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To empower or not to empower your sales force? An empirical examination of the influence of leadership empowerment behavior on customer satisfaction and performance.
J Appl Psychol. 2005 Sep; 90(5):945-55.JA

Abstract

This research focuses on the impact of leadership empowerment behavior (LEB) on customer service satisfaction and sales performance, as mediated by salespeople's self-efficacy and adaptability. Moreover, the authors propose an interactive relationship whereby LEB will be differentially effective as a function of employees' empowerment readiness. The authors' hypotheses are tested using survey data from a sample of 231 salespeople in the pharmaceutical field, along with external ratings of satisfaction from 864 customers and archival sales performance information. Results indicated that contrary to popular belief, employees with low levels of product/industry knowledge and low experience benefit the most from leadership behaviors that are empowering, whereas high-knowledge and experienced employees reap no clear benefit. The authors conclude with directions for future research and application.

Authors+Show Affiliations

Ahearne M
Department of Marketing, Bauer College of Business, University of Houston, TX 77204, USA. mahearne@uh.edu
Mathieu J
No affiliation info available
Rapp A
No affiliation info available

MeSH

AchievementAdaptation, PsychologicalAdultConsumer BehaviorEmployee Performance AppraisalFemaleHumansInservice TrainingJob DescriptionLeadershipMaleMiddle AgedOrganizational CultureOutcome Assessment, Health CarePower, PsychologicalSelf Efficacy

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

16162066

Citation

Ahearne, Michael, et al. "To Empower or Not to Empower Your Sales Force? an Empirical Examination of the Influence of Leadership Empowerment Behavior On Customer Satisfaction and Performance." The Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 90, no. 5, 2005, pp. 945-55.
Ahearne M, Mathieu J, Rapp A. To empower or not to empower your sales force? An empirical examination of the influence of leadership empowerment behavior on customer satisfaction and performance. J Appl Psychol. 2005;90(5):945-55.
Ahearne, M., Mathieu, J., & Rapp, A. (2005). To empower or not to empower your sales force? An empirical examination of the influence of leadership empowerment behavior on customer satisfaction and performance. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(5), 945-55.
Ahearne M, Mathieu J, Rapp A. To Empower or Not to Empower Your Sales Force? an Empirical Examination of the Influence of Leadership Empowerment Behavior On Customer Satisfaction and Performance. J Appl Psychol. 2005;90(5):945-55. PubMed PMID: 16162066.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - To empower or not to empower your sales force? An empirical examination of the influence of leadership empowerment behavior on customer satisfaction and performance. AU - Ahearne,Michael, AU - Mathieu,John, AU - Rapp,Adam, PY - 2005/9/16/pubmed PY - 2006/2/16/medline PY - 2005/9/16/entrez SP - 945 EP - 55 JF - The Journal of applied psychology JO - J Appl Psychol VL - 90 IS - 5 N2 - This research focuses on the impact of leadership empowerment behavior (LEB) on customer service satisfaction and sales performance, as mediated by salespeople's self-efficacy and adaptability. Moreover, the authors propose an interactive relationship whereby LEB will be differentially effective as a function of employees' empowerment readiness. The authors' hypotheses are tested using survey data from a sample of 231 salespeople in the pharmaceutical field, along with external ratings of satisfaction from 864 customers and archival sales performance information. Results indicated that contrary to popular belief, employees with low levels of product/industry knowledge and low experience benefit the most from leadership behaviors that are empowering, whereas high-knowledge and experienced employees reap no clear benefit. The authors conclude with directions for future research and application. SN - 0021-9010 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/16162066/To_empower_or_not_to_empower_your_sales_force_An_empirical_examination_of_the_influence_of_leadership_empowerment_behavior_on_customer_satisfaction_and_performance_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -