Technostress:negative effect on performance and possible mitigations

We investigate the effect of conditions that create technostress, on technology-enabled innovation, technology-enabled performance and overall performance. We further look at the role of technology self-efficacy, organizational mechanisms that inhibit technostress and technology competence as possible mitigations to the effects of technostress creators. Our findings show a negative association between technostress creators and performance. We find that, while traditional effort-based mechanisms such as building technology competence reduce the impact of technostress creators on technology-enabled innovation and performance, more empowering mechanisms such as developing technology self-efficacy and information systems (IS) literacy enhancement and involvement in IS initiatives are required to counter the decrease in overall performance because of technostress creators. Noting that the professional sales context offers increasingly high expectations for technology-enabled performance in an inherently interpersonal-oriented and relationship-oriented environment with regard to overall performance, and high failure rates for IS acceptance/use, the study uses survey data collected from 237 institutional sales professionals

Mobile social networking and salesperson maladaptive dependence behaviors

This study investigates technology dependence associated with the work-related use of mobile social networking (MSN) by salespeople. A scale for maladaptive technology dependence behaviors (MTDB) is developed and empirically validated using survey data from 242 mid-level sales managers in the US. Personal and job-related antecedents, as well as consequences of MTDB for sales outcomes, are also examined. Results suggest that emotional attachment to MSN and perceptions of its greater affordances for task accomplishment may lead to maladaptive behaviors of overreliance on MSN for job completion, blind trust, cognitive absorption and dysfunctional use. These associations increase in organizations with competitive psychological climate. Findings also show that using MSN for prospecting does not lead to maladaptive dependence, as opposed to using it for customer relationship maintenance. Salespeople using MSN for relationship maintenance exhibit more maladaptive behaviors if they experience work-related role stress. Finally, salespeople who exhibit MTDB are less likely to complete their assignments and participate in teamwork. These findings provide tools for organizations to develop technology use policies, design sales training, and enhance the work environment. Future studies can examine dependencies on others types of technologies (CRM, marketing automation, etc.), and in other contexts (online retailing, social media analytics, etc.

Tell me more: How salespeople encourage customer disclosure

This paper explores salesperson-customer interactions to identify actual behaviors that result in enhanced customer disclosure and classify them as disclosure tactics, and to explore whether certain tactics are more likely to lead to salesperson-customer relationship advancement. This qualitative research uses conversation analysis to identify salesperson disclosure tactics that result in customer disclosure, using twelve video-recordings of authentic B2B initial sales meetings between a salesperson and customer. Findings showed four disclosure tactics that salespeople use to get customers to disclose information: embedded expertise claims, tailored references, demonstrations of preparation and customer-orientation and benevolence. These tactics appear more often and are executed differently in sales meetings that successfully advance. The research addresses an unexplored area of specific salesperson behaviors and their connection to customer disclosure and relationship advancement in the exploration phase. Additionally, we fill a gap than cannot be addressed with traditional survey or interview data, and bring conversation analysis to this particular area

Rapport building in authentic B2B sales interaction

Acquisition of new customers is critical for any business seeking to achieve growth. This paper investigates the skill of rapport building in establishing new customer relationships and engaging customers for solution co-creation. A qualitative multiple phase study supports a micro-level analysis of rapport building in the context of business-to-business solutions and services selling. The study includes three parts: in-depth qualitative interviews, conversation analysis of video-recorded real-life sales meetings, and follow-up interviews. The results show that salesperson-initiated actions have little influence on rapport building and that strong initial rapport can compensate for potential interaction weaknesses later in the meeting. Our findings point to a set of collaborative actions and related skills needed to build rapport and move a relationship forward. These findings provide theoretical insights into the earliest moments of new customer relationship formation. The results inform businesses seeking to refocus and develop their rapport building skills towards more customer-engaging collaboration.Peer reviewe

Organizational Ethics Development and the Expanding Role of the Human Resource Professional

In summary, organizational ethics development trends have expanded the responsibility of human resource professionals. Human resource professionals who have been adequately trained and have competently responded to these role-expansion challenges are more likely to contribute to strong ethical cultures in productive organizations

Decision-making in salesperson-customer interaction: Establishing a common ground for obtaining commitment

Decisions are often made in a two-part sequence, consisting of a proposal by one party and an aligning response from others. While this sequence is well established, less is known about the preparatory work that may precede it. This chapter studies decision-making in the context of complex service selling. It demonstrates that and how salespeople and a prospective customer collaboratively and incrementally establish a decision over a multi-sequence course of action, in which a sequence implements a stage and the next sequence implements a next step or outcome of the prior stage. Thus, the chapter sheds light on how the groundwork for a proposal is laid. The conversation analytic study is based on 17 video-recorded business-to-business sales meetings in Finland

An Investigation of the Theory Practice Gap in Professional Sales

This article considers the theory-practice gap in professional sales. Scholars note a discrepancy between scholarly knowledge and the practice of selling. We study three exemplar gaps using an extensive qualitative dataset, mainly in-depth interviews, in order to better understand why these gaps exist. Theory-practice gaps in listening, follow-up, and adaptability have not been empirically confirmed in light of rapid change in the sales field. After confirming these gaps, we explore antecedents, uncovering several underlying reasons for gap formation. We consider theoretical and managerial implications. In particular, we elaborate on the need for theory to be more relevant and contextualized.Peer reviewe