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Sales force leadership during strategy implementation: a social network perspective

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  • Babak Hayati

    (Asian Institute of Management)

  • Yashar Atefi

    (Louisiana State University)

  • Michael Ahearne

    (University of Houston)

Abstract

Many new marketing strategies falter in the execution phase where managers fail to make frontline employees fully committed to implementing the new initiatives. While formal managers can apply transformational and transactional leadership behaviors to increase salespeople’s strategy commitment, peers can also exert a great deal of informal influence on salespeople. Building on recent social network perspectives of leadership, this paper investigates the interplay between the sales manager’s leadership styles and peer effects during the implementation of a new strategy in a large sales organization. The authors find that salespeople with high network centrality but low strategy commitment not only lower their peers’ commitment but also hurt the effectiveness of a transformational manager. Specially, the influence of a central salesperson becomes stronger when the sales group has lower external connectivity. However, sales managers’ transactional leadership can decrease the non-committed central salesperson’s influence over peers.

Suggested Citation

  • Babak Hayati & Yashar Atefi & Michael Ahearne, 2018. "Sales force leadership during strategy implementation: a social network perspective," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 612-631, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joamsc:v:46:y:2018:i:4:d:10.1007_s11747-017-0557-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s11747-017-0557-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Sebastian Hohenberg & Christian Homburg, 2019. "Enhancing innovation commercialization through supervisor–sales rep fit," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 681-701, July.
    3. Homburg, Christian & Böhler, Sina & Hohenberg, Sebastian, 2020. "Organizing for cross-selling: Do it right, or not at all," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 56-73.
    4. Claro, Danny P. & Ramos, Carla & Gonzalez, Gabriel R. & Palmatier, Robert W., 2020. "Dynamic effects of newcomer salespersons' peer relational exchanges and structures on performance," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 74-92.
    5. Anna Salonen & Harri Terho & Eva Böhm & Ari Virtanen & Risto Rajala, 2021. "Engaging a product-focused sales force in solution selling: interplay of individual- and organizational-level conditions," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 139-163, January.
    6. Sánchez-Gómez, Roberto & Vázquez-Suárez, Luis, 2024. "Organizational structure and store performance in the grocery retail industry: The moderating role of narcissistic leadership," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    7. Malshe, Avinash & Hughes, Douglas E. & Good, Valerie & Friend, Scott B., 2022. "Marketing strategy implementation impediments and remedies: A multi-level theoretical framework within the sales-marketing interface," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 824-846.

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