The moderating role of cultural controls on the relationship between traditional formal sales controls and inside salesperson performance

Abstract

Purpose For the past several decades, the sales control literature has focused on the outside sales context. This study aims to extend sales control research by examining formal and informal sales controls, embodied by cultural controls, used by sales managers in an inside sales context, where the sales agent’s performance focus extends beyond sales outcomes to include the influence of operational phone outcomes. Design/methodology/approach Based on 232 B2C and B2B inside sales agent survey responses, this study presents evidence that in an inside sales department, this study focuses on the congruent effect of formal sales and cultural sales controls on inside sales agent overall performance. Findings Based on 232 B2C and B2B inside sales agent survey responses, this study presents evidence that in an inside sales department, the operational focus of sales activities and resultant operational performance mediates the relationship between sales controls and inside sales agent sales performance, whereas cultural controls centered on maximizing inside sales autonomous motivation positively moderates the effect of operational outcomes on an inside sales agent’s sales performance. Practical implications By focusing on the tenants of an inside sales agent’s overall performance, this research provides practitioners a holistic view of the inherent conflict inside sales managers must balance between the impact of formal sales controls and the benefits of cultural controls. Originality/value By being the only study to examine sales controls in an inside sales context, with a broad definition of overall performance to include both sales and operational phone outcomes, this study extends sales control research to a new sales context. The need to jointly focus on operational results, as well as sales outcomes, illustrate the importance of cultural controls compared to other sales processes and outcome controls

Inside sales managers’ utilization of cultural controls as part of a sales control portfolio to enhance overall sales performance

“…Prior sales control literature has examined the relationship between sales controls and autonomous motivation (Küster and Canales, 2011;Miao and Evans, 2014). Conde et al (2022) also support the positive work outcomes of a sales culture grounded in SDT principles. Consequently, the degree to which SDT can be evoked to explain how autonomous motivation as a cultural control can affect overall performance has received little attention in prior sales control research.…”

“…Similarly, previous research has demonstrated that work environments grounded in autonomous motivation positively influence work outcomes (Ryan and Deci, 2017;Deci et al, 2017). Therefore, the current study is grounded in SDT and examines the mediating effect of autonomous motivation, as a cultural control, on the relationships between traditional outcomes, sales controls and inside sales agents' performance (Conde et al, 2022). The primary research question is: RQ1.…”

“…They further show that cultural controls centered on maximizing inside sales autonomous motivation positively mediate the effect of operational outcomes on inside sales agent performance. The current research builds on this by examining the role of individual sale agent characteristics and how they are mediated by autonomous motivation, which has been found to influence sales performance positively (Good et al, 2022;Conde et al, 2021aConde et al, , 2021bConde et al, , 2022.…”

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Purpose -The purpose of this study is to extend sales control research to inside sales. Aside from a few notable exceptions (Conde et al, 2022) much of the sales control literature has focused on a single control mechanism rather than a sales control portfolio perspective. The authors add multiple layers to Conde et al (2022) by capturing secondary operational data and manager interviews to access sales control theory in practice.

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“…Aside from a few notable exceptions (Conde et al, 2022) much of the sales control literature has focused on a single control mechanism rather than a sales control portfolio perspective. The authors add multiple layers to Conde et al (2022) by capturing secondary operational data and manager interviews to access sales control theory in practice. Design/methodology/approach -With operational data from a Fortune 100 financial services company and sales manager interviews, the authors present evidence that managers apply a portfolio of controls to ensure sales agents' overall performance.…”