The construct of motivation is one of the central themes in selling and sales management research. Yet, to-date no review article exists that surveys the construct (both from an extrinsic and intrinsic motivation context), critically evaluates its current status, examines various key challenges apparent from the extant research, and proposes new research opportunities based on a thorough review of past work. We explore how motivation is defined, major theories underpinning motivation, how motivation has historically been measured, and key methodologies employed over time. In addition, attention is given to principal drivers and outcome of salesperson motivation. A summarizing appendix of key articles in salesperson motivation is provided.

Gamification, commonly defined as the use of game elements in non-game contexts, is a relatively novel term, yet it has been gaining popularity across a wide range of academic and industrial disciplines. In the marketing field, companies are increasingly gamifying their mobile apps and online platforms to enrich their customers’ digital experiences. Whilst there has been a number of systematic studies examining the influence of gamification on user engagement across different fields, none has reviewed its role in brand value co-creation. Following a systematic literature review procedure via the online research platform EBSCOhost, this paper is the first to survey a set of empirical studies examining the role and impact of gamification on brand value co-creation. A final pool of 32 empirical studies implies the existence of four types of activities that are co-created by online users and positively influenced by gamification, namely: customer service, insights sharing, word-of-mouth, and random task. Moreover, this paper highlights the major game dynamics driving these activities, the key findings of each of the covered studies and their main theoretical underpinnings. Lastly, a set of noteworthy research directions for future related studies are suggested, comprising the exploration of novel game elements, and new co-creation activities related to corporate social responsibilities and physical commercial operations.

Interest into the effects of social influence on members of online communities is growing but there is a lack of knowledge about the impact of influential members in online communities on responses to strategy change. We explore social influence in responses to strategy change through content analysis of forum posts before and after a change in strategy. After a change in strategy, individual factors moderate the relationship between participation behaviour and further positive and negative behavioural responses. The details of these behavioural responses to a change in strategy are tabulated and included in a conceptual model to inform decision makers. Strategy change precipitates a reduction in social influence effects. Non-acceptance of strategy change is associated with competitor advertisement, inflammatory behaviour, offensive behaviour and complaints. This negative behaviour by small numbers of influential individuals has important ramifications for acceptance of strategy change within online communities and impacts on the viability of setting up online forums.

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