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Performance appraisals are often described asthe “job managers love to hate”. A study was designed to provide sales managers with information designed to increase the benefits of engaging in the evaluation process and reduce the negative sentiments often associated with appraisals. To accomplish this objective, 214 salespeople were personally interviewed and asked to provide information regarding their perceptions of their performance appraisals. The results indicate that salespeople have positive perceptions regarding the appraisal process. Findings also indicate that while salespeople are oftenevaluated at least twice annually, the criteria used are not always the ones thatsalespeople view as being the most appropriate. The conclusions derived from the analysis may provide insight to sales managers as they attempt to develop and implement appraisal processes that are viewed as being valid and as they attempt to enhance the benefits that may be obtained from engaging in this process.

Increasingly, attempts to improve the relative status of salespeople are being undertaken by both practitioners and academicians. These attempts have included changes in the ways in which sales personnel are described and changes in the salesperson′s job description and training. Frequently, sales representatives are referred to as sales consultants, sales advisors, and sales counselors; and their job descriptions have been changed to emphasize the consulting, advising, and counseling roles. The research question addressed examines whether effective counseling behavior is related positively and significantly to effective sales performance. Counseling behaviors of 113 automobile sales representatives were measured and their relationship to sales performance assessed. The results indicate that sales performance is positively and significantly related to the sales representative′s congruity, but unrelated to other measures of counseling behavior.

The retail environment of the future is likely to be increasingly competitive. Department and specialty stores must provide services which distinguish them from the competition. One method that may be used in attaining a distinctive position entails the development of a well‐trained, skilled retail salesforce. Examines retail sales training from the perspectives of 202 retail salespeople employed by full‐service retailers. Provides insight into the amount of training which should be provided and the topics which should be included in sales training programs.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between salesperson emotional intelligence, dispositional affectivity, and customer‐orientation levels in pharmaceutical marketing.

A total of 71 pharmaceutical salespeople working in the UK provided responses to scales designed to assess emotional intelligence, dispositional affectivity (positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) and customer orientation). The emotional intelligence and dispositional affectivity scores provided by the salespeople were then analyzed to determine the degree to which they related to customer‐orientation levels.

The findings indicate that salesperson emotional intelligence levels are positively correlated with their customer‐orientation scores. Positive dispositional affectivity levels are also significantly correlated with salesperson customer‐orientation levels. This result suggests that UK pharmaceutical salespeople who possessed more PA tended to also be more positively oriented to the customer. However, NA levels are not significantly correlated with salesperson customer‐orientation levels.

From a theoretical perspective, these findings provide a venue for future research in professional sales which could focus on the relationships existing between salesperson behaviors/characteristics that relate to salesperson customer‐orientation, skills, social desirability, and performance.

From a practical basis, the findings suggest that pharmaceutical firms in the UK who are focused on increasing the customer‐orientation levels of their sales force would be well advised to assess the emotional intelligence and dispositional affectivity levels of both their potential and current salespeople and use this information in their selection and training activities.

The research reported provides an initial assessment of the relationship between these variables in a pharmaceutical sales situation in the UK.

One of the recent trends in sales research has been a growing focus on relationally based buyer‐seller interactions. Although existing sales literature is in general agreement as to the theoretical composition of buyer‐seller relationships, a lack of empirical evidence exists for the interrelationships of various aspects of relational selling (e.g. customer orientation, adaptability, and service orientation) on individual salespersons’ performance. Investigates the effect of these relational selling characteristics on the performance of individual salespeople. The results show a positive relationship exists between customer orientation and actual performance as measured by average annual sales dollars. Implications of the results for sales managers and sales researchers are discussed.

One of the primary characteristics of the sales environment of the next century will be the proliferation of technology as an important component of the sales process. The successful salesperson of the future will be marked by an ability to incorporate and directly apply a wide range of technology in their interactions with customers. More than simple data access, sales technology is increasingly being used as a means by which the salesperson and customer interact. The overall objective of this study is to measure the attitude of salespeople toward the use of computer technology in a sales job and then ascertain the relationship between these attitudes and a salesperson’s job experience and productivity. The results of the study outline important managerial implications related to introducing and implementing new technology uses within a salesforce.

This study explored the measurement of emotional intelligence (EI) using a comprehensive scale to tap the construct. Using a sample of 295 undergraduate business majors from a mid‐western university, an exploratory factor analysis was performed to examine the factor structure of the scale. Based on the factor loadings, the scale was reduced to 51 items with five factors emerging. Student demographics revealed that accounting majors rated lower on EI as compared to other majors. Results also indicated that higher EI scores were associated with membership in Greek organizations, and involvement in sports organizations. It was also found that international students rated lower on the EI measure as compared to domestic students. Finally, several of the factors within the scale were shown to have a relationship to both cumulative GPA and university‐specific GPA. Implications for these findings as they relate to management development are discussed.

The DataArts dataset, although it covers mostly arts organizations, has emerged as an alternative source of data for nonprofit research. Most existing studies use the IRS 990 data, which is considered a reliable source for research. We evaluate the reliability of the DataArts dataset by comparing the consistency of the values reported to the DataArts Cultural Data Profile (CDP) and to the 990 forms. We: 1) examine correlations between the same measures in each dataset, 2) assess the cumulative distribution of differences between the two datasets and 3) compare the results of the same empirical model conducted with the DataArts dataset and 990 data, respectively. We conclude that the DataArts dataset is an adequate and reliable source of financial and performance information, but researchers should be aware of a few limitations.

This paper seeks to examine the relevance of some existing Western motivation and job design theories in explaining employees' service performance, termed service orientation in delivery, in a developing country context.

The satisfaction‐performance thesis and the two factor theory (motivation and hygiene factors) are tested using a case study from a developing economy, Ghana. Survey data were collected from 535 retail bank employees of two large commercial banks across 85 branches in the final phase of the research. Multiple and hierarchical regression as well as split sample analyses were used to examine data.

Overall, the findings indicate some support for the validity and relevance of the satisfaction‐service performance thesis even in a non‐developed economy. Some outcomes, however, seem to challenge the validity of the two factor theory: context/hygiene satisfaction elements emerged as better predictors of service performance than content/motivator factors. In particular, context satisfaction dimension relating to co‐workers appeared to be the most important predictor. Satisfaction with pay and rewards, however, appeared unimportant to the service performance of the bank employees surveyed.

As the research was limited to the banking sector from only one developing country, generalisations and applications of its findings should be made with caution. Future studies which provide broader conceptual and empirical views, in terms of how specific co‐worker attitudes and behaviours motivate or discourage service‐oriented performances in multi‐country studies, could be useful.

Despite its limitations, the confirmation of the satisfaction‐performance thesis in this paper may indicate to managers that some, if not all, of the management theories taught in American/European schools may be equally relevant to developing economies such as Ghana. In addition, the findings provide managers with insights regarding the potential importance of context satisfaction elements to employees' service performance.

Overall, the broad findings from the study indicate some support for the relevance of the satisfaction‐service performance thesis even in a non‐developed economy, characterised by relatively challenging economic conditions. However, some outcomes reported in this paper seem to challenge the validity of the two factor theory and its relevance for job motivation and design.