Influence of sales management control systems on salesperson perceptions of the organization

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study: Drawing upon signaling theory and social identity theory, this dissertation proposes and tests a model of formal sales management controls with factors that may interact to influence salesperson performance. Two methods are employed to answer a series of research questions. First, qualitative interviews were conducted with salespeople, sales managers, and executives to identify emerging factors that influence the relationship between formal sales management controls and performance. Second, a survey of 313 business-to-business salespeople was employed to test the expected mediating effect of perceived organizational support and organizational identification through which formal sales management control influences performance. Additionally, the model testes the moderating effects of salesperson compensation plan choice and incentive pay horizon on the relationship between control and performance.

Findings and Conclusions: Both types of formal control (process and output control) were found to have significant positive effects on salespeople's levels of perceived organizational support and organizational identification. There was no direct or mediating relationship found between perceived organizational support and salespeople's performance. Organizational identification was found to have a significant positive relationship with salespeople's performance, but was not found to mediate the relationship between formal controls and performance. As salespeople had increasing levels of compensation plan choice, the positive relationship between process control and perceived organizational support was found to be weakened and the relationship between process controls and organizational identification became negative. The relationship between output control and organizational identification was negative at low level sof compensation plan choice, but a significant positive relationship was found when salespeople had higher levels of compensation plan choice. Finally, the study suggests that the positive relationship between process controls and perceived organizational support is not significant when salespeople's incentive pay horizons are longer (90 to 365 days).