Steven J. Skinner

Interorganizational Dependence and Control as Predictors of Opportunism in Dealer-Supplier Relations

This study examines Williamsons (1975) concept of opportunism in relations between farm and power equipment dealers and their primary supplier organization. Results from a national survey generall...

Organizational socialization of service customers

Abstract This study considers the organizational socialization of the customers of service organizations. Service customers contribute to service quality through what they do (customer technical quality) and how they do it (customer functional quality). The level of organizational socialization achieved by customers was found to be positively related to customer perceptions of the organizational climate for service, the motivational direction of customers, and customer satisfaction. Organizational climate and motivational direction were positively related to customer technical quality. Motivational direction was inversely related to customer functional quality, whereas customer satisfaction was positively related to customer technical and functional quality.

Ethical behavior among marketing researchers: An assessment of selected demographic characteristics

This study considers the relationship between perceptions of ethical behavior and the demographic characteristics of sex, age, education level, job title, and job tenure among a sample of marketing researchers. The findings of this study indicate that female marketing researchers, older marketing researchers, and marketing researchers holding their present job for ten years or more generally rate their behavior as more ethical.

A Model of Sales Supervisor Leadership Behavior and Retail Salespeople's Job-Related Outcomes

Retail salespeople play an important role in a retailer’s marketing mix, yet little empirical research has examined how retail managers might assist sales personnel in the performance of their jobs. This paper reports the results of a study that explored a causal model of sales supervisor “leadership behavior” and seven job-related outcomes of retail salespeople. Implications for retailers and researchers are provided.

An Empirical Assessment of Salesperson Motivation, Commitment, and Job Outcomes

This study contributes to the efforts to integrate work commitment constructs into the long-dominant expectancy theory framework of salesforce motivation and performance. Responses were gathered from 231 industrial salespeople in order to: 1) provide evidence concerning discriminant and convergent validity of two measures of work commitment and 2) distinguish expectancy and commitment constructs; and investigate the relationships between motivation, commitment, and two important outcomes—effort and performance. The results of the study indicate that conceptual and empirical differences do exist between commitment variables and expectancy-based motivation variables. Job commitment and extrinsic motivation are found to be related to salesperson effort, which in turn is related to salesperson performance.

Going the extra mile: Antecedents of salespeople's discretionary effort

Abstract Many sales organizations are scrambling for success in todays intensely competitive environment. An increasing number of firms are finding that tried and true traditional selling strategies are less effective, or not effective at all. Moreover, companies are discovering that what has been an acceptable level of performance no longer is adequate for maintaining or gaining competitive advantage. Consequently, managers need to focus on alternative means through which the organization can be successful. One alternative is for sales forces to engage in discretionary effort–work activities that entail going beyond the call of duty. This paper develops propositions regarding antecedents of salesperson discretionary effort, which provide managerial direction should the propositions be confirmed.

Leadership substitutes as moderators of sales supervisory behavior

Abstract Previous research has found that a sales managers supervisory behavior can influence salespeoples job attitudes and behaviors. A unique feature of many sales jobs that may reduce the impact sales managers have on sales personnel is that salespeople usually work alone. Researchers in organizational behavior have identified a variety of substitutes for leadership (which are comprised of individual, task, and organizational characteristics) that may serve to moderate the influence of a leader and thus offer guidance and support to subordinates beyond that which their manager can provide. Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that selected characteristics interact with a sales managers leader behavior in influencing salespeoples job satisfaction.

Toward a conceptualization of mail survey response behavior

A conceptual framework for understanding and researching mail survey response behavior is proposed and developed around the constructs of cooperation, trust, and commitment. Survey response is viewed as the cooperative exchange of information by respondents in return for an opportunity to shape their environment. Issues related to the valuation of the survey exchange process are examined within the proposed framework. Current survey inducement techniques are evaluated in terms of their relationship to the three central constructs and their effects on the decision to participate in a mail survey.

Gaining Respondent Cooperation in Mail Surveys Through Prior Commitment

To derive the benefits associated with mail surveys, researchers have studied many techniques designed to elicit increased cooperation, including prior contact of survey participants. Prior contact has generally taken the form of an advance or preliminary letter and has been found in research conducted by Heaton (1965), Stafford (1966), Ford (1967), and Myers and Haug (1969) to have a positive effect on survey response rates. The use of prior contact to obtain a commitment to respond to a survey before the actual mailing has received much less attention in the literature. Prior commitment to participate in a survey has the same advantages as the advance letter (see Heaton, 1965). But, as noted by Cannell et al. (1977), its major effect is to obligate the respondent, presumably to respond initially and also to report more accurate information. It also has the advantage of identifying subgroups of participants who may be less likely to respond, allowing for a possible oversampling of these subgroups or the consideration of additional steps to encourage their response. In the only published study found that was designed to measure the effect of prior commitment on response to a mailed questionnaire, Hinrichs (1975) reported that prior commitment increased response rate, but at the expense of initially depressing speed of response. The present study was designed to measure the effect of prior commitment in persuading recipients of a mail survey to: (1) participate in the study, thereby increasing response rate; (2) commit to a return date, thereby increasing speed of response; and (3) to determine if these behavioral intentions to respond are translated into actual response.

Opportunistic behavior in marketing research organizations

Abstract This research considers employee perceptions of the interorganizational relationships that exist between three types of marketing research organizations. Significant findings from this study support previous work in the field of ethics and point out the importance of the relationships between opportunistic behavior, ethical climates, and ethical profiles in different types of marketing research organizations.