The Impact of Stigma: Negative Stereotypes of Salespeople

Academic Article Fall 2007 49attempt to maximize stigmatization and tomaintain a commission-based compensationcontext, caution should prevail when drawingany broad conclusions. However, thisresearch is an extension of an establishedframework of motivated salespeopleexpending more effort which leads toincreases in performance. The papercontributes to our understanding ofmotivation by finding stigmatization impedesthis effort. Of course, other factors such assalespeople’s personal characteristics,experience with selling, and/or the type ofselling situation also influence themotivation-effort-performance model and thedeliberate exclusion of positive influences is alimitation of this study. This limitation couldbe alleviated by additional research. Inaddition, while it appears likely that regardlessof compensation structure the presence ofstigma may negatively influence sales effortand performance, investigation of thisconclusion needs to continue. Extensions ofthis line of research are imperative, as it is notlikely that the negative opinions of salespeoplewill disappear any time soon.Another fruitful line of investigation would beto see if salespeople were conscious of thestigma prior to starting the job. Futurelongitudinal studies would investigate if thelevels of stigma consciousness had changedsince starting employment. Research mightreveal additional factors that mediate theinfluence of the stigmatization. However,since the salespeople in our sample had beenat their current dealership for an average ofover five years, their tenure would likely havebiased their previous recollections of stigma;consequently, we did not measure their stigmaconsciousness prior to entering theprofession.Despite these various shortcomings it is clearthat managers can mediate the effect ofstigma. This managerial influence upon fullycommissioned salespeople is another underexplored area in the literature. Theimplication that sales positions that primarilyrely upon monetary rewards for motivationcan also motivate sales effort by 'soft' factorssuggest a hybrid system of control where theinfluences of monetary rewards are monitoredby managers. Research into such hybridsystems is likely to be fruitful. Finally, thisresearch needs to extend into differentcontexts, such as, services or business tobusiness sales.REFRENCESAdkins, Natalie Ross and Julie L. Ozanne(2005), "The Low Literate Consumer,"Journal of Consumer Research, 32 (2), 93-105.Anderson, Erin and Richard L. Oliver (1987),"Perspectives on Behavior-BasedVersus Outcome-Based SalesforceControl Systems," Journal ofMarketing, 51 (October), 76-88.Bagozzi, Richard P. (1980), "Salespeople andTheir Managers: An Exploratory Studyof Some Similarities and Differences,"Sloan Management Review, 21 (2), 15-26.Baldauf, Artur, David W. Cravens, andNigel F.Piercy(2005),"Sales ManagementControl Research-Synthesis and anAgenda for Future Research," Journal ofPersonal Selling & Sales Management, 25(1), 7-26.Vol. 7, No. 4