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1 – 10 of 280Valter Afonso Vieira, Valter da Silva Faia, James Boles, Bruno Rafael Marioti and Rita Cassia Pereira
The purpose of this study is to develop a theoretical model that posits locomotion-assessment ambidextrous orientation as predictor of salesperson acquisition–retention…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to develop a theoretical model that posits locomotion-assessment ambidextrous orientation as predictor of salesperson acquisition–retention ambidexterity, which as a consequence increases sales. The authors drawing on regulatory focus theory and self-regulatory for this propose.
Design/methodology/approach
Salespeople involved in the study represent different firms selling a wide variety of food and household products to a wholesaler, which resells them to supermarket chains. The authors collected data from 231 industrial salespeople.
Findings
First, salesperson assessment focus amplified locomotion’s effect on acquisition–retention ambidexterity. Second, salespeople increased their performance by implementing an acquisition–retention ambidextrous orientation that balances prospecting for new customers and growing existing customers. Third, findings revealed a mediating effect of ambidextrous orientation on the relationship between regulatory mode and sales performance. Finally, outcomes supported the conditional moderated-mediated effect of regulatory mode in explaining performance through ambidextrous orientation.
Practical implications
Results suggest that salespeople need to equalize their dual orientations in a complementary way to elaborate their selling strategies according to each customer. For example, in an unbalanced orientation, putting high levels of assessment into a sales encounter can reduce the effective and efficient use of time in interacting with customers.
Originality/value
The authors further illustrate the importance of using both locomotion and assessment in attaining sales goals (Pierro et al. 2013). This synergistic effect is known as the complementary hypothesis (Pierro et al., 2006a, 2006b). Each dimension complements the other and has a moderated-mediated effect on performance through acquisition–retention ambidexterity.
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Ashish S. Galande, Frank Mathmann, Cesar Ariza-Rojas, Benno Torgler and Janina Garbas
Misinformation is notoriously difficult to combat. Although social media firms have focused on combating the publication of misinformation, misinformation accusations, an…
Abstract
Purpose
Misinformation is notoriously difficult to combat. Although social media firms have focused on combating the publication of misinformation, misinformation accusations, an important by-product of the spread of misinformation, have been neglected. The authors offer insights into factors contributing to the spread of misinformation accusations on social media platforms.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a corpus of 234,556 tweets about the 2020 US presidential election (Study 1) and 99,032 tweets about the 2022 US midterm elections (Study 2) to show how the sharing of misinformation accusations is explained by locomotion orientation.
Findings
The study findings indicate that the sharing of misinformation accusations is explained by writers' lower locomotion orientation, which is amplified among liberal tweet writers.
Research limitations/implications
Practitioners and policymakers can use the study findings to track and reduce the spread of misinformation accusations by developing algorithms to analyze the language of posts. A limitation of this research is that it focuses on political misinformation accusations. Future research in different contexts, such as vaccines, would be pertinent.
Practical implications
The authors show how social media firms can identify messages containing misinformation accusations with the potential to become viral by considering the tweet writer's locomotion language and geographical data.
Social implications
Early identification of messages containing misinformation accusations can help to improve the quality of the political conversation and electoral decision-making.
Originality/value
Strategies used by social media platforms to identify misinformation lack scale and perform poorly, making it important for social media platforms to manage misinformation accusations in an effort to retain trust. The authors identify linguistic and geographical factors that drive misinformation accusation retweets.
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Marjolein C.J. Caniëls and Marcel F. van Assen
Whereas many studies address ambidexterity at the organizational level, much less is known about individual level ambidexterity. Moreover, there is a lack of thorough…
Abstract
Purpose
Whereas many studies address ambidexterity at the organizational level, much less is known about individual level ambidexterity. Moreover, there is a lack of thorough understanding of how motivational orientations are related to individual level ambidexterity. Yet, it is crucial to have an understanding of what motivates employees who perform explorative and exploitative activities. This study aims to empirically test the link between the constellation of motivational orientations of employees and their ambidexterity.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use polynomial regression analysis and surface response analysis to analyze data from 103 employees employed in one Dutch organization. Polynomial regressions allow for analyzing linear and nonlinear direct and interactive effects between different motivational orientations in relation to individual level ambidexterity.
Findings
For individual ambidexterity, it is important to have an assessment orientation that is balanced with a locomotion orientation. Alternatively, people high on only locomotion orientation or only assessment orientation are also ambidextrous.
Originality/value
Insights into the motivational orientation of employees in relation to ambidexterity help to advance the theoretical understanding of how employees may enhance their individual ambidexterity.
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Frank Mathmann and Mathew Chylinski
Emerging direct-to-consumer brands offer a single option to consumers before expanding their assortment as the business grows. This provides a counterexample to commonly held…
Abstract
Purpose
Emerging direct-to-consumer brands offer a single option to consumers before expanding their assortment as the business grows. This provides a counterexample to commonly held beliefs concerning consumers’ aversion to single options. The purpose of this paper is to study when, for whom and why offering two product options (vs a single option) is valued by consumers.
Design/methodology/approach
Across six experiments, this research investigates consumers’ locomotion orientation (a motivation for controlling progress), which affects the valuation of choice (vs single options).
Findings
Consumers’ locomotion orientation determines perceived product value for products chosen from a two-option set (vs when considering a single option) because choice offers active control, which is engaging for high-locomotion consumers. Expanding the set to six options has no such effect.
Research limitations/implications
Studies 1, 4a and 4b are set in the context of expert-selected single options, while Studies 2, 3 and 5 do not involve expert selection. However, the authors does not contrast expert vs non-expert conditions directly.
Practical implications
Managers can increase consumers’ willingness to pay by using advertisements to induce locomotion or segmenting consumers based on locomotion orientations.
Originality/value
Research suggests that consumers value choice between options, yet many emerging brands succeed with a single option. The authors reconcile this by providing insights into motivations that determine when, for whom and why choice (vs a single option) is valued.
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Stavros P. Kalafatis, Charles Blankson, Marvyn Luxly Boatswain and Markos H. Tsogas
Grounded in regulatory mode theory (RMT), this study aims to investigate the impact of managers’ orientation for action (locomotion and assessment) in business-to-business…
Abstract
Purpose
Grounded in regulatory mode theory (RMT), this study aims to investigate the impact of managers’ orientation for action (locomotion and assessment) in business-to-business positioning decision-making.
Design/methodology/approach
Data are collected using a scenario-based experimental design. Study 1 examines whether interest and involvement in recommending a positioning strategy depends on a manager’s regulatory mode orientation. The impact of such orientations on the likelihood of changing a recommended positioning strategy is the focus of Study 2. The moderating effects of task motivation (expected rewards resulting from a recommendation), market feedback and the line manager’s leadership style are examined.
Findings
Both assessment and locomotion are significant determinants of involvement in recommending a positioning strategy. The introduction of motivation as a moderator helps explain differences in level of interest in positioning decision-making. Locomotion, but not assessment, affects the likelihood of changing a recommended positioning strategy. Assessment amplifies the impact of locomotion, while none of the interaction effects between regulatory mode orientation and contextual factors is a significant determinant of changing a positioning strategy.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first application of RMT on positioning decision-making. Results from two experiments provide novel insights into the predictive relevance of managers’ preference in terms of involvement with the decision-making process and the likelihood of altering positioning.
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This study aims to investigate the new connotations, key antecedents, outcomes and contingency factors of value-based selling (VBS) in the context of business to business (B2B…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the new connotations, key antecedents, outcomes and contingency factors of value-based selling (VBS) in the context of business to business (B2B) industrial marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
This study develops a comprehensive conceptual framework of VBS by analyzing and synthesizing the existing literature on VBS and associated solutions.
Findings
The paper describes the research streams of VBS; proposes a comprehensive conceptual framework consisting of the factors influencing VBS at the organizational, individual, customer and environmental levels, together with 12 research propositions; and provides an agenda for future research.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is conceptual; empirical studies are required for examining the suggested propositions and agenda.
Practical implications
VBS is a process-oriented sales approach that involves multiple value creation and plays a crucial role in industrial solution selling. The successful implementation of VBS depends on the micro-foundations of an organization’s dynamic capabilities and considers the influence of individual, customer and environmental factors.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to introduce value co-creation and dynamic capability theory into VBS research in the context of industrial marketing. It discusses the antecedents, outcomes and contingency factors of VBS in detail in the form of a comprehensive research framework and proposes a future research agenda. These discussions expand the theoretical research on VBS and provide useful implications for B2B marketing practice.
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Frank Mathmann, Lisa Pohlmeyer, E. Tory Higgins and Clinton Weeks
This paper aims to investigates the effect of normative expectations in the purchase process on consumers’ value perceptions for prosocial products (e.g. environmentally friendly…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigates the effect of normative expectations in the purchase process on consumers’ value perceptions for prosocial products (e.g. environmentally friendly products) relative to conventional non-prosocial products. It extends the literature on both prosocial products and regulatory fit.
Design/methodology/approach
Five factorial experiments are employed, testing diverse samples, including Dutch university students and American online panel participants from the general population.
Findings
Findings show that regulatory fit between the prosocial product orientation and an emphasis on normative expectations in the purchase process (termed prosocial process fit) increases perceptions of prosocial product value (relative to conventional products). This effect is mediated by engagement.
Research limitations/implications
The current research is limited to investigating how value perceptions of prosocial products can be increased (i.e. through prosocial process fit). Future research is warranted that analogously considers conditions that would increase value for non-prosocial products as well (e.g. by creating a fit with a non-prosocial process).
Practical implications
The research shows how prosocial manufacturers and retailers can redesign the purchase process to increase customers’ engagement, perceptions of prosocial product value and prosocial product purchase.
Social implications
This work serves to explain differences in consumers’ value perceptions for prosocial products. Hence, it shows how socially responsible consumption can be better supported in society.
Originality/value
This work demonstrates a new kind of regulatory fit based on fit between prosocial products and normative expectations in the purchase process (i.e. moving beyond the types of regulatory fit previously examined in this context, such as with fit between regulatory focus orientation and goal pursuit). The authors use this to provide a much needed explanation for the heterogeneity in the literature regarding the value that consumers experience for prosocial products relative to conventional ones.
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HsiuJu Rebecca Yen, Paul Jen-Hwa Hu and Yi-Chun Liao
This study aims to examine how a manager’s learning goal orientation (LGO) influences frontline service employees’ (FSEs’) engagement in cross-selling activities. Such engagements…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine how a manager’s learning goal orientation (LGO) influences frontline service employees’ (FSEs’) engagement in cross-selling activities. Such engagements must exist before they can achieve service–sales ambidexterity. Drawing on achievement goal theory and the meaning-making perspective, this study predicts that learning-oriented managers encourage and foster FSEs’ cross-selling behaviors by facilitating their ability to derive positive meaning from the cross-selling initiative. They do so by conveying high-quality information about the initiative and related changes to individual employees, as well as by encouraging the formation of a collective perception of open communications within the work unit.
Design/methodology/approach
Hierarchical (nested) data from 39 managers and 357 FSEs of a major logistic service company are used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
As predicted, a manager’s LGO relates positively to FSEs’ cross-selling activities, through sequential mediations of the hypothesized communication mechanisms and employees’ benefits-finding.
Originality/value
A manager’s LGO is an important antecedent of FSEs’ cross-selling behaviors. This study establishes this influence and clarifies the processes by which it occurs. This study also extends previous research by specifying the important role of employees’ meaning-making, which prompts them to adopt cross-selling, as a mediator of the multilevel communication influences that result from their managers’ LGO.
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Michela Loi, Barbara Barbieri, Manuel Castriotta and Maria Chiara Di Guardo
Prior studies on entrepreneurial intention have shown that different orientations exist regarding entrepreneurial engagement: one looking at the growth of a venture…
Abstract
Purpose
Prior studies on entrepreneurial intention have shown that different orientations exist regarding entrepreneurial engagement: one looking at the growth of a venture (growth-oriented) and the other looking at the maintenance of an entrepreneurial autonomy (independence-oriented). Filling a gap in the literature concerning the reasons why individuals develop different orientations of entrepreneurial intention, this study revolves around achievement goal motivation (mastery, performance and avoidance approaches) and self-regulatory modes (locomotion and assessment), since both are thought to be at the origin and maintenance of an action willingness.
Design/methodology/approach
In a sample of 209 undergraduates, we administered a structured questionnaire at the beginning of an elective entrepreneurship education programme. Through a set of hierarchical regressions we examined the specific role of achievement goal motivation and regulatory modes in relation to the two orientations of intention.
Findings
Our findings show that, on the one hand, growth-oriented intention is related to a performance approach and both locomotion and assessment regulatory modes. On the other hand, independence-oriented intention is related to an avoidance approach.
Research limitations/implications
These results illuminate the theoretical connections between entrepreneurial intention and motivation and provide implications for entrepreneurship education and the relationship between intention and consequent behaviour.
Originality/value
This study is among the first to provide an empirical exploration of the motivational and regulatory drivers that lie beneath a growth-oriented and an independent-oriented intention, offering a theoretical explanation about the development of different intentions towards venture creation. Our findings illuminate on the urgency to consider entrepreneurial intention as a multi-dimensional construct if we are to understand the intention-behaviour nexus.
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Valter da Silva Faia and Valter Afonso Vieira
The purpose of this paper is to extend the previous regulatory focus and sales force control literature suggesting that organizational control system not only moderates but also…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to extend the previous regulatory focus and sales force control literature suggesting that organizational control system not only moderates but also mediates the interactive effect of the assessment × locomotion on salesperson ambidextrous behavior. Organizational control system, which has behavior and outcome dimensions, moderates the effects of employee regulatory focus on their ambidextrous behavior, sales performance, and satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a survey with 163 bank frontline employees (FLEs) who sell financial products to final consumers. Each respondent was approached by a professional interviewer who presented the questionnaire and collected the answers. These respondents are FLEs, who are the ones that sell financial services and are responsible for post-sales services, such as answering customer questions and account problems. In the sample, FLEs are the primary source of revenue generation and services activities (ambidextrous features) in banking sector, similar to Bailey et al. (2016).
Findings
First, the moderating and mediation analysis showed that the interactive effect of both regulatory focus, locomotion and assessment, predicts FLE ambidextrous behavior. Second, this interaction effect suffers a three-way interaction under organizational control system. Third, organizational control system also moderates the impact of ambidextrous behavior on performance, such that outcome-based control system amplifies the relationship. Fourth, the authors found a conditional indirect effect, in such ambidextrous behavior, mediates the indirect effect of control system on sales performance, generating stronger (vs weaker) results under an outcome-based control system (vs behavior-based control system).
Research limitations/implications
Since this study adopts the cross-sectional research design, the authors could not empirically demonstrate the causality of the relationships among constructs. The authors also analyzed the organizational control system from the FLEs perspective and not from the supervisors/managers perspective, who daily control employees activities.
Originality/value
The authors propose a conditioning indirect mediating impact of control system on performance and consumer satisfaction through ambidextrous behavior and explore the regulatory focus-ambidexterity-performance moderating chain, theorizing that this sequence depends on the level of control system.
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