Managing Laggards: The Importance of a Deep Sales Bench

Boichuk, Jeffrey P.; Bommaraju, Raghu; Ahearne, Michael; Kraus, Florian; Steenburgh, Thomas J.

doi:10.1177/0022243718824561

Cited by 20 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…In other words, these different peaks in the data indicate the existence of different groups. This observation aligns well with our expectation of strongly varying individual predispositions regarding the app and reinforces our motivation to conduct quantile regressions to examine whether the app design choices and the benefit appeal have differential effects across the distribution (Boichuk et al, 2019;Kishore et al, 2013).…”

Section: Model Specificationsupporting

confidence: 81%

One app to trace them all? Examining app specifications for mass acceptance of contact-tracing apps

Trang

Trenz

Weiger

et al. 2020

European Journal of Information Systems

188

261

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The current COVID-19 crisis has seen governments worldwide mobilising to develop and implement contact-tracing apps as an integral part of their lockdown exit strategies. The challenge facing policy makers is that tracing can only be effective if the majority of the population uses the one app developed; its specifications must therefore be carefully considered. We theorise on tracing apps and mass acceptance and conduct a full-factorial experiment to investigate how app installation intention is influenced by different app specifications based on three benefit appeals, two privacy designs, and two convenience designs. By applying quantile regression, we not only estimate the general effect of these app specifications but also uncover how their influence differs among citizens with different propensities for acceptance (i.e. critics, undecided, advocates)-a crucial insight for succeeding with mass acceptance. This study contributes to research in three ways: we theorise how mass acceptance differs from established app acceptance, we provide a fine-grained approach to investigating the app specifications salient for mass acceptance, and we reveal contextualised insights specific to tracing apps with multi-layered benefit structures. Our findings can guide policy makers by providing specification recommendations for facilitating mass acceptance of tracing apps during pandemics or other societal crises.

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Section: Model Specificationsupporting

confidence: 81%

One app to trace them all? Examining app specifications for mass acceptance of contact-tracing apps

Trang

Trenz

Weiger

et al. 2020

European Journal of Information Systems

188

261

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…ubiquity of relationship disruptions(Boles et al 2012;Boichuk et al 2019;Darmon 2008), their potentially detrimental effects on customer revenue, and their potential for creating new business opportunities require companies to manage their risks and pursue their opportunities carefully. To that end, our study provides three main sets of actionable implications to help managers (1) prioritize their efforts among customers subject to a relationship disruption, (2) select which activities to undertake to retain or expand business with prioritized customers, and (3) capitalize on the revitalization of customer relationships.First, when a relationship disruption is impending (e.g., salesperson's resignation, retirement, or promotion), managers can use our findings to assess their exposure to financial risks and opportunities and prioritize customers accordingly.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, such interpersonal relationships can be easily disrupted (Boichuk et al 2019; Panagopoulos, Mullins, and Avramidis 2018; Shi et al 2017), whether by managerial fiat (e.g., sales organization restructurings, account strategies, territory alignments) or through individual decisions (e.g., career path, retirement, turnover). A relationship disruption 1 refers to a change of salesperson in the relationship with the customer, that is, from one salesperson to another employed by the selling firm.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the Impact of Relationship Disruptions

Schmitz¹,

Friess²,

Alavi³

et al. 2019

Journal of Marketing

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Personal relationships between salespeople and customers are essential for the success of business-to-business relationships, and research has shown that a change of the salesperson can severely harm financial performance. However, such interpersonal relationship disruptions may also have positive effects by encouraging vitalizing reexplorations of the relationship. Using multilevel loyalty theory and relationship life cycle theory, the authors offer a comprehensive conceptualization of potentially countervailing consequences of relationship disruptions. In particular, disruptions may have different effects on resale revenue (from previously sold products) versus new sale revenue (from newly sold products), contingent on both the history and expected future development of the relationship. Therefore, this study examines moderators on the firm-level relationship prior to disruption and salesperson relationship management afterward. Longitudinal data from 2,040 customers of an international business-to-business firm reveal that a disruption can increase overall performance by more than 29%, depending on the firm-level relationship before disruption and the new salesperson’s relationship management. Managers can use these findings proactively to evaluate and manage the risks and opportunities involved in relationship disruptions.

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“…We measure salesperson performance as the actual sales volume (in dollars) of salesperson i in month t divided by the quota (in dollars) set for salesperson i in month t. This ratio includes both sales made before quota is achieved and sales made after quota is achieved (i.e., bonus-eligible sales). Proportion of quota attained has been commonly employed as a measure of salesperson performance within the sales literature (Ahearne et al 2010; Boichuk et al 2019; Patil and Syam 2018). Quota attainment and other relative referent measures of salesperson performance are viewed as suitable in empirical settings where differences in contextual factors (e.g., territory differences, differences in economic conditions, differences in competitive intensity) present a threat to an examination of factors that vary by salesperson (Bolander et al 2021).…”

Section: Study 1: Natural Field Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Onboarding Salespeople: Socialization Approaches

Wiseman¹,

Ahearne²,

Hall³

et al. 2022

Journal of Marketing

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The effective training of salespeople is crucial to a firm’s success; there is arguably no more critical type of training than a salesperson’s onboarding. In this study, the authors leverage a natural field experiment in which a firm’s newly hired salespeople can undergo onboarding through either a decentralized program or a centralized program to examine the relative impact of each program. Drawing on organizational socialization theory, the authors consider whether an onboarding program that incorporates both individualized and institutionalized socialization tactics (the decentralized program) can develop salespeople into higher performers by encouraging them to take a more innovative and adaptive approach to different facets of the sales role. The findings reveal that salespeople who underwent the decentralized program achieved approximately 23.5% higher sales performance than those who underwent the centralized program. The performance benefits of the decentralized program were amplified for salespeople whose managers had a narrower span of control. In addition, these performance benefits were appreciable for those salespeople transitioning from another job but negligible for those transitioning from school. A scenario-based experiment enriches the field experiment’s findings by showing evidence of the theorized mechanism underlying the sales performance benefits observed: the fostering of an innovative role orientation.

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Managing Laggards: The Importance of a Deep Sales Bench

Cited by 20 publications

References 46 publications

One app to trace them all? Examining app specifications for mass acceptance of contact-tracing apps

One app to trace them all? Examining app specifications for mass acceptance of contact-tracing apps

Understanding the Impact of Relationship Disruptions

Onboarding Salespeople: Socialization Approaches

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