IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v104y2019icp552-562.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sales intra-functional flexibility: Its relationship to performance and moderating effects on role stressors

Author

Listed:
  • Micevski, Milena
  • Dewsnap, Belinda
  • Cadogan, John W.
  • Kadic-Maglajlic, Selma
  • Boso, Nathaniel

Abstract

Building on strategic flexibility literature and social exchange theory, we identify sales department intra-functional flexibility (SIF) as an important driver of sales organization success. Using primary data from 229 sales organizations, we find that sales teams with greater levels of SIF report greater levels of sales and customer performance. In addition, findings show that customer orientation positively moderates SIF's relationship with customer performance, but negatively moderates its effect on the relationship with sales performance. We find mixed results with regard to the benefits of SIF in conditioning the effect of salesperson role stress to firm performance. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed and avenues for future research are proposed.

Suggested Citation

  • Micevski, Milena & Dewsnap, Belinda & Cadogan, John W. & Kadic-Maglajlic, Selma & Boso, Nathaniel, 2019. "Sales intra-functional flexibility: Its relationship to performance and moderating effects on role stressors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 552-562.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:104:y:2019:i:c:p:552-562
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.12.021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296318306313
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.12.021?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Davcik, Nebojsa S. & Sharma, Piyush, 2016. "Marketing resources, performance, and competitive advantage: A review and future research directions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 5547-5552.
    2. Kurt Matzler & Elmar Sauerwein & Kenneth Heischmidt, 2003. "Importance-performance analysis revisited: the role of the factor structure of customer satisfaction," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 112-129, March.
    3. Kadic-Maglajlic, Selma & Micevski, Milena & Arslanagic-Kalajdzic, Maja & Lee, Nick, 2017. "Customer and selling orientations of retail salespeople and the sales manager's ability-to-perceive-emotions: A multi-level approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 53-62.
    4. Kadic-Maglajlic, Selma & Boso, Nathaniel & Micevski, Milena, 2018. "How internal marketing drive customer satisfaction in matured and maturing European markets?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 291-299.
    5. Janet Bercovitz & Sandy D. Jap & Jack A. Nickerson, 2006. "The Antecedents and Performance Implications of Cooperative Exchange Norms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(6), pages 724-740, December.
    6. Dominique Rouzies & Kevin Bradford & Steven Brown & Shankar Ganesan & Gary Hunter & Vincent Onyemah & Robert Palmatier & Rosann Spiro & Harish Sujan & Barton A. Weitz, 2010. "The Embedded Salesforce: Connecting Buying and Selling Organizations," Post-Print hal-00537094, HAL.
    7. Laura Poppo & Kevin Zheng Zhou & Julie J. Li, 2016. "When can you trust “trust”? Calculative trust, relational trust, and supplier performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 724-741, April.
    8. Hooley, Graham J. & Greenley, Gordon E. & Cadogan, John W. & Fahy, John, 2005. "The performance impact of marketing resources," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 18-27, January.
    9. Jones, Eli & Chonko, Lawrence & Rangarajan, Deva & Roberts, James, 2007. "The role of overload on job attitudes, turnover intentions, and salesperson performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(7), pages 663-671, July.
    10. Ye Dai & John C. Goodale & Gukdo Byun & Fangsheng Ding, 2018. "Strategic Flexibility in New High†Technology Ventures," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 265-294, March.
    11. Kevin Bradford & Steven Brown & Shankar Ganesan & Gary Hunter & Vincent Onyemah & Robert Palmatier & Dominique Rouziès & Rosann Spiro & Harish Sujan & Barton Weitz, 2010. "The embedded sales force: Connecting buying and selling organizations," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 239-253, September.
    12. Ron Sanchez, 1997. "Preparing for an Uncertain Future," International Studies of Management & Organization, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(2), pages 71-94, June.
    13. Jaramillo, Fernando & Mulki, Jay Prakash & Boles, James S., 2013. "Bringing meaning to the sales job: The effect of ethical climate and customer demandingness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(11), pages 2301-2307.
    14. Cynthia Hardy & Nelson Phillips, 1998. "Strategies of Engagement: Lessons from the Critical Examination of Collaboration and Conflict in an Interorganizational Domain," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(2), pages 217-230, April.
    15. Lassala, Carlos & Burrus, Robert T. & Graham, J. Edward, 2016. "Business school grading on both sides of the Atlantic," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 5106-5110.
    16. P. M. Bentler & Chih-Ping Chou, 1987. "Practical Issues in Structural Modeling," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 16(1), pages 78-117, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zahid Yousaf & Maria Palazzo, 2023. "Influential role of homophily on innovative work behavior: evidence from innovation management of SMEs," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 1239-1256, September.
    2. Peasley, Michael C. & Hochstein, Bryan & Britton, Benjamin P. & Srivastava, Rajesh V. & Stewart, Geoffrey T., 2020. "Can’t leave it at home? The effects of personal stress on burnout and salesperson performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 58-70.
    3. Lyngdoh, Teidorlang & Chefor, Ellis & Hochstein, Bryan & Britton, Benjamin P. & Amyx, Douglas, 2021. "A systematic literature review of negative psychological states and behaviors in sales," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 518-533.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ko, Guihan & Amankwah-Amoah, Joseph & Appiah, Gloria & Larimo, Jorma, 2022. "Non-market strategies and building digital trust in sharing economy platforms," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(1).
    2. Brown, Brian P. & Mohan, Mayoor & Eric Boyd, D., 2017. "Top management attention to trade shows and firm performance: A relationship marketing perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 40-50.
    3. Divya Keerthika, 2018. "A Multiple Measure of Organizational Performances and its Effect on Distinctive Marketing Competencies: An Empirical Study of India and the Maldives," GATR Journals jmmr190, Global Academy of Training and Research (GATR) Enterprise.
    4. Arnett, Dennis B. & Wittmann, C. Michael, 2014. "Improving marketing success: The role of tacit knowledge exchange between sales and marketing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 324-331.
    5. Lauren Skinner Beitelspacher & Thomas L. Baker & Adam Rapp & Dhruv Grewal, 2018. "Understanding the long-term implications of retailer returns in business-to-business relationships," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 252-272, March.
    6. Rajesh Srivastava & Thomas Tang, 2015. "Coping Intelligence: Coping Strategies and Organizational Commitment Among Boundary Spanning Employees," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(3), pages 525-542, September.
    7. Winklhofer, Heidi & Diamantopoulos, Adamantios, 2003. "A model of export sales forecasting behavior and performance: development and testing," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 271-285.
    8. Reynolds, Kate L. & Harris, Lloyd C., 2009. "Dysfunctional Customer Behavior Severity: An Empirical Examination," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 85(3), pages 321-335.
    9. Rubio-Andrés, Mercedes & Ramos-González, Mª del Mar & Sastre-Castillo, Miguel Ángel & Gutiérrez-Broncano, Santiago, 2023. "Stakeholder pressure and innovation capacity of SMEs in the COVID-19 pandemic: Mediating and multigroup analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    10. Sande, Jon Bingen & Haugland, Sven A., 2015. "Strategic performance effects of misaligned formal contracting: The mediating role of relational contracting," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 187-194.
    11. Jiacong Wu & Yu Wang & Ru Zhang & Jing Cai, 2018. "An Approach to Discovering Product/Service Improvement Priorities: Using Dynamic Importance-Performance Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-26, October.
    12. Maidana, Marcos Ignacio, 2016. "Los emprendedores tecnológicos: factores motivacionales," Nülan. Deposited Documents 2500, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales, Centro de Documentación.
    13. Goebel, Daniel J. & Marshall, Greg W. & Locander, William B., 2006. "Getting one's own way: An investigation of influence attempts by marketers on nonmarketing members of the firm," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(7), pages 829-837, July.
    14. Sun, Wenbin & Price, Joseph & Ding, Yuan, 2019. "The longitudinal effects of internationalization on firm performance: The moderating role of marketing capability," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 326-337.
    15. Jean, Ruey Jer “Bryan” & Kim, Daekwan & Bello, Daniel C., 2017. "Relationship-based product innovations: Evidence from the global supply chain," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 127-140.
    16. Michele Preziosi & Alessia Acampora & Maria Claudia Lucchetti & Roberto Merli, 2022. "Delighting Hotel Guests with Sustainability: Revamping Importance-Performance Analysis in the Light of the Three-Factor Theory of Customer Satisfaction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-20, March.
    17. Justina GineikienÄ—, 2013. "Consumer Nostalgia Literature Review And An Alternative Measurement Perspective," Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies, Faculty of Economics, Vilnius University, vol. 4(2).
    18. Xian Ji & Furui Shang & Chang Liu & Qinggong Kang & Rui Wang & Chenxi Dou, 2024. "Prioritizing Environmental Attributes to Enhance Residents’ Satisfaction in Post-Industrial Neighborhoods: An Application of Machine Learning-Augmented Asymmetric Impact-Performance Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-26, May.
    19. Hinterhuber, Andreas, 2017. "Value quantification capabilities in industrial markets," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 163-178.
    20. Lu, Tingyu & Zhuang, Mengzhou & Zhuang, Guijun, 2021. "When does guanxi hurt interfirm cooperation? The moderating effects of institutional development and IT infrastructure capability," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 177-186.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:104:y:2019:i:c:p:552-562. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.