Emin Babakus

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.

Linking Perceived Quality and Customer Satisfaction to Store Traffic and Revenue Growth

Effects of perceived merchandise and service quality, relative to competition, on retail store performance are investigated using store traffic and revenue growth as outcome variables. A model is proposed and tested using aggregate customer data and store performance outcomes from a group of stores owned by a national retail organization. Results suggest that both service and merchandise quality exert significant influence on store performance, measured by sales growth and customer growth, and their impact is mediated by customer satisfaction. Implications of the results and future research directions are discussed.

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.

Reactions to unethical consumer behavior across six countries

Examining individual tolerance for unethical consumer behavior provides a key insight to how people behave as consumers worldwide. In this study, consumer reactions to 11 unethical consumer behavior scenarios are investigated using sample data from Austria, Brunei, France, Hong Kong, the UK, and the USA. Nationality is found to be a significant predictor of how consumers view various questionable behaviors. Gender is not a significant predictor, while age and religious affiliation are found to be significant predictors of consumer ethical perceptions. The study identifies distinct consumer clusters based on their perceptions of consumer unethical behavior. Implications of the findings are discussed and future research directions are provided.

Customer Complaints and Organizational Responses: A Study of Hotel Guests in Northern Cyprus

ABSTRACT This study investigates outcomes of organizational responses to customer complaints by using a sample of hotel guests in Northern Cyprus as its setting. Results suggest that organizational response options have varying degrees of influence on customer satisfaction and revisit intentions. Implications of the results for hotel managers and public policy makers are discussed.

An empirical test of the job satisfaction-turnover relationship: Assessing the role of job performance for retail managers

The role of job performance in the turnover process has been a problematic issue for researchers and managers alike. The present study provides a preliminary test of two key predictions derived from a conceptual model refining the role of job performance as a direct impact on turnover, and a moderator of the job satisfaction-turnover relationship. The results support differing roles for intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction components in their relationship with turnover for retail store managers performing at low, average and high levels.

The Influence of CEO Gender on Market Orientation and Performance in Service Small and Medium-Sized Service Businesses

This study examines the effects of CEO gender on market orientation and performance (growth and profitability) among a sample of small and medium‐sized service businesses. Gender was found to have significant indirect effects (via market orientation) on both market performance (growth) and financial performance (profitability). That is, female‐led service SMEs perform significantly better due to their stronger market orientation relative those led by males. The findings further suggest that female‐led firms were slightly better than their male‐led counterparts in transmitting market performance into financial performance, although the differences were not statistically significant.

Examining Gender Differences in Field Sales Organizations

Abstract The rapid increase of women in the sales world has brought about debates on the role of gender in contemporary sales organizations. The key question is whether gender differences, in and of themselves, create different attitudinal and behavioral relationships. A small but expanding stream of research and the expanded participation of women in many lines of business question whether the traditional position of differences based on gender is valid today. A conceptual basis is developed in support of no differences based on gender and hypotheses are developed to test this premise across several constructs that have been found important in sales management research. This research examines a Fortune 500 international service organization with a sales force that is gender balanced. The results indicate few significant differences between genders. A gender classification scheme is proposed based on a gender balance in the sales force and customer base. Results are discussed and compared to previous studies.

Examining the antecedents and consequences of salesperson job stress

As productivity pressures, job uncertainties, changing sales strategies, and growing international competition increase, the salesperson experiences unprecedented levels of job stress. Cause and effect of job stress still remains poorly understood. Examines the role of a number of organizational variables including met expectations, role conflict, role ambiguity, job satisfaction, organization commitment and intention to leave and their relationships to job stress. The sample is drawn from an international, service‐oriented salesforce of a large Fortune 500 organization. Provides strong support for the hypothesized model relationship. Presents a discussion and implications of the results along with a summary of needed future research.

Retail store loyalty: a comparison of two customer segments

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine if various measures of loyalty (satisfaction, continued patronage and share of wallet) converge or diverge. A related objective of the study is to examine the relative efficacies of merchandise quality, interaction quality, price and store environment in inducing store loyalty for two customer segments of a national automotive parts and accessories retailer in the USA. The two segments are the do‐it‐yourself customers and the professional customers.Design/methodology/approach – Data for the study are collected via mail questionnaires. Usable responses are obtained from 17,034 customers. In operationalizing store loyalty, affective, conative and action‐related measures are used.Findings – The results altogether suggest that merchandise quality is an effective predictor of loyalty but perhaps not as critical or dominant as interaction quality. Results also show that similar factors consistently exert like influence in generating loyalty for the two custome...