The impact of knowledge and empowerment on working smart and working hard: the moderating role of experience
Rapp, Adam Ahearne, Michael Mathieu, John Schillewaert, Niels
Rapp, Adam
Ahearne, Michael
Mathieu, John
Schillewaert, Niels
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Publication Type
Journal article with impact factor
Editor
Supervisor
Publication Year
2006
Journal
International Journal of Research in Marketing
Book
Publication Volume
23
Publication Issue
3
Publication Begin page
279
Publication End page
293
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Abstract
This research focuses on the impact that salesperson knowledge and empowering leader behaviors have on salesperson working smarter and working harder behaviors. In turn, we examine the impact of working harder and smarter on customer service, customer satisfaction, and ultimately, on sales performance. Moreover, we propose an interactive relationship, whereby the influences of leader empowering behaviors and salespersons' knowledge will be moderated by salespersons' experience. We tested our hypotheses using survey data from a sample of 175 sales people in the pharmaceutical field, along with external ratings of salespersons' knowledge from sales managers, customer ratings of sales satisfaction and service, and archival measures of salespersons' effort and performance. Results indicate that contrary to popular belief, employees with low levels of product/industry experience benefit the most from leader empowering behaviors. Also, we find that employees with lower levels of experience and higher levels of knowledge are more inclined to work harder. We conclude with directions for future research.
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Keywords
Services Marketing, Sales Management