Leading the Effective Sales Force: The Asian Sales Force ... - Insead

CHAPTER 5:GENDER ISSUES
Introduction
In this document, sales force gender studies are reviewed by dividing the discussion into two
areas:
• Salesperson gender differences;
• Sales manager gender differences.
(A) Salesperson Gender Differences
Research in this area has looked at differences regarding attitudes, behavior and outcomes
between male and female salespeople. A number of studies, conducted on Western samples,
in the academic literature have reported that few, if any, gender differences concerning
various salesperson job-related perceptions exist in the 21 st century. One recent publication is
the following.
Source: Piercy, Nigel F., Cravens, David W., Lane, Nikala (2001), “Sales manager behavior
control strategy and its consequences: the impact of gender differences,” Journal of Personal
Selling & Sales Management, 21 (1) 39-49.
• This study addresses the question of whether salespeople’s evaluations of behavioral control
exerted by the sales manager differ between sales teams managed by male sales managers
and those managed by female sales managers.
• The intent of this research is to differentiate whether control perceptions, attitudinal and
stress-related variables and work outcomes vary systematically based on the gender of the
sales manager as opposed to the gender of the salesperson.
• Although sales manager gender relative to management control strategy is the central focus
of this study, it first looks at salesperson gender differences and then sales manager gender
differences.
The sample:
• Field salespeople who sold advertising space in published and electronic directories formed
the sample for the study. They were from the UK operations of a company which was an
established publisher of directories in the UK and the USA.
• The salesperson questionnaires directly identified the gender of the salesperson respondent
and that of the manager of his/her sales unit.
• A total of 214 salesperson questionnaires were obtained from a circulation of 235
questionnaires, giving a response rate of more than 90 per cent. The sample comprised 60
per cent male salespeople (n = 128) and 40 per cent female (n = 86), and 80 per cent of the
sales managers were male (n = 28).
• No significant gender-based differences existed between male and female salespeople in
terms of annual income, time in the job, time with the company, terminal education age, or
sales revenue. Average ages were 33 years for male salespeople and 32 years for females.
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