Defense Date
4-13-2015
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Marketing
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Dr. Joseph Hair
Committee Member or Co-Chair
Dr. Brian Rutherford
Committee Member
Dr. Richard Plank
Abstract
This research empirically explored the differing effects of both quantitative and qualitative goals on sales force motivation in the context of sales force control systems and the various facets of job satisfaction. An interactive sales controls–goal systems model was presented with the objective of more clearly understanding what is going on inside the black box. Relevant to this study was capturing all seven facets of the INDSALES scale. Given the limitations of global measures of job satisfaction, this investigation more fully explained the relationships among types of sales force control systems on multifaceted job satisfaction than what currently exists with the global measure.
This study extended the boundaries of an existing Evans, Landry, Li, and Zou (2007) model and connected the multidimensional job satisfaction scale to other complex interorganizational sales-linked variables, including sales force control systems, organizational psychological climate, and goal difficulty. Understanding the sequence and strength of the model’s path relationships is of practical important to managers as they attempt to increase sales force effort in pursuing specific, challenging goals that benefit their organizations. Especially useful to both scholars and practitioners are the viii increased insights gained through the examination of the role each facet of satisfaction played in the overall design of more effective sales force control systems.
The research objectives of this study were executed using a survey of business-to-business salespeople across various U.S. industries. Following a pretest to refine the questionnaire, a survey was conducted using Qualtrics and the results were analyzed using variance-based partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). This technique was selected because of its exploratory and predictive ability to effectively assess the causalities, challenges, and complexities of the proposed theoretical model.