Michael Tapia, Kimberly S. Nei, Karen Fuhrmeister and Matthew R. Lemming
Sales personnel play a key role in the success of organizations. These individuals present services/products to clients, manage accounts, build relationships, maintain existing…
Abstract
Sales personnel play a key role in the success of organizations. These individuals present services/products to clients, manage accounts, build relationships, maintain existing business relationships, and must be available for frequent interactions with clients. Business operations are linked to external entities through these activities, suggesting sales groups play a critical role in the success of an organization. As a representative to the external market, sales personnel are subject to unique stressors due to role-specific requirements. These stressors can impact the ability of sales professionals to effectively engage with customers and manage the volatility of financial performance, especially in commission-based compensation structures. Thus, organizations can find utility in identifying sales candidates with higher levels of stress tolerance, who can handle negative client interactions, overcome lulls in sales conversions, and avoid the impact of occupational stressors on long-term sales performance. Research suggests that organizations can use personality to predict stress tolerance as a component of sales performance. To provide organizations with insights into sales-specific coping behaviors associated with stress tolerance, the authors (1) discuss stress inducing factors (stressors) associated with sales role performance, (2) review the individual differences associated with stress tolerance, (3) present personality relationships with sales performance and stress tolerance, and (4) present job-analytic support for stress tolerance competencies relevant to sales performance and criterion-related validity evidence linking personality characteristics to those behaviors. The authors conclude with a discussion around the potential for applied uses of personality in identifying sales personnel with greater likelihoods of exhibiting stress tolerant behaviors in the workplace.
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Therese Macan, Matthew R. Lemming and Jeffrey L. Foster
The present study aims to examine how adjustments to utility analysis (UA) estimates and restructuring UA information to include a tabular format affect managerial acceptance of a…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study aims to examine how adjustments to utility analysis (UA) estimates and restructuring UA information to include a tabular format affect managerial acceptance of a selection test.
Design/methodology/approach
Managers across organizations (n=185) indicated whether they would accept and implement a new selection test based on a hypothetical scenario. They were randomly assigned to different scenarios based on UA dollar estimate size and visual format of the information.
Findings
Overall, managers were indifferent to the dollar size of the UA estimate and were not influenced by presentation format. Managers did report use of UA information when making decisions and qualitative analyses revealed several patterns that help explain why this information was useful.
Practical implications
When presenting UA information, practitioners should reexamine how they build support for both sides of the benefits‐costs equation, potentially adding information beyond UA dollar amounts such as legal liability and company reputation.
Originality/value
The quandary remains regarding how to communicate the value of human resource initiatives to organizational stakeholders. The paper adds to the literature by investigating two variables not previously examined, the size of UA dollar estimates and the format used to present UA information. More importantly, the study incorporates a unique qualitative component to better understand managers' use or non‐use of UA and corresponding rationale.
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Massimo Garbuio, Dan Lovallo and John Horn
Mergers & acquisitions (M&A) are an important element of any company's growth plan. However, the actual performance of most M&A activity fails to live up to the expectations of…
Abstract
Mergers & acquisitions (M&A) are an important element of any company's growth plan. However, the actual performance of most M&A activity fails to live up to the expectations of the acquirers. The psychological biases that affect decision-making have been posited as a source of this disappointing performance. The broad strokes in which these biases have been offered up as explanation for M&A failure don't offer much insight into the specific causes, and therefore the actions business leaders can take to mitigate their impact. We review a 4-step M&A process, identify the different biases that affect the different stages, and then offer practical debiasing techniques targeted at that particular stage of the decision-making process. This targeted debiasing can help business leaders find practical solutions to this vexing problem. Finally, we review two biases that motivate decision makers to avoid pursuing M&A deals at all – to the detriment of achieving their growth targets.
This paper examines the role of theory in public procurement research. Theoretical rigour is integral to management science, yet little is known on the extent and form of theory…
Abstract
This paper examines the role of theory in public procurement research. Theoretical rigour is integral to management science, yet little is known on the extent and form of theory in public procurement. With the field starting to mature, addressing this issue is timely. From conducting a systematic literature review we find that 29 percent of articles are theoretically grounded, with the incidence of theory having increased in recent years. Economic, sociological, psychological, and management theories are all in evidence, but micro-economic theories predominate. Our findings also show that survey reporting and case studies account for almost half of all studies; procurement research is focused on organizational-level aspects more than regulatory-policy issues or public buyers; and studies to date have largely emanated from the North American and European regions. The contribution of this paper lies in clarifying the theoretical underpinnings of public procurement. Out of this we highlight the need for greater theoretical rigour, point to the under-use and even absence of theories that could have high validity and utility, and suggest a narrowing of research foci.
This article explores how the commentary of intermediaries – third-party entities that do not have direct economic stakes in the sales of goods – can contribute to the creation of…
Abstract
This article explores how the commentary of intermediaries – third-party entities that do not have direct economic stakes in the sales of goods – can contribute to the creation of new market categories comprising preexisting but neglected and undervalued goods. Specifically, I study how the Sundance Institute facilitated the creation of a market for independent cinema in the United States, suggesting that intermediaries create market categories by defining boundaries, generating criteria of evaluation, and setting standards for measuring and establishing hierarchies of quality, which help audiences understand and value the category. The study, thus, adds nuance to our understanding of markets and categories.
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IN The verdict of you all, Rupert Croft‐Cooke has some uncomplimentary things to say about novel readers as a class, which is at least an unusual look at his public by a…
Abstract
IN The verdict of you all, Rupert Croft‐Cooke has some uncomplimentary things to say about novel readers as a class, which is at least an unusual look at his public by a practitioner whose income for many years was provided by those he denigrates.
IT would be quite impossible adequately to report a Dublin conference of any kind in purely professional terms. The warm friendliness of its people demands an equally personal…
Abstract
IT would be quite impossible adequately to report a Dublin conference of any kind in purely professional terms. The warm friendliness of its people demands an equally personal reaction from its visitors and for public librarians certainly this is as it should be, because we are ourselves, above all, involved with people. So professional affairs at this conference were kept in their proper place—as only a part of the whole and merely providing a framework round which the business of renewing contacts and making friends could take place.
Acounts of new religious movements have been almost exclusively about those which have arisen in the last two decades in the most advanced capitalist societies, and theoretical…
Abstract
Acounts of new religious movements have been almost exclusively about those which have arisen in the last two decades in the most advanced capitalist societies, and theoretical explanations of their emergence and spread have very firmly connected them with the material standard and social ethos of that type of society. Although there have been significant new developments in the religious life of Soviet society there have been no religious movements forming such a radical break with the old religious life as those found in the West. In this article I shall be concerned with firstly, giving a brief outline of those transformations which have occurred in the religious life of Soviet society. Secondly, I shall show how and why they differ from the New Religious Movements in the West. I shall investigate in some detail why the latter could not and will not in the near future, take root in Soviet society.
Matteo Corciolani, Kent Grayson and Ashlee Humphreys
Cultural intermediaries define the standards many consumers use when evaluating cultural products. Yet, little research has focused on whether cultural intermediaries may…
Abstract
Purpose
Cultural intermediaries define the standards many consumers use when evaluating cultural products. Yet, little research has focused on whether cultural intermediaries may systematically differ from each other with regard to the standards they emphasize. The purpose of this paper is to build on Bourdieu’s theory of cultural production to examine how the type of subfield reviewed and/or the cultural intermediary’s expertise (or “field-specific cultural capital”) affect the standards an intermediary uses.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper employed a computer-aided content analysis of the full corpus of “Rolling Stone” music album reviews (1967-2014).
Findings
Critics with lower field-specific cultural capital reflect the same logic as the subfield they are critiquing. Critics with higher field-specific cultural capital reflect the opposite logic.
Research limitations/implications
Bourdieu was ambivalent about whether cultural intermediaries will reflect the logic of a subfield. Results show that the answer depends on the intermediary’s field-specific cultural capital. The results also reinforce previous findings that individuals with high field-specific cultural capital are more likely to break with the logic of a field.
Practical implications
Not all intermediaries are created equal. Producers and consumers who rely on cultural intermediaries should understand the intermediary’s critical analysis within the context of his/her experience.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to examine how a cultural intermediary’s field-specific cultural capital impacts his or her work. The findings are based on a large review sample and include reviewers’ analyses as they developed from having lower to higher field-specific cultural capital.