Antecedents and Performance Outcomes of Value-Based Selling in Sales Teams: A Multilevel, Systems Theory of Motivation Perspective

Firms are increasingly deploying a value-based selling (VBS) approach in their sales organizations to drive growth for new offerings. However, VBS adoption remains challenging, signaling that leaders need guidance to motivate VBS. Drawing from the systems theory of motivation, we examine motivational mechanisms at two levels—salesperson and sales team—to understand how to motivate, and benefit from, VBS. Using multisource data (i.e., salespeople, managers, archival performance) from 70 sales teams in a U.S.-based manufacturing and services provider, our findings illustrate drivers and outcomes of VBS. Specifically, we uncover a framework of salesperson, leader, customer, and team factors that help explain salesperson motivation for VBS. Importantly, we link VBS to customers’ adoption of new products to support VBS’s role for selling new products. Critical for sales team strategy, our model also integrates a team-level motivational mechanism to provide a comprehensive framework for salesperson and sales team motivations and outcomes

Teaching Social Justice through Community Engagement

This research was motivated by our desire for our students to achieve a deeper appreciation for the social justice aspect of our field, adult education, and also to engage them with the community. We sought to accomplish these ends as students at two different state universities volunteered to build a home with Habitat for Humanity. Data was collected using focus groups and reflective papers and analyzed using a constant-comparative method. We found that student engagement with Habitat for Humanity resulted in students’ personal growth and to a lesser extent they learned something about the potential of adult education to contribute to a more equitable and just society

Development of material models to predict the crashworthiness of tubes

Metallic tubes have been extensively studied for their crashworthiness as they closely resemble automotive crash rails. Recently, the demand to produce light weight yet safer vehicles has led to the need to understand the behaviour of novel materials such as composites, metallic foams and sandwich structures durign a crash. This paper presents a method to predict the crashworthiness of structural components using material modes. The material factors that most affect the crushing response are determined and quantified by developing and validating the crushing of a square tube model in Abaqus. The inputs from the model are used to construct a simple, physically realistic constitutive model and new test methods for predicting the material behaviour at high strain rates using low test speeds. These material models enable a designer to predict the crash behaviour of a structure without the need to perform extensive physical tests, thus reducing the time and cost of development

A research methodology for characterising dairy product consumption systems

This document on characterisation methodology specifically refers to the dairy consumption systems. The methodology developed and presented herein aims at guiding the activities of scientists who wish to investigate the dairy consumption systems at or around a specific site. Some characterisation of dairy product consumption has been conducted at most ILCA zonal sites. Pursued by different scientists at different times and places, a variety of methodological approaches have been employed in conducting these studies. This document is based upon ILCA's experiences at its zonal sites and incorporates the methodological lessons learned in the course of the studies. The steps that have been followed in constructing the conceptual framework instruments and in specifying the analytical methods are outlined. Data collected and analysed following this format will allow drawing conclusions about a particular location and its consumption system. It will also facilitate planning future research and development activities