Program 2013 Winter Marketing Educators' Conference Challenging ...

vey and performance data from salesperson-customer
dyads within a global industrial goods supplier, the authors
demonstrate that both perceptual accuracy and
inaccuracy influence a salesperson’s relationship marketing
effectiveness. Surprisingly, accurate salesperson
perceptions do not improve outcomes from all customers;
rather, it provides a curvilinear improvement for both customer
profitability and future purchase intentions. Inaccurate salesperson
perceptions always reduce customer profitability, but
only hurt future purchase intentions when perceptions are
overblown. The effects of salesperson perceptual accuracy,
or a lack thereof, also depend on the relationship phase. To
explain salesperson perceptual inaccuracy, they demonstrate
that relationship quality antecedents (i.e., customer orientation,
self-efficacy) can bias salesperson perception. Finally, a
behavior-based control system is shown to be a managerial
solution to attenuate salesperson perceptual inaccuracy.
Artificial Emotions among Salespeople: Understanding
the Impact of Surface Acting on Job Satisfaction
and Organizational Commitment
Jessica Mikeska, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Scott Friend, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
G. Alexander Hamwi, University of Missouri
Brian N. Rutherford, Kennesaw State University
Research finds surface acting, the suppression of true
emotions and expression of artificial emotions, to produce
internal tension, but has yet to be extended to the
personal selling context. The purpose of this study is to
incorporate and test the impact of surface acting among
salespeople. Social Comparison Theory is utilized to
hypothesize the impact of surface acting, self-monitoring,
and social support on satisfaction and commitment.
A total of 235 industrial salespeople were used for this
study. Findings indicate that surface acting reduces satisfaction
and commitment, while the ability to self-monitor
emotions increases satisfaction and workplace support
increases commitment.
Can a Smile Overcome a Stigma? The Emotional Links
Between Customers & Stigmatized Frontline Employees
Sven Mikolon, Ruhr Universität Bochum
Nick Lee, Aston University
Jan Wieseke, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Glen Kreiner, Pennsylvania State University
Our purpose in this paper is to explore the emotional
responses to a stigma of both, the stigmatized frontline
worker and the perceiving customer in frontline encounters.
In doing so, we integrate social psychological
research on stigmas with research in marketing on
the regulation of emotion in work settings. Based on a
triadic multilevel dataset, we investigate the impact of
two distinct emotional display strategies that can be employed
by stigmatized frontline workers, on customers’
felt intergroup anxiety. First, frontline workers may try to
suppress the negative emotions that they feel as a result
of their stigma. Second, they may display positive emotions
as a means to compensate for their stigma. Drawing
from appraisal theories of emotions, we hypothesize,
and find, that the latter strategy leads to an increase in
the experienced intergroup anxiety experienced by cus-
tomers during their encounter with a stigmatized frontline
worker. This study is among the first to take a dyadic
perspective on mixed boundary-spanning interactions,
and to focus on the emotional processing of a stigma
rather than on the cognitive processing. Furthermore,
this study derives important managerial implications as
it links the stigma of frontline employees to their work
performance.
Understanding The Role Of Social Media In Salesperson
Customer Relationship Performance: A
Social Capital Perspective
Prabakar Kothandaraman, William Paterson University
Raj Agnihotri, Ohio University
Rajiv Kashyap, William Paterson University
The unprecedented growth in use of social media has
impacted every aspect of business. Sales and marketing
operations have been most affected due to the high level
of customer involvement. However, there is no clear understanding
of the role played by social media in salesperson
customer relationship performance. This article
attempts to theoretically outline the role for social media
in salesperson customer relationship performance. Specifically,
taking a social capital perspective, the article
develops a framework proposing the positive influence
of social media use on salesperson social capital leading
to salesperson customer relationship performance.
Chair:
Nick Lee, Aston University
074. Teaching Sustainable Enterprise
Caesars Palace Las Vegas: Session Room 9
This session will bring together experienced teachers
and innovators in the realm of sustainable enterprise for
sharing valuable lessons learned when teaching undergraduates,
grad students and executives concepts related
to sustainable enterprise. Those attending this session
will gain insights about different approaches that
can succeed with a variety of student groups, as well as
familiarization with the very latest pedagogical tools for
teaching sustainable enterprise.
Participants:
Sustainability & the Future of Business: How to be a
Sheep in Wolves’ Clothing
John D Mittelstaedt, University of Wyoming
In recent years, important developments in the environment
for the conduct of business have resulted in turning
firms toward integrating concepts of sustainability
into firm operations. The purpose of adopting these
sustainable business practices is to not compromise
the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Because
of the initial efforts of firms such as Interface, Inc.
– maker of carpet tiles – to transform their operations
to minimize negative impact on the natural environment
and communities, there is an increased awareness that
sustainable behavior can be profitable. In addition to
reducing risk for the firm, costs can be reduced through
the implementation of sustainable business practices.
Overall, firms that become sustainable can gain
a competitive advantage because of increased favor