Antecedents and consequences of salesperson listening effectiveness in buyer-seller relationships

To advance the claim that effective listening is a skill of paramount importance for sales representatives may appear prima-facie to belabour an obvious assumption. Yet, a consensus seems to exist in the literature that the average salesperson exhibits, at best, poor listening skills. This claim provides the impetus for the development of listening studies in the buyer-seller paradigm, which historically have been underpresented within the overall domain of sales research. The goals of the present dissertation were fourfold: (a) to define what it means to "listen" in the selling context, (b) to test the multidimensional structure of the listening construct, (c) to examine several key antecedents and (d) major consequences of salesperson listening effectiveness. First, a content analysis of key words in more than 50 conceptualizations of listening lead us to define listening as: "the selective act of physically sensing, mentally processing, and responding to verbal and/or nonverbal messages." To attain the three next objectives, a survey was distributed to more than 600 buyer-seller dyads in the banking industry. In order to collect relevant data, numerous strategies were employed, such as survey pre-notification, response incentives, sponsorship, and follow-ups. Nearly 1200 respondents, representing more than 10 financial institutions, completed our questionnaires. A battery of statistical tests indicated that listening in personal selling encompasses three dimensions: physical sensing, mental processing, and responding. Out of 12 variables hypothesized to influence effective listening, the following seven salesperson-related factors were identified as significant precursors: customer orientation, motivation to listen, customer knowledge, empathy, memory, past listening training, and internal buyer-seller similarity. Our empirical results also indicated that listening effectiveness is positively (and strongly) associated with service quality, trust, satisfaction, word-of-mouth propensity, purchase intentions, and sales performance (whether measured by perceptions or quantitative data). Several interesting conclusions were distilled from the findings and numerous theoretical and practical recommendations were suggested. It is our hope that this dissertation will (a) entice organizations to emphasize salespeople listening skills as a competitive advantage and (b) be used as a spring board by sales researchers to accrue research efforts and continued theory development in understanding the truly rich role of listening

Identification of Thermal Refuges and Water Temperature Patterns in Salmonid-Bearing Subarctic Rivers of Northern Quebec

In summer, salmonids can experience thermal stress during extreme weather conditions. This may affect their growth and even threaten their survival. Cool water zones in rivers constitute thermal refuges, allowing fish to be more comfortable to grow and survive in extreme events. Therefore, identifying and understanding the spatiotemporal variability of discrete thermal refuges and larger scale cooling zones in rivers is of fundamental interest. This study analyzes thermal refuges as well as cooling zones in two salmonid rivers in a subarctic climate by use of thermal infrared (TIR) imagery. The two studied rivers are the Koroc and Berard Rivers, in Nunavik, Quebec, Canada. On the 17 km studied section of the Berard River, four thermal refuges and five cooling zones were detected, covering 46% of the surveyed section of the river. On the 41 km section studied for the Koroc River, 67 thermal refuges and five cooling zones were identified which represent 32% of the studied section of the river. 89% of identified thermal refuges and about 60% of cooling zones are groundwater-controlled. Continuity of permafrost and shape of the river valley were found to be the main parameters controlling the distribution of refuges and cooling zones. These data provide important insights into planning and conservation measures for the salmonid population of subarctic Nunavik rivers

Analysis of Large-Scale Groundwater-Driven Cooling Zones in Rivers Using Thermal Infrared Imagery and Radon Measurements

The role of groundwater (GW) discharge on surface water (SW) quantity, quality and temperature is known to be important. Moreover, the effect of GW contributions to river thermal budgets is critical in natural rivers considering that water temperature plays a vital role in fish survival during extreme heat events. The identification of zones with GW input in rivers can, thus, help river management plans. However, detecting these zones at the watershed scale can be a challenge. This work combines thermal infrared (TIR) imagery of rivers and water sampling for radon measurements for better documentation of GW in rivers. The Sainte-Marguerite and Berard Rivers, both located in Quebec, Canada, are known for their abundance of salmonids. Their water temperature profiles were plotted using TIR imagery, and five cooling zones in the Berard River and two for the Sainte-Marguerite River were identified in which notable GW–SW exchange was the suspected cause. Radon concentrations measured within the cooling zones showed clear GW contribution to SW. TIR imagery is an effective and fast way to identify GW seepage at the watershed scale. Radon can be used as a complementary natural tracer of GW in rivers at finer scales. The combination of both methods was shown to be reliable for the identification of GW in rivers. This can help for a better anticipation of GW effects in management plans to deal with extreme heat waves that are predicted to occur more frequently under future climate change scenarios

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Une comparaison des effets de la première et de la dernière impression dans une rencontre de vente

International audienceUn très grand nombre d'études en psychologie, en communication et en publicité montrent que les phases d'introduction et de conclusion d'un événement sont prépondérantes dans l'évaluation d'ensemble des consommateurs. Plusieurs praticiens considèrent d'ailleurs que la première et la dernière impression effectuée par un conseiller dans une rencontre de vente constituent les moments qui influencent le plus les évaluations des clients. Pourtant, peu de chercheurs ont étudié ce phénomène dans la littérature en marketing. Nous avons réalisé un sondage auprès de plus de 500 clients. Suivant des analyses de modélisation d'équations structurelles, nos résultats indiquent que la qualité perçue et la confiance sont influencées par l'impression initiale, alors que la satisfaction est influencée par l'impression finale. Des recommandations stratégiques et des opportunités de recherche sont présentées

The Knowledge-Experience-Evaluation Relationship: A Structural Equations Modeling Test of Gender Differences

This study examines the differences between males and females concerning the relationship of subjective knowledge (SK), experience (EXP), and perceived product evaluation difficulty (DE). Using survey data, we test structural equation models (SEM) of the relationships between these three variables, in the context of four product categories. We verify, via confirmatory factor analysis, that EXP and SK are separate yet related constructs. We then test separate (m/f) SEM models, followed by multi-group model analysis. A number of significant gender differences are revealed. For males, SK fully mediates the relationship between EXP and DE, whereas for females the latter is both directly and indirectly (via SK) related to EXP. Females\u27 DE scores are higher than males in most of the product categories considered. Other observed gender differences, implications, and future research directions are discussed