David W. Cravens

The Role of Emotional Exhaustion in Sales Force Attitude and Behavior Relationships

Emotional exhaustion is a potentially important construct in examining sales force behavior and attitude relationships. A conceptual model and hypotheses are developed to study the antecedents and consequences of the emotional exhaustion construct. The hypotheses are tested using LISREL 7 to analyze data from a sample of field salespeople from a large international services organization. The empirical results offer strong support for relationships involving role ambiguity and conflict antecedents and organizational commitment, job satisfaction, performance, and intention-to-leave consequences of emotional exhaustion.

Antecedents and consequences of salesperson burnout

Investigates the antecedents and outcomes of salesperson burnout. Prior research on burnout in personal selling is extended by including a more complete set of predictors of burnout, and by testing the conceptual model of burnout using a multi‐company sample of field salespeople in an international setting. Relationships among burnout, attitudes, and behavior are predicted based on relevant literature, and are tested using survey results from 148 field salespeople in Australia. Path analysis results show that the proposed conceptual model fits the data well. Intrinsic motivation, role ambiguity, and role conflict are all significant antecedents of burnout. Job satisfaction and salesperson performance are direct outcomes of burnout, and also mediate the indirect influence of burnout on organizational commitment and intention to leave. Implications for salesforce management and future research are discussed.

Driving organizational citizenship behaviors and salesperson in-role behavior performance: The role of management control and perceived organizational support

Interest in management control approaches and organizational factors associated with higher levels of salesperson performance is reflected in research streams concerned with behavior-based control strategies and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). This study makes two distinct additions to the literature relating to control, organizational citizenship behaviors and salesperson performance. First, the study distinguishes between salesperson in-role behavior performance and outcome performance to model in-role behavior performance as a mediator between OCB and outcome performance. Second, the work supports sales manager control as an antecedent to OCB. A second model introduces perceived organizational support (POS) as an additional antecedent to salesperson OCB, and more important, as a consequence of sales manager control. This construct has not been included in prior salesperson OCB studies. Results show sales manage control has a stronger impact on OCB through POS, than directly, and POS has a strong impact on salesperson OCB.

Investigating the relationships among sales, management control, sales territory design, salesperson performance, and sales organization effectiveness

Abstract A conceptual model is developed and empirically tested, examining the relationships among the sales management control system, sales territory design, salesforce behavior and outcome performance, and sales organization effectiveness constructs. A sample of 58 Australian chief sales executives and 146 field sales managers was used to test the model. The hypotheses based on the conceptual model were tested using LISREL 7. The test result were significant and in the direction hypothesized. Managerial implications and research directions are discussed.

The network paradigm and the marketing organization

Constructs a new management agenda to evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of the marketing organization for the future, reflecting certain key changes in the current marketing environment. Argues that these critical factors impacting on the marketing organization include accelerating both external environmental changes and internal organization developments. Raises many important questions relating to the survival and the future forms of the marketing organization and the implementation of the marketing process. Finds that a prime manifestation of these changes is the development of various types of network organizational forms to implement strategic alliances and inter‐organizational collaborations and partnerships. Proposes a structured approach to mapping the implications for the organization of such changes and the development of an organizational strategy that defines an appropriate role and form for the marketing organization and marketing processes in the corporation of the future.

Marketing's role in product and service quality

Abstract Improving product and service quality are among the most critical competitive challenges facing U.S. and Canadian companies. The marketing profession has a vital responsibility for understanding the concepts of quality improvement and applying them to marketing processes. The definition and measurement of product and service quality are examined and marketings quality improvement responsibilities are outlined. A step-by-step process for developing a marketing quality improvement program is presented and illustrated.

Relationship Marketing and Collaborative Networks in Service Organizations

The development of collaborative network structures is an increasingly significant issue in the services industry. These interorganizational relationships are formed to gain flexibility, obtain needed skills and resources, and achieve operating efficiencies. Evaluates processes of network formation and compares them with the emerging relationship marketing paradigm, in the search for greater insight into an important but little understood phenomenon. Proposes a novel network classification scheme that identifies hollow, flexible, value‐added and virtual networks, leading to discussion of the need to extend the knowledge base concerning networks and the significance of the relationship marketing model to achieving research and managerial goals in this area.

Formal and informal management control combinations in sales organizations: The impact on salesperson consequences

Abstract Selecting an effective form of management control in sales organizations is important in achieving favorable salesperson consequences. We examine an alternative perspective to behavior-based management control in sales organizations. The conceptualization consisting of high, bureaucratic, clan, and low management control combinations is examined as a framework for management control research in sales organizations. In this study, hypotheses are developed concerning various salesperson consequences of the control combinations. The hypotheses are tested using a sample of 1042 salespeople from a broad range of industries and companies. The findings suggest that salespeople who work under a more visible control system (high control) perform better, are more satisfied, and display lower burnout and role stress, compared to salespeople working under bureaucratic, clan, and low control combinations. The managerial implications are discussed and several future research directions are proposed.

Sales management control research: Synthesis and an agenda for future research

Management control in sales and marketing has received substantial attention by researchers during the past decade, demonstrating the importance of the topic for researchers and managers. Research initiatives concerning management control have differed in terms of conceptualization of the control construct and the construct’s antecedents and consequences. Synthesizing the various management control research initiatives is essential in guiding the development of an agenda for future research. We address several crucial managerial and research questions concerning consensus in the conceptualization of sales management control, identify relevant antecedents to control strategy choices, and consider the extent to which management control strategy choices affect salesperson, sales manager, and organizational consequences. We synthesize for the first time in this research stream the key findings of the main studies conducted to date to clarify consistency and inconsistency for both managers and researchers. Guided by the synthesis findings, a research agenda is proposed that is intended to address differences in conceptualization of management control, inconsistencies in research findings, and opportunities to expand the existing knowledge base.

Analysis of co-operative interorganizational relationships, strategic alliance formation, and strategic alliance effectiveness

Independent organizations collaborate to increase the competitive advantage of each organization. This paper develops a conceptual framework for defining and classifying co-operative interorganizational relationships. The features and differences between alternative co-operative interorganizational relationships are highlighted by the framework. One form of co-operative interorganizational relationship, a strategic alliance, is a means for organizations to gain competitive advantage in a product/market when environmental turbulence and diversity are high and the organizations skill and resource gaps are high. The subsequent discussion examines strategic alliances. The external and internal influences on alliance formation and the dimensions of the relationship that may impact alliance effectiveness are considered. Several propositions concerning effectiveness are formulated. The external and internal influences of alliance formation include internal structure and relationships, technology, and organizati...