The red and green signals for industrial salesforce: testing an integrated framework

Abstract

Purpose

A highly competitive business environment needs a creative strategy for long-term survival and a competitive advantage in an uncertain market environment. This objective induces organizations to adopt innovative workplace behavior for better performance. Accordingly, this study aims to examine the impact of spirit at work (SAW), perceived identifiability and shared responsibility on innovative work behavior (IWB) and task performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The data was collected from 72 business-to-business (B2B) sales teams consisting of 561 employees working in Pakistan's B2B industries. The data was then analyzed using PROCESS macro to test the research hypotheses.

Findings

The results have shown a surprising and inconsistent finding where shared responsibility has a relatively more substantial and positive influence on IWB and task performance than perceived identifiability and SAW.

Research limitations/implications

The shared responsibility dimension of “social loafing theory” always negatively influences work-related outcomes, but this study refutes this claim. Therefore, researchers should explore social loafing theory in cultures with a higher collectivism score on the Hofstede cultural model.

Practical implications

This study motivates the sales manager to reassess the shared responsibility concept, as it may play a synergetic role in boosting innovation in selling approaches.

Originality/value

As per the researchers' best knowledge, research on social loafing theory has never been conducted in a selling context, specifically in a collectivistic society.

Citation

Ishaq, M.I., Sarwar, H., Azeez Ansari, A. and Siddiqi, R.A. (2022), "The red and green signals for industrial salesforce: testing an integrated framework", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 37 No. 12, pp. 2453-2467. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-05-2020-0235