Sales technology usage

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to model the key influencers or predictors for usage of technology by sales professionals in India. Design/methodology/approach This study examines the effect of individual, organizational and social factors on the use of technology. The method used for primary research is survey, and data have been collected from 556 sales professionals from across four industries in India. The empirical analysis consists of confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modeling. Findings Confirmatory factor analysis has been used to validate the constructs, namely, peer usage, support service, perceived usefulness, attitude, usage and performance. Based on the results, it has been concluded that attitude and peer usage have a direct effect on the use of technology. Support service affects peer usage and perceived usefulness affects attitude. This model helps us understand the direct and indirect predictors of use of sales technology (ST), and its effect on sales performance. Research limitations/implications The limitation of this study is that data pertain to India only. Practical implications The findings of this paper will help sales managers and organizations develop strategies to increase the acceptance and use of new technologies, and also strengthen their arguments for convincing the various stakeholders about the benefits and relevance of the ST. Originality/value The paper attempts to build and validate a parsimonious model taking into account peer usage (social factor) and support service (organizational factor) in addition to perceived usefulness and attitude.

Analysis of the Use of Accounting Information Technology in MSMEs In Indonesia

“…The perceived usefulness in this study has no effect on attitudes in the use of information technology-based accounting information systems. This result does not support hypothesis 2 and previous study by Rangarajan et al (2005), Robinson et al, (2005), and Upadhyay et al (2018) who concluded that perceived usefulness has positive effect on attitude. Perceived usefulness emphasizes the benefits of a system or technology.…”

“…Previous research by Rangarajan et al (2005) and Robinson et al, (2005) show that salespeople who believe that particular technology will enhance their productivity in their jobs, they are more likely to have a more positive attitude toward the technology. Research by Upadhyay et al (2018) shows the same result that perceived usefulness has positive effect on attitude.…”

Activating salesperson resilience during the COVID-19 crisis: The roles of employer event communication and customer demandingness

“…Via a researcher's connections with five manufacturing companies, we were further connected to other companies. This sampling technique was used due to the lack of availability of the sampling frame, which is a vital requirement for probability sampling approaches ( Upadhyay, Khandelwal, Nandan, & Mishra, 2018 ). Snowballing entails the use of some members of the group of interest to approach other members ( Yadav, Dokania, & Pathak, 2016 ).…”

“…This technique also helps enhance the chance of reaching not only industrial sectors but also individuals in industrial companies and target groups such as salespeople ( Yadav et al, 2016 ). Snowballing has been used to approach salespeople in prior studies ( Kooli, Tzempelikos, Foroudi, & Mazahreh, 2019 ; Nanarpuzha & Noronha, 2016 ; Upadhyay et al, 2018 ).…”

Co-creating blockchain adoption: theory, practice and impact on usage behavior

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