inverse of sales performance, salesperson failures are under conceptualized as scholarly work focuses considerably more on the study of performance. Utilizing a sample of 626 salespeople, the present study seeks to introduce and understand the comparative impacts of two assessments of sales failure — absolute and relative. Results show the differential impact of absolute sales failure and relative sales failure on outcomes critical to organizational well-being, including salesperson job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions. Findings also evidence the moderated impact of company-related and salesperson-related resources which may influence the detrimental effects of each form of sales failure.

The influence of organizational and functional support on the development of salesperson job satisfaction

This article investigates whether organizational and functional support (OS and FS) provided to the sales force are distinct determinants of salesperson job satisfaction. We examine whether salesperson trust in their supervisor and in the organization serve as mediating mechanisms through which OS is translated to salesperson job satisfaction. Using data from 157 salespeople in a health care field setting, we explore the relationship between OS and job satisfaction as mediated by trust and moderated by the extent of FS provided to salespeople. Study results were consistent with the hypothesized conceptual scheme of moderated mediation, in that FS moderated the indirect effect of OS on job satisfaction through trust in organization but not through trust in supervisor. These findings broaden current understanding of relationships among trust, OS and job satisfaction and illustrate that the OS–salesperson job satisfaction linkage is more nuanced than previously depicted. This study has important implications for the practice, as it reinforces the notion that trust is essential in a social based employment relationship, yet challenging to manage. Organizations should avoid overinvesting in specific support offered to the sales force and train their supervisors to enact the most effective support practices.

Examination of Selected Precursors and Outcomes of Sales Manager Behaviors

A model is proposed and tested that represents how salespeople perceive and respond to their sales managers’ behaviors. Tests of the model indicated that salespeople’s perceptions of their managers’ behaviors influenced their satisfaction with the sales manager but not their overall satisfaction with the job. A direct implication of the adjusted model was that sales managers need to be trained to exert positive behaviors and establish consistent reinforcements for positive behaviors in order to develop a favorable working relationship. However, the company more so than the sales manager was viewed as responsible for providing a climate that facilitates learning. A learning-oriented climate facilitated both self-efficacy beliefs and overall job satisfaction of salespeople. Satisfied salespeople were likely to intend to remain with the company.

Does information and communication technology improve job satisfaction? The moderating role of sales technology orientation

Empirical research concerning the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in shaping business-to-business salesforce job satisfaction remains relatively scarce. The authors propose and empirically test a causal model that theoretically represents structural relationships among factors comprising ICT and eventual salesperson job satisfaction. Study results indicate that ICT indirectly influences job satisfaction through salesforce administrative performance. While ICT infrastructure, training, and support positively relate to administrative performance, none of them influence outcome performance significantly. In addition, salesperson technology orientation moderates the effect of both ICT infrastructure and support on job satisfaction. Managerial insights and implications from the research are discussed.

Examining the role of organizational variables in the salesperson job satisfaction model

Job satisfaction has been one of the most studied variables in seeking to understand employee behaviors and attitudes. This has been especially true in sales research because salesperson job satisfaction has been shown to impact a number of key job related attitudes (organizational commitment) and behaviors (potential turnover of salespeople) (Johnston, Parasuraman, Futrell, and Black 1990; Behrman and Perreault 1984). Brown and Peterson (1993) performed a meta-analysis on salesperson job satisfaction that provides an important synthesis of research in this area. Moreover, Brown and Peterson (1994) demonstrated the consistency of several research results concerning key antecedents and consequences of job satisfaction. Importantly, they also point to certain inconclusive findings such as the role of the salesperson performance construct in the job satisfaction model.