Salesperson-Sales Manager Social Interaction And Communication Quality: The Impact On Salesperson Cooperation

Abstract

To get the highest level of performance out of salespeople, companies are searching internally to identify factors that lead to salesperson cooperation. Sales managers create a normative culture that engages the salesperson, which is demonstrated through communication and social interaction. A salesperson who feels connected to the organization is more likely to exert additional effort, such as cooperating with the manager to meet sales objections. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the salespersons social interaction and communication quality with their sales manager on their willingness to cooperate with the manager. The results show that when salespeople interact with their manager in a social setting and discuss non-work related information, salespeople become more willing to cooperate with their manager. Sales managers communication quality was not found to have a significant relationship between the salespersons willingness to cooperate with the sales manager. Instead, we find that sales managers communication quality with the salesperson significantly moderates the relationship between salespersons social interaction with the sales manager and salespersons willingness to cooperate with the sales manager.

Understanding Solution Quality

“…Research into this quality category is conducted in many settings, from internal communication between employees or functional departments to communication during purchase by end consumers (e.g., Mohr and Sohi 1995;Prahinski and Fan 2007;Schetzsle and Delpechitre 2014). The common denominator is the interaction between the two parties under study.…”

“…The common denominator is the interaction between the two parties under study. Communication quality is described with dimensions such as frequency, utility of feedback, knowledge of important criteria, formality, and information accuracy (Mohr and Sohi 1995;Prahinski and Fan 2007;Schetzsle and Delpechitre 2014). Schetzsle and Delpechitre (2014) argued that a manager's communication quality influenced the relation between the frontline employees' social interaction and willingness to cooperate with the manager.…”

“…Communication quality is described with dimensions such as frequency, utility of feedback, knowledge of important criteria, formality, and information accuracy (Mohr and Sohi 1995;Prahinski and Fan 2007;Schetzsle and Delpechitre 2014). Schetzsle and Delpechitre (2014) argued that a manager's communication quality influenced the relation between the frontline employees' social interaction and willingness to cooperate with the manager. Furthermore, in a business-to-business setting, communication quality is seen as influencing a supplier's commitment to paying customers and increase the chances of the supplier's loyalty and retention (Prahinski and Fan 2007).…”