Salesforce automation and the adoption of technological innovations by salespeople: theory and implications

Abstract

In the past few years, organizations have spent millions of dollars adopting salesforce automation (SFA) systems, and this trend continues to grow. Despite its significance, very little academic research has been devoted to understanding the factors that can influence the adoption and implementation of SFA systems. Contends that SFA is a two‐stage process that involves adoption at: (a) the organizational level, and (b) the level of the individual salesperson ‐ with organizational adoption preceding individual salesperson adoption. Draws on diffusion theory and the existing SFA trade literature to discuss factors that can influence SFA adoption at both these levels and their implications for management.

Sales force automation systems: An analysis of factors underpinning the sophistication of deployed systems in the UK financial services industry

“…While the initial decision is an organizational context, the latter stage is much more on an individual basiswhere the individual salesperson is required to become involved in populating the database with information. Our research therefore supports the views of Parthasarathy and Sohi (1997) that this "dual adoption" is a critical factor to achieve strategic usage. What they call "non monetary" costs of adoption will need to be considered to ensure the second stage of adoption is successful.…”

“…Initially, the organisation makes a decision to adopt a SFA system, followed by an implementation focus on encouraging the use of the SFA by individual salespeople [Parthasarathy & Sohi, 1997]. However, many SFA projects have been classified as unsuccessful [Rivers & Dart, 1999] but, as has been noted, the academic community "…remains silent in terms of reporting factors associated with SFA adoption and use" (p145).…”

“…SFA systems have been defined, variously, as (i) centralised database systems that can be accessed through a modem by remote laptop computers using special software -hence focusing on information-handling capacities [Parthasarathy & Sohi, 1997], or (ii) as the converting of manual sales activities to electronic processes through the use of various combinations of hardware and software [Erffmeyer & Johnson, 2001]. However, several authors have noted that there is a lack of a clear definition of SFA [Rivers & Dart, 1999].…”

The curvilinear and conditional effects of product line breadth on salesperson performance, role stress, and job satisfaction

“…Most of the current literature related to sales force and product decisions involves new product issues rather than product line breadth (e.g., Ahearne et al 2010;Atuahene-Gima 1997;Hultink and Atuahene-Gima 2000;Parthasarathy and Sohi 1997;Wieseke et al 2008). Further, literature related to sales force organization has focused primarily on structuring the sales force (Rangaswamy et al 1990), optimizing territory structure and alignment (see Zoltners and Sinha 2005 for a review), allocating sales effort (Davis and Farley 1971;Lodish 1980;Montgomery et al 1971), sharing the sales force among multiple product divisions (Sohi et al 1996), and designing compensation plans for multiproduct sales forces (Mantrala et al 1994).…”

Barriers to the use of mobile sales force automation systems: a salesperson’s perspective

“…Prior research argues that SFA technology adoption is a two-stage process starting from an organization's decision to adopt an SFA system, and ending up with the choice of the individual salesperson to adopt the technology or not (Buehrer et al, 2005;Parthasarathy and Sohi, 1997). Although many benefits of using SFA systems among sales people have been identified (e.g., Boujena et al, 2009;Ingram et al, 2002;Rogers et al, 2008), this study sheds more light on the potential barriers to using a mobile SFA system from a salesperson's perspective.…”