Conceptual framework
Predictor | Classical hypothesis | Definition | Examples of included variables |
---|---|---|---|
Role Perceptions
| |||
Role Conflict | – | The perception that expectations and demands of two or more role partners are mismatched (Singh 1998, p. 70) | Role Conflict |
Role Problems | |||
Role Ambiguity | – | Perceived lack of information to perform the job adequately and uncertainty about the expectations of different role set members (Singh 1998, p. 70) | Role Ambiguity |
Role Clarity (reversed) | |||
Role Overload | – | Perception that the cumulative role demands exceed the abilities and motivation to perform a task (Singh 1998, p. 70) | Role Overload |
Difficulty | |||
Burnout | – | A prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors on the job (Maslach et al. 2001, p. 397) | Reduced Accomplishment |
Emotional Exhaustion | |||
Aptitude
|
Native abilities and enduring personal traits relevant to the performance of job activities (Walker et al.
1977
)
| ||
Dispositional Traits | +/− | Broad, decontextualized and relatively non-conditional constructs which provide a dispositional signature for personality description (McAdams 1995, p. 365) | Extraversion |
Neuroticism | |||
Personal Concerns | +/− | Personality descriptions that are contextualized in time, place or role (McAdams 1995, p. 365) | Need for Conformity |
Other Directness | |||
Identity | +/− | An internalized narrative of the self that incorporates the reconstructed past, perceived present, and anticipated future (McAdams 1995, p. 365) | Self Perceived Ethicalness |
Reciprocity | |||
Cognitive | + | Category that includes measures of a general factor of mental ability, verbal ability, and quantitative ability (Vinchur et al. 1998, p. 589) | General Mental Ability (IQ) |
Verbal Intelligence | |||
Skill Level
| |||
Micro selling
| |||
Interpersonal | + | Skills related to understanding, persuading and getting along with other people such as customers (Ford et al. 1987, p. 104) | Communication Skills |
Presentation Skills | |||
Degree of Adaptiveness | + | The altering of sales behaviors during a customer interaction or across customer interactions based on perceived information about the nature of the selling situation (Weitz et al. 1986, p. 175) | Adaptive Selling |
Ability to Modify Sales Presentations | |||
Macro selling
| |||
Selling-Related Knowledge | + | The depth and width of the knowledge base that salespeople need to size up sales situations, classify prospects, and select appropriate sales strategies for clients (Leong et al. 1989, p. 164) | Product / Technical Knowledge |
Customer Knowledge | |||
Motivation
|
The amount of effort a salesperson desires to expend on each activity or task associated with the job (Walker et al.
1977
)
| ||
Cognitive Choice | + | Prior Goal Setting | |
Spending Time on a Specific Task | |||
Goal Orientation | + | Underlying goals that people pursue in achievement situations (Sujan et al. 1994, p. 39) | Learning Goal Orientation |
Performance Goal Orientation | |||
Work Engagement | + | A persistent positive affective-motivational state of fulfillment (Sonnentag 2003, p. 518) | Enthusiasm |
Citizenship Behaviors | |||
Personal
|
Intra-individual factors that might be related to salespeople’s performance but which are not part of the aptitude, skill level, motivation and role perceptions components (Churchill et al.
1985
)
| ||
Biographical | +/− | Variables that include demographic and psychical characteristics, experiences and aspects of the candidate’s current family status and lifestyle thought to effect a person’s potential performance (Ford et al. 1987) | Age |
Sales Experience | |||
Organizational & Environmental
| |||
External Environment | +/− | The external environment faced by salespeople (Ford et al. 1983, p. 374) | Market Competition |
Prospect Income | |||
Internal Environment | +/− | A broad range of organizational characteristics and social relationships which constitute the person’s work environment (Ford et al. 1983, p. 375) | Marketing Orientation |
Flexibility | |||
Supervisory Leadership | + | The extent of sales managers’ monitoring, directing, evaluating, and rewarding activities (Anderson and Oliver 1987, p. 76) | Positive Feedback |
Transformational Leadership |
Classification scheme
Method
Collection of studies
Effect size metric and coding
Bivariate analysis
Predictor | Number of raw effects | Total N | Simple average ra
| Average r adjusted for reliability | Reliability-adjusted sample-weighted average rb
| Z-value | 95% Confidence interval | File drawer Nc
| Q statistic for homogeneity testd
| |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lower bound | Upper bound | |||||||||
Role Perceptions | ||||||||||
Role Conflict | 57 | 12750 | −.11 | −.14 | −.15 | −1.12 | −.39 | .11 | n.a. | 18.7* |
Role Ambiguity | 113 | 27832 | −.21* | −.29* | −.25* | −1.99 | −.57 | −.01 | 249 | 228.6* |
Role Overload | 22 | 4582 | .02 | .02 | .07 | .11 | −.37 | .42 | n.a. | 181.3* |
Burnout | 39 | 8709 | −.15 | −.20 | −.12 | −1.13 | −.56 | .15 | n.a. | 33.8* |
Aptitude | ||||||||||
Dispositional Traits | 125 | 27445 | .07 | .08 | .06 | .41 | −.31 | .48 | n.a. | 3578.9* |
Personal Concerns | 34 | 8476 | .11 | .15 | .20 | .92 | −.16 | .45 | n.a. | 256.1* |
Identity | 109 | 26489 | .14 | .16 | .13 | .75 | −.26 | .57 | n.a. | 2505.1* |
Cognitive | 12 | 1928 | .18* | .24* | .23* | 2.04 | .01 | .45 | 3 | 209.3* |
Skill Level | ||||||||||
Interpersonal | 201 | 42615 | .21 | .27 | .24 | 1.37 | −.12 | .65 | n.a. | 9641.3* |
Degree of Adaptiveness | 71 | 14547 | .26* | .29* | .27* | 1.95 | .00 | .59 | 14 | 412.4* |
Selling-Related Knowledge | 122 | 29910 | .26* | .33* | .28* | 1.92 | −.01 | .67 | 20 | 2256.4* |
Motivation | ||||||||||
Cognitive Choice | 102 | 22989 | .15 | .19 | .20 | .92 | −.21 | .59 | n.a. | 1764.9* |
Goal Orientation | 129 | 26460 | .18 | .23 | .21 | 1.58 | −.07 | .53 | n.a. | 1245.5* |
Work Engagement | 110 | 25238 | .24 | .28 | .23 | 1.42 | −.11 | .67 | n.a. | 1133.6* |
Personal | ||||||||||
Biographical | 190 | 44948 | .10 | .12 | .12 | .69 | −.21 | .45 | n.a. | 7549.1* |
Organizational & Environmental | ||||||||||
External Environment | 110 | 19506 | .17 | .20 | .12 | 1.02 | −.18 | .59 | n.a. | 945.7* |
Internal Environment | 255 | 69625 | .15 | .19 | .16 | 1.04 | −.17 | .54 | n.a. | 9357.6* |
Supervisory Leadership | 242 | 49204 | .17 | .20 | .17 | 1.15 | −.14 | .54 | n.a. | 2920.4* |
Multivariate causal model analysis
Predictor | RA | CA | AS | SK | WE | SP |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Role Ambiguity (RA)
| [.77] | |||||
Number of effects | ||||||
Cumulative sample size | ||||||
Cognitive Aptitude (CA)
| .06 (.10) | [.79] | ||||
Number of effects | 3 | |||||
Cumulative sample size | 336 | |||||
Adaptive Selling (AS)
| −.15 (.07 ) | .41 (.23) | [.82] | |||
Number of effects | 3 | 4 | ||||
Cumulative sample size | 861 | 301 | ||||
Selling-Related Knowledge (SK)
| −.15 (.21 ) | .41 (.11) | .30 (.20 ) | [.81] | ||
Number of effects | 4 | 4 | 4 | |||
Cumulative sample size | 1,323 | 637 | 965 | |||
Work Engagement (WE)
| −.16 (.13) | .28 (.21) | .32 (.07) | .13 (.06) | [.78] | |
Number of effects | 24 | 3 | 4 | 8 | ||
Cumulative sample size | 6,136 | 637 | 792 | 1,534 | ||
Sales Performance (SP)
| −.25 (.14) | .23 (.11) | .27 (.15) | .28 (.17) | .23 (.20) | [.84] |
Number of effects | 113 | 12 | 71 | 122 | 110 | |
Cumulative sample size | 27,832 | 1,928 | 14,547 | 29,910 | 25,238 |
Moderator analysis
Moderators
Hypotheses for measurement method moderators
Hypotheses for research context moderators
Hypotheses for sales-type moderators
Results
Predictor | Standardized coefficient (ß) |
---|---|
Role Ambiguity | −.25 (.12)* |
Cognitive Aptitude | .23 (.11)* |
Degree of Adaptiveness | .27 (.12)* |
Selling-Related Knowledge | .28 (.12)* |
Work engagement | .23 (.11)* |
R2 (adjusted) | .320 |
F (p-level) | 15.526 (<.001) |
Maximum variance inflation factor | 1.008 |
Relevant drivers for salesperson performance
Moderator analysis
Predictor | Measurement method moderators | Research context moderators | Sales-type moderators | R2 adjusted | Maximum VIF | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Self-report (1) versus managerial report (0) | Objective data (1) versus managerial report (0) | Multi-item (1) versus single-item measure (0) | Service (1) versus goods (0) | Consumers (1) versus business customers (0) | Internal (1) versus external governance (0) | Output (1) versus behavior (0) | Relationship quality (1) versus traditional (0) | |||
β | β | β | β | β | β | β | β | |||
Role Perceptions | ||||||||||
Role Conflict | .12 | −.26 | −.39* | .12 | .05 | −.18 | .05 | −.06 | .01 | 3.41 |
Role Ambiguity | −.11 | .05 | −.29* | .04 | −.27** | −.06 | .24* | .03 | .16* | 2.47 |
Role Overload | n.a.a
| n.a. | .32 | .09 | .02 | n.a. | −.13 | n.a. | n.s. | 1.42 |
Stress | −.34 | .65 | −.64* | .03 | .07 | n.a. | −.32 | n.a. | n.s. | 7.08 |
Aptitude | ||||||||||
Dispositional Traits | .21** | −.18 | −.13 | .11 | −.11 | .01 | .20* | −.37* | .16* | 2.96 |
Personal Concerns | .09 | .45 | .24 | −.20 | −.02 | .15 | −.10 | .00 | n.s. | 3.90 |
Identity | −.31** | .15 | .17 | −.01 | .04 | −.03 | −.10 | .07 | .11* | 2.95 |
Cognitive | .00 | −.63 | .54 | .11 | .14 | n.a. | .24 | n.a. | .66* | 2.17 |
Skill Level | ||||||||||
Interpersonal | .13 | −.16 | .15* | .07 | .03 | −.08 | .13 | .15* | .02 | 3.33 |
Micro selling | ||||||||||
Degree of Adaptiveness | −.01 | −.16 | .02 | −.09 | −.12 | .27 | .23* | .12 | n.s. | 4.31 |
Macro selling | ||||||||||
Selling-Related | ||||||||||
Knowledge | −.38** | .14 | .13 | .10 | .16 | −.08 | −.05 | .14 | .10* | 5.06 |
Motivation | ||||||||||
Cognitive Choice | −.31 | .38 | .13 | −.22* | .31** | −.05 | .21* | .15 | .23* | 1.00 |
Goal Orientation | −.52** | .47** | .06 | .13 | −.11 | .25* | −.06 | .23* | .15* | 4.17 |
Work Engagement | −.06 | .04 | −.05 | .03 | .10 | .19** | .10 | .12 | .20* | 2.44 |
Personal | ||||||||||
Biographical | .02 | .04 | −.01 | .09 | −.06 | −.10 | −.06 | n.a. | .03 | 3.15 |
Organizational & Environmental | ||||||||||
External Environment | .13 | −.61* | .02 | .02 | .06 | −.09 | −.12 | .23* | .17* | 6.36 |
Internal Environment | .13 | −.004 | .12 | .10 | .28** | .03 | .02 | −.03 | .08* | 3.00 |
Supervisory Leadership | .15** | −.19* | .11 | .05 | .12 | .08 | −.01 | .14* | .07* | 2.14 |