Richard G. McFarland

Influence Tactics for Effective Adaptive Selling

The adaptive selling literature identifies effective salespeople as those who match their influence tactics to suit the characteristics of buyers. However, prior research is largely silent on the specific influence tactics that salespeople use and the effectiveness of these tactics across different types of buyers. The authors propose a theoretical model that uses Kelmans (1961) underlying influence processes of internalization, compliance, and identification to identify the seller influence tactics that salespeople use and to assess which of these tactics will resonate with three types of buyers: task-oriented buyers, interaction-oriented buyers, and self-oriented buyers. The authors test their model with data from 193 bidirectionally matched buyer–seller dyads. The results strongly support the theoretical model and suggest that buyers are more complex than originally presumed. However, salespeople seem to recognize this complexity and use the combination of influence tactics prescribed by theory for persuading these types of buyers.

Decomposing Influence Strategies: Argument Structure and Dependence as Determinants of the Effectiveness of Influence Strategies in Gaining Channel Member Compliance

Although there is considerable research examining the effects of influence strategies on relational outcomes, research has been silent on the effectiveness of influence strategies in achieving the primary objective: channel member compliance. The authors develop a theoretical model that predicts that noncoercive influence strategies (Rationality, Recommendations, Information Exchange, and Requests) with an argument structure that contains more thorough content result in relatively greater levels of compliance. The model further predicts that coercive influence strategies (Promises and Threats) result in compliance only when target dependence levels are high. The authors develop a new influence strategy, Rationality, which represents a noncoercive strategy with a full argument structure. In general, empirical findings support the theoretical model. However, in contrast to expectations, the use of Recommendations had a negative effect on compliance. Post hoc analysis revealed a significant interaction between trust and Recommendations on compliance, thus providing an explanation for this unexpected result. When trust is low, Recommendation strategies are counterproductive. The authors discuss implications of the findings and directions for further research.

Supply Chain Contagion

Drawing on research from the interfirm relationship, marketing channels, operations management, and network theory literature and on the basis of qualitative depth interviews, the authors identify a new phenomenon they call “supply chain contagion.” Supply chain contagion is the propagation of interfirm behaviors from one dyadic relationship to an adjacent dyadic relationship within the supply chain. Contagion can occur inadvertently and with or without the knowledge of the affected parties. Using institutional theory, the authors develop a conceptual model that predicts the conditions under which contagion is likely to occur. Although contagion may take the form of any number of interfirm behaviors, operationally, the authors focus on whether the downstream influence strategies that manufacturers use with their dealers are imitated by these same dealers with end customers. They conduct conclusive research using a sample of 151 vertically linked manufacturer–dealer–customer supply chain triads and explain a large variance (R2 = .30) in the use of downstream influence strategies in terms of supply chain contagion. Given extensive prior empirical support for alternative antecedents to influence strategy usage, the explanatory power of supply chain contagion is impressive and suggests that how intermediaries treat end customers is explained, to a large degree, as the intermediaries simply imitating how their suppliers treated them. In addition to the identification of a new theoretical concept, the study provides empirical support for the effects of both macro- and microinstitutional factors on interfirm behavior. Specific factors that are positively related to the level of manifest contagion are environmental uncertainty and the perceived similarity and frequency of contact between boundary personnel; dependence asymmetry has a negative effect on manifest contagion. Managers and boundary-spanning personnel who are aware of supply chain contagion effects should be better able to influence strategically the behavior of channel partners and may be better inoculated against their own unintended imitation of other organizations within their supply chain.

Advancing Sales Performance Research: A Focus on Five UnderResearched Topic Areas

This paper focuses on five critical, yet underresearched, areas vital to sales performance in a marketplace that is increasingly more complex, more demanding of customized solutions, and more relationship focused. The five topic areas addressed are the ability to marshal intraorganizational resources by salespeople, salesperson creativity, examining the buyer–seller interaction in terms of salesperson influence tactics behaviors and the importance of establishing credibility with buyers as a basis of influence, ethics relative to the buying and selling organization simultaneously, and selling teams. Research implications for each topic area are advanced.

Perceiving Emotion in the Buyer–Seller Interchange: The Moderated Impact on Performance

This research focuses on the salesperson’s ability to perceive emotions in the buyer–seller interaction. Drawing on the emotional ability literature, the authors develop hypotheses within a conceptual framework of salespeople’s ability to perceive the emotions of customers, and examine how this ability influences the relationships between selling behaviors and performance. Findings indicated that the ability to accurately appraise the emotions of others moderated the practice of adaptive selling and customer-oriented selling on performance. Further analyses revealed that while high perceiving ability has beneficial effects on selling, low perceiving ability not only limits the use of customer-oriented selling but also has a negative impact on sales performance. Both self-reported and supervisor-reported measures of selling performance were used, along with a performance-based measure of emotional perceiving ability. Implications are discussed along with directions for future research.

Understanding Governance Decisions in a Partially Integrated Channel: A Contingent Alignment Framework

This article examines governance decisions within an emerging and increasingly common form of channel: the partially integrated channel (PIC). The PIC is defined as a single vertical channel in which both market governance and hierarchical governance exist (i.e., the employees of one channel member work on a full-time basis at an exchange partners facilities, performing functions that the exchange partner traditionally performs). Building on the transaction cost analysis and governance value analysis literature streams, the authors examine ongoing governance decisions within the PIC. Data were collected in the fashion apparel market of South Korea using multisource, reciprocally matched data in which a manufacturers directly employed sales force is deployed at department store retailers as the sole frontline employees for their brand. The authors find that brand reputation, downstream market uncertainty, and sales force performance ambiguity influence manufacturer control over sales operations and manufacturer flexibility with retailers in unique ways. The authors discuss implications of this work for theory and practice.

Individual Differences and Sales Performance: A Distal-Proximal Mediation Model of Self-Efficacy, Conscientiousness, and Extraversion

Hiring individuals with the traits to succeed as professional salespeople is critical for the success of selling organizations. Better understanding the roles of individual traits (e.g., conscientiousness, extroversion, and self-efficacy) in explaining sales performance can lead to better hiring decisions. Based on the distal-proximal theoretical framework of motivation, we predict that conscientiousness and extroversion, as distal traits, have a mediated effect on sales performance through the proximal motivational factor of self-efficacy. Using data consisting of 980 responses from salespeople working for one of the largest insurance companies in South Korea, we find strong support for our hypotheses, and our results lend support for the distal-proximal theory. Conclusions, implications for managers and researchers, and directions for future research are discussed.

Crisis of Conscience: The Use of Coercive Sales Tactics and Resultant Felt Stress in the Salesperson

A considerable amount of research has focused on stress in personal selling, primarily focusing on role demands. However, the issue of how a salesperson’s sales behaviors relate to his or her own stress has largely been unaddressed. The author investigates felt stress in the salesperson as a consequence of using coercive sales tactics. The role of learning orientation as a coping resource is also examined. It was found that the use of coercive sales tactics (threats and promises) is associated with higher levels of felt stress. This stress, in turn, is related to lower levels of manifest influence. Learning orientation serves as a coping resource, moderating the relationship between threats and felt stress.

An Examination of Instrumental and Expressive Traits on Performance: The Mediating Role of Learning, Prove, and Avoid Goal Orientations

Instrumental and expressive (I/E) traits represent stereotypical masculine and feminine personality characteristics that are exhibited at varying levels in both genders, with instrumentality representing masculine traits and expressiveness representing feminine traits (Jolson and Comer 1997). The authors propose and empirically test a theoretical model that identifies salesperson learning, prove, and avoid goal orientations as mediators of I/E traits and performance. Findings indicated that goal orientation fully mediated the instrumental to performance relationship and partially mediated the expressiveness to performance relationship. It was also found that salespeople who have high levels of both instrumental and expressive traits (termed androgynous) were high in learning and prove orientations and low in avoid orientation. In turn, learning and prove orientations had a positive influence on performance, while avoid orientation was not significantly related to performance. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

The Effects of Influence Strategies and Dependence on Satisfaction

Abstract This study examines the use of influence strategies and dependence on trust and satisfaction in marketing channels relationships. In contrast to conventional wisdom, the authors demonstrate that trust fully mediates the relationship between influence strategies and satisfaction and between dependence and satisfaction. Additionally, they show that dependence has a direct, positive effect on trust. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.