Thomas G. Brashear

Development and Validation of Scales to Measure Attitudes Influencing Monetary Donations to Charitable Organizations

Charitable organizations are under increasing financial pressure to attract and retain private donors. However, scales measuring consumer attitudes toward giving to charity have yielded ambiguous results in the past. Scales to measure consumer attitudes toward the act of helping others and toward charitable organizations are developed and tested for dimensionality and internal consistency using advocated procedures. The resulting measures are important to academicians, policymakers, and practitioners in the development of theory, public policy, and marketing strategy.

An Empirical Test of Trust-Building Processes and Outcomes in Sales Manager–Salesperson Relationships:

This study examines three trust-building processes and outcomes in sales manager-salesperson relationships. This study, based on a sample of more than 400 business-to-business salespeoples from a variety of industries, shows two trust-building processes (predictive and identification) to be significantly related to salesperson trust in the sales manager. Interpersonal trust was found to be most strongly related to shared values and respect. Trust was directly related to job satisfaction and relationalism, and indirectly related to organizational commitment and turnover intention.

An Examination of the Relationships between Retail Work Environments, Salesperson Selling Orientation-Customer Orientation and Job Performance

This research examines the relationship between three organizational level constructs and salesperson’s selling orientation-customer orientation (SOCO) in an in-store retail setting. Respondents represent a wide variety of retail firms. A firm’s customer orientation, centralization, and employee perceptions of support from individuals in the organization were significantly related to customer orientation, selling orientation, or both. Firm level customer orientation and perceptions of work environment support were positively related to a salesperson’s degree of customer orientation and negatively related to selling orientation. Centralization was positively related to selling orientation but not to customer orientation. Customer orientation was positively related to performance, while selling orientation was not related.

The effects of control, trust, and justice on salesperson turnover

Abstract Turnover represents a significant cost in many organizations, and previous studies indicate that perceptions of justice can reduce turnover intentions among salespeople. In this study, we examine process control and decision control as both direct and indirect predictors of justice and, subsequently, as predictors of turnover. In addition, trust is modeled as a mediating variable. We test our control-based model of turnover with a sample of 240 business-to-business salespeople. Results from the study indicate that, in the context of managerial processes and decision making, as salesperson control increases so does trust in sales managers and, subsequently, perceptions of distributive and procedural justice. Our findings highlight the effects of justice on sales force turnover and suggest that as perceptions of justice increase, firms will benefit from lower levels of salesperson turnover. Sales managers can reduce sales force turnover by giving salespeople greater input into decisions and processes.

Customer orientation and salesperson performance

– This paper aims to examine the impact of customer orientation, at the levels of both the company and the salesperson, on salesperson performance., – A survey of 283 salespeople provides the database that was analyzed using structural equation modeling., – Prior studies suggest that both company and salesperson customer orientation has a positive effect on performance. The findings of this study suggest that a salespersons customer orientation completely mediates the relationship between company customer orientation and salesperson performance. Thus, the influence of a companys customer orientation on salesperson performance acts through the customer orientation of the salespeople., – The study reinforces the importance of customer orientation and the role of salespeople in putting customer orientation into practice.

A Profile of the Internet Shopper: Evidence from Six Countries

Internet usage and commerce are expected to grow significantly across the world. However, as each part of the world is unique in its social norms, culture, and infrastructure, these differences may cause the profiles of Internet shoppers and nonshoppers to be different worldwide. Hence, the importance of understanding the similarities and dissimilarities among consumers in different regions is crucial for both marketing theory and practice. In this paper, the authors report the characteristics relating to attitudes, motivations, and demographics of Internet shoppers in six countries (United States, England, New Zealand, China, Brazil, and Bulgaria), thereby contributing to understanding differences between Internet users and online shoppers in different regions of the world. Findings show that online shoppers share many similar traits around the world. Internet shoppers in all countries examined are similar in regard to their desire for convenience, are more impulsive, have more favorable attitudes toward direct marketing and advertising, and wealthier, and are heavier users of both e-mail and the Internet. Implications of the findings for theory and practice are discussed.

Relationship selling behaviors: antecedents and relationship with performance

Examines the effect of relationship selling activities on salesperson performance. It further explores the link between demographic selection criteria and the propensity of a salesperson to perform relationship selling behaviors. Relationship selling behaviors as examined in this study include interaction intensity, mutual disclosure, and cooperative intentions. The study was based on a sample of 487 business‐to‐business insurance salespeople. Findings indicate that interaction intensity and mutual disclosure have a significant effect on salesperson performance. Cooperative intentions do not influence performance. Results further demonstrate that some demographic criteria appear to be related to a salesperson’s likelihood of engaging in relationship selling.

A Test of Ad Appeal Effectiveness in Poland and The United States - The Interplay of Appeal, Product, and Culture

In this research we extend previous literature by analyzing responses to different ad appeals designed for different product types in Poland and the United States. We found that in the United States, responses to appeals can be predicted based on consumer cultural and product characteristics. For Polish consumers, reactions to ads depended only on product characteristics. The results of the study also show that when targeting consumers in both countries, marketers may standardize ad appeals by using functional appeals (which stress product attributes) across different product types. Finally, the study implies that some marketing models used in Western studies may not be transferable to some Eastern European countries, and therefore more research in this area is needed.

Distributive and procedural justice in a sales force context: Scale development and validation

Abstract Perceptions of managerial justice are essential to maintaining highly motivated, satisfied and committed salespeople. Even though there is extant research concerning justice in areas outside marketing, measurement of the distributive and procedural justice constructs has not been the focus of rigorous scale development. This study draws on a variety of literatures and develops scales for the measurement of distributive and procedural justice for use in a sales force context. The measurement scales were validated on three separate sales force samples providing strong evidence of reliability and validity.

An empirical test of antecedents and consequences of salesperson job satisfaction among Polish retail salespeople

Abstract This study looks at the applicability of retail sales management theory in a transitional economy. A theoretical model of in-role sales performance, satisfaction, commitment, and turnover based on previous empirical work is tested with a sample of 331 retail salespeople in Poland. The structural model shows strong support for the applicability of Western sales management theory in a transitional economy.