Exploring Topic Sensitivity and Managers’ Likelihood to Participate in Internet Surveys: A Research Note

This study explores the relationship between sensitivity and topic importance to a manager and the likelihood of participation in an Internet-based survey on such topics. An Internet-based survey of business managers in Italy was conducted to measure sensitivity of 12 typical survey topics, the personal importance of each topic to a manager, and the manager’s likelihood of participation in a survey of each of a subset of five topics from the total. Findings suggest that managers are most likely to participate in surveys about topics that are personally important to them, even when such topics are perceived as being sensitive

Exploring Slider vs. Categorical Response Formats in Web-Based Surveys

Web-based surveys have become a common mode of data collection for researchers in many fields, but there are many methodological questions that need to be answered. This article examines one such question—do the use of sliders to express numerical amounts and the use of the more traditional radio-button scales give the same, or different, measurements? First, we review the central debates surrounding the use of slider scales, including advantages and disadvantages. Second, we report findings from a controlled simple randomized design field experiment using a sample of business managers in Italy to compare the two response formats. Measures of topic sensitivity, topic interest, and likelihood of participation were obtained. No statistically significant differences were found between the response formats. The article concludes with suggestions for researchers who wish to use slider scales as a measurement device

Predicting Turnover of Direct Sellers

As an industry, direct selling is ubiquitous. An estimated 5.3 million people were direct sellers in the United States in 2016. Of those 5.3 million direct sellers, 4.5 million were part-time and 800,000 were full-time. Moreover, in 2016, direct selling generated an estimated US$35.54 billion in retail sales that, in turn, had a US$83.11 billion impact on the United States economy. In a broad sense, direct selling is simultaneously considered to be a distribution channel, an industry, and a business model. Traditional major modes of direct selling include person-to-person and party-plan selling at a home or in the workplace, with online sales now gaining traction in the direct selling marketplace. Individuals become direct sellers for a multitude of reasons, including a desire to earn a living as a full-time direct seller, to earn supplemental income as a part-time direct seller, or to work at a part-time job to earn extra money to make a special purchase. Consequently, there can be relatively high turnover among direct sellers, especially those whose goal was to earn extra money to make a special purchase. Turnover is an issue in direct selling for several reasons, including the time and resources direct selling companies expend to recruit, train, and support direct sellers as well as the potential loss of customers and revenues when a direct seller exits the industry. As such, being able to predict which direct sellers are likely to leave the industry before considerable company and individual resources are expended would be beneficial to all concerned marketplace constituents. This research attempted to predict direct seller turnover by analyzing responses to a set of 12 reasons why a national sample of individuals decided to join a direct selling company. This was done by first comparing the number and nature of reasons that subsamples of current and former direct sellers gave for joining a direct selling company. Significant differences were observed between the two direct seller groups for nine of the 12 reasons studied and for the total number of reasons given for joining a direct selling company. This was followed by a binary logistic regression analysis that successfully predicted the work status of 63 percent of the combined sample of current and former direct sellers. Although data for the present research were derived from a relatively large nationwide survey of current and former direct sellers, the study should be viewed as exploratory given the absence of information on the topic and the lack of theoretically based hypotheses

Exploring Self-Efficacy with an Emphasis on Direct Selling

Self-efficacy, the confidence that one has in his or her capabilities to achieve a goal, is one of the most widely studied constructs in personal selling and sales management research. With few exceptions, self-efficacy has been studied as antecedent to sales performance. The present study differs from prior marketing-related studies of self-efficacy in that it explores whether a direct selling experience can enhance business/professional self-efficacy and personal life self-efficacy. In other words, in the present study self-efficacy is treated as consequent to a direct selling experience. An online survey was conducted in which a nationally representative sample of 495 current direct sellers responded to a self-efficacy scale consisting of 14 items regarding the impact of their direct selling experience on their business/professional skills and a self-efficacy scale consisting of 13 items regarding the impact of their direct selling experience on their personal life skills. More than 60 percent of the direct sellers surveyed either somewhat or strongly believed that their direct selling experience improved their business/professional and their personal life skills. There were differences in impact based on the gender and the age of the direct sellers. Both business/professional self-efficacy and personal life self-efficacy were significantly and positively related to self-perceived sales performance and performance on a non-direct selling job. The theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed

Selecting Specialized Creators: The Independent Inventor

This study applied to 103 independent inventors and 75 noninventors a modified version of a “test” designed to discriminate between creative people and others. The results for this 19-item questionnaire indicated that 7 items discriminated between inventors and noninventors. In addition, 2 of these items plus one other discriminated between patentees and nonpatentees within the inventor group. Support is therefore provided for the contention made in previous research that it may be possible to discriminate reliably between creative people and others by use of such a simple test. </jats:p