IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v133y2021icp66-78.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Continuous techno-training and business-to-business salesperson success: How boosting techno-efficacy enhances sales effort and performance

Author

Listed:
  • Rayburn, Steven W.
  • Badrinarayanan, Vishag
  • Anderson, Sidney T.
  • Gupta, Aditya

Abstract

Changes in technological and sales environments necessitate organizations to constantly invest in equipping salespeople with newer technological knowledge and tools. However, the success of investments in technological transformation hinges on salespeople’s beliefs regarding technology, in general, and their recognition that enhancement of technological skills results in better sales outcomes. This study develops and tests a framework that illustrates how continuous techno-training can serve as an important resource for influencing critical technology-related and sales-related outcomes. Specifically, drawing from job demands-resources theory and research on technology training in the sales context, we demonstrate that continuous techno-training can help in developing techno-efficacy directly as well as indirectly through fostering techno-expectancy and suppressing techno-stress. In turn, we show that techno-efficacy is positively related to sales-efficacy, which enhances both sales effort and sales performance. Based on our findings, we offer several meaningful implications to sales research and practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Rayburn, Steven W. & Badrinarayanan, Vishag & Anderson, Sidney T. & Gupta, Aditya, 2021. "Continuous techno-training and business-to-business salesperson success: How boosting techno-efficacy enhances sales effort and performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 66-78.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:133:y:2021:i:c:p:66-78
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.04.066
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296321003106
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.04.066?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. Robinson, Leroy Jr. & Marshall, Greg W. & Stamps, Miriam B., 2005. "Sales force use of technology: antecedents to technology acceptance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(12), pages 1623-1631, December.
    2. T. S. Ragu-Nathan & Monideepa Tarafdar & Bhanu S. Ragu-Nathan & Qiang Tu, 2008. "The Consequences of Technostress for End Users in Organizations: Conceptual Development and Empirical Validation," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 19(4), pages 417-433, December.
    3. Rapp, Adam & Beitelspacher, Lauren Skinner & Schillewaert, Niels & Baker, Thomas L., 2012. "The differing effects of technology on inside vs. outside sales forces to facilitate enhanced customer orientation and interfunctional coordination," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(7), pages 929-936.
    4. Salas-Vallina, Andrés & Simone, Cristina & Fernández-Guerrero, Rafael, 2020. "The human side of leadership: Inspirational leadership effects on follower characteristics and happiness at work (HAW)," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 162-171.
    5. Pullig, Chris & Maxham, James III & Hair, Joseph Jr., 2002. "Salesforce automation systems: an exploratory examination of organizational factors associated with effective implementation and salesforce productivity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 55(5), pages 401-415, May.
    6. Chang, Man-Ling & Cheng, Cheng-Feng, 2014. "How balance theory explains high-tech professionals' solutions of enhancing job satisfaction," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(9), pages 2008-2018.
    7. Sattler, Henrik & Völckner, Franziska & Riediger, Claudia & Ringle, Christian M., 2010. "The impact of brand extension success drivers on brand extension price premiums," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 319-328.
    8. Menguc, Bulent & Auh, Seigyoung & Fisher, Michelle & Haddad, Abeer, 2013. "To be engaged or not to be engaged: The antecedents and consequences of service employee engagement," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(11), pages 2163-2170.
    9. Groza, Mark D. & Groza, Mya Pronschinske, 2018. "Salesperson regulatory knowledge and sales performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 37-46.
    10. Sacramento, Claudia A. & Fay, Doris & West, Michael A., 2013. "Workplace duties or opportunities? Challenge stressors, regulatory focus, and creativity," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 141-157.
    11. Likoebe M. Maruping & Hillol Bala & Viswanath Venkatesh & Susan A. Brown, 2017. "Going beyond intention: Integrating behavioral expectation into the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 68(3), pages 623-637, March.
    12. Agnihotri, Raj & Trainor, Kevin J. & Itani, Omar S. & Rodriguez, Michael, 2017. "Examining the role of sales-based CRM technology and social media use on post-sale service behaviors in India," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 144-154.
    13. Bandura, Albert, 1991. "Social cognitive theory of self-regulation," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 248-287, December.
    14. Michael Ahearne & Eli Jones & Adam Rapp & John Mathieu, 2008. "High Touch Through High Tech: The Impact of Salesperson Technology Usage on Sales Performance via Mediating Mechanisms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(4), pages 671-685, April.
    15. Fuller, Christie M. & Simmering, Marcia J. & Atinc, Guclu & Atinc, Yasemin & Babin, Barry J., 2016. "Common methods variance detection in business research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 3192-3198.
    16. Fabian Bill & Sven Feurer & Martin Klarmann, 2020. "Salesperson social media use in business-to-business relationships: An empirical test of an integrative framework linking antecedents and consequences," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 734-752, July.
    17. Mulki, Jay Prakash & Jaramillo, Fernando & Goad, Emily A. & Pesquera, Martha Rivera, 2015. "Regulation of emotions, interpersonal conflict, and job performance for salespeople," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 623-630.
    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. Ting-Chung Huang & Chien-Ta Ho, 2023. "Are Customers Always Right? The Importance of Sincerity and Keenness in Creating Retail Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-14, March.
    2. Elisabeth Rohwer & Joelle-Cathrin Flöther & Volker Harth & Stefanie Mache, 2022. "Overcoming the “Dark Side” of Technology—A Scoping Review on Preventing and Coping with Work-Related Technostress," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-30, March.
    3. Girish Mallapragada & Aditya Gupta & Brett Josephson, 2022. "The impact of social capital and transaction efficacy on salesperson performance," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(9), pages 3525-3542, September.
    4. Badrinarayanan, Vishag & Ramachandran, Indu, 2024. "Relational exchanges in the sales domain: A review and research agenda through the lens of commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    5. Shams, Riad & Chatterjee, Sheshadri & Chaudhuri, Ranjan, 2024. "Developing brand identity and sales strategy in the digital era: Moderating role of consumer belief in brand," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    6. Romain Franck & Maud Dampérat, 2023. "Influence of sales support technologies on salesperson performance: A study of interpersonal and intrapersonal mediators [Influence des technologies d’aide à la vente sur les performances du commer," Post-Print halshs-04159504, HAL.

    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. Hunter, Gary K., 2019. "On conceptualizing, measuring, and managing augmented technology use in business-to-business sales contexts," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 201-213.
    2. Bruno Lussier & Nathaniel N. Hartmann & Willy Bolander, 2021. "Curbing the Undesirable Effects of Emotional Exhaustion on Ethical Behaviors and Performance: A Salesperson–Manager Dyadic Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(4), pages 747-766, April.
    3. Ryan Mullins & Raj Agnihotri, 2022. "Digital selling: organizational and managerial influences for frontline readiness and effectiveness," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 800-821, July.
    4. Lussier, Bruno & Philp, Matthew & Hartmann, Nathaniel N. & Wieland, Heiko, 2021. "Social anxiety and salesperson performance: The roles of mindful acceptance and perceived sales manager support," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 112-125.
    5. Yi Sun & Shihui Li & Lingling Yu, 2022. "The dark sides of AI personal assistant: effects of service failure on user continuance intention," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(1), pages 17-39, March.
    6. Kyriakopoulos, Panagiotis & Herbert, Kendall & Piperopoulos, Panagiotis, 2024. "I am passionate therefore I am: The interplay between entrepreneurial passion, gender, culture and intentions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    7. Kalra, Ashish & Briggs, Elten & Schrock, Wyatt, 2023. "Exploring the synergistic role of ethical leadership and sales control systems on salesperson social media use and sales performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    8. Romain Franck & Maud Dampérat, 2023. "Influence of sales support technologies on salesperson performance: A study of interpersonal and intrapersonal mediators [Influence des technologies d’aide à la vente sur les performances du commer," Post-Print halshs-04159504, HAL.
    9. Agnihotri, Arpita & Bhattacharya, Saurabh & Gupta, Suraksha, 2023. "Do morally disengaged employees withdraw from customer-oriented citizenship behavior in response to customers’ uncivil behavior?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    10. Okazaki, Shintaro & Schuberth, Florian & Tagashira, Takumi & Andrade, Victoria, 2021. "Sneaking the dark side of brand engagement into Instagram: The dual theory of passion," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 493-505.
    11. Nour El Houda Ben Amor, 2019. "What Skills Make a Salesperson Effective? An Exploratory Comparative Study among Car Sales Professionals," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(11), pages 76-93, November.
    12. Laurianne Schmitt & Eric Casenave & Jessie Pallud, 2021. "Salespeople's work toward the institutionalization of social selling practices," Post-Print hal-03868903, HAL.
    13. Guych Nuryyev & Yu-Ping Wang & Jennet Achyldurdyyeva & Bih-Shiaw Jaw & Yi-Shien Yeh & Hsien-Tang Lin & Li-Fan Wu, 2020. "Blockchain Technology Adoption Behavior and Sustainability of the Business in Tourism and Hospitality SMEs: An Empirical Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-21, February.
    14. Rapp, Adam & Beitelspacher, Lauren Skinner & Schillewaert, Niels & Baker, Thomas L., 2012. "The differing effects of technology on inside vs. outside sales forces to facilitate enhanced customer orientation and interfunctional coordination," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(7), pages 929-936.
    15. Dana E. Harrison & Haya Ajjan, 2019. "Customer relationship management technology: bridging the gap between marketing education and practice," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(4), pages 205-219, December.
    16. Abdalwali Lutfi, 2022. "Factors Influencing the Continuance Intention to Use Accounting Information System in Jordanian SMEs from the Perspectives of UTAUT: Top Management Support and Self-Efficacy as Predictor Factors," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-17, March.
    17. Nagwan AlQershi & Sany Sanuri Mohd Mokhtar & Zakaria Abas, 2022. "The influence of structural capital on the relationship between CRM implementation and the performance of manufacturing SMEs," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 13(3), pages 1205-1218, June.
    18. Hans Baumgartner & Bert Weijters & Rik Pieters, 2021. "The biasing effect of common method variance: some clarifications," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 221-235, March.
    19. Locander, David A. & Locander, Jennifer A. & Weinberg, Frankie J., 2020. "How salesperson traits and intuitive judgments influence adaptive selling: A sensemaking perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 452-462.
    20. Carlos Bazan, 2022. "Effect of the University’s Environment and Support System on Subjective Social Norms as Precursor of the Entrepreneurial Intention of Students," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(4), pages 21582440221, October.

    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:133:y:2021:i:c:p:66-78. 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.