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Extrinsic versus intrinsic approaches to managing a multi-brand salesforce: when and how do they work?

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Abstract

This research contrasts two approaches to managing multi-brand salesperson efforts: (1) the extrinsic approach via a brand-specific quota emphasis, and (2) the intrinsic approach via salesperson brand identification. Using multi-source data from a large food distributor, we uncover how and when each approach is more effective. First, beyond its direct and indirect positive effects on salesperson brand-specific effort through salesperson brand psychological ownership, a brand-specific quota emphasis is more effective in boosting effort in selling the brand among more experienced salespeople. Second, beyond its indirect positive effect on salesperson effort through salesperson brand psychological ownership, salesperson brand identification is less effective at increasing salesperson effort among more competitive salespeople, suggesting a redundancy effect. These findings provide novel insights into the effectiveness of two distinct approaches to managing multi-brand salesperson effort and performance.

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Notes

  1. All names are pseudonyms to protect respondents’ anonymity.

  2. In the beginning of the salesperson survey, the respondent was asked to type in the name of the specific brand. In the emailed invitation to the managers, they were given the name of the representative, as well as the name of the brand the representative selected. This procedure helps to ensure that sales managers and salespeople are thinking about and rating the same brand.

  3. Our analysis of the intra-class correlations shows no significant between-group variation to justify a two-level model specification. More specifically, the ICC(1) values, which represent between-group variances, for the salesperson endogenous variables (salesperson–brand psychological ownership and salesperson brand-specific effort) were .01 and .03, respectively. These statistics are much lower than the recommended thresholds of .10 (e.g., Schneider et al. 2002). The ICC(2) values, which represent group mean reliabilities to justify group aggregation, were .00, and .09 for those three variables, much lower than the conventional threshold of .70 (Ehrhart et al. 2006).

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Acknowledgments

The first author would like to thank her dissertation committee for their guidance. The authors would like to thank Alex Zablah and the review team for their constructive comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, Elon University, Campus Box 2075, Elon, NC, 27244, USA

    Erin Adamson Gillespie

  2. Haslam College of Business, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996-0530, USA

    Stephanie M. Noble

  3. Terry College of Business, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Son K. Lam

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  1. Erin Adamson Gillespie
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Correspondence to Son K. Lam.

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Douglas Hughes served as Area Editor for this article.

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Gillespie, E.A., Noble, S.M. & Lam, S.K. Extrinsic versus intrinsic approaches to managing a multi-brand salesforce: when and how do they work?. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 44, 707–725 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-016-0473-x

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