The Influence of the Market Orientation of the Firm on

Sales Force Behavior and Attitude

JUDY A. SIGUAW, GENE BROWN, and ROBERT E. WIDING, II

Summarized By Vijith Pujari

Purpose of Reading

A model is developed to describe the relationship among market orientation , customer orientation ,
and the job attitudes of salespeople.The first research objective involves identifying the effect of the
selected firm orientation, as viewed from the saleperson's perpective, on the salesperson's customer
orientation and job attitudes (I.e, role ambiguity and conflict , job satisfaction, and organizational
commitment).The second research objective , a corollary to the first, is to determine whether the
orientation of the salesperson is related to job attitudes.The third research objective is to examine
whether differences in orientations affect the job-related attiudes of salespeople.

Theoretical Agrument

Using the existing literature , the model also depicts the proposed effects on job attitudes that result
from differences between firms and salesperson orientations.

The Hypothesized relationships are tested with a sample of industrial salespeople and the results are
presented with respect to previous findings and their implicatons for sales force management.

A]Hypotheses – MARKET ORIENTATION

1.The greater the market orientation of the firm, the greater the customer orientation of the
saleperson

2.The greater the market orientation of the firm, the lower the role conflict experienced by the
salesperson.

3.The greater the market orientation of the firm, the lower the role ambiguity of the saleperson.

4.The greater the market orientation of the firm, the greater the job satisfaction experienced by the
salesperson.

5.The greater the market orientation of the firm, the greater the organizational commitment of the
salesperson.
Hypotheses – CUSTOMER ORIENTATION

1.The greater the customer orientation of the salesperson, the lower the role conflict experienced by
the saleperson.

2.The greater the customer orientation of the salesperson, the lower the role of ambiguity of the
salesperson.

3.The greater the customer orientation of the salesperson, the greater the organization commitment
of the salesperson.

4.The greater the customer orientation of the salesperson, the greater the job satisfaction
experienced by the salesperson.

Hypotheses – DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CUSTOMER AND MARKET ORIENTATION

1.The smaller the differenc between the market orientation of the firm and the customer orientation
of the salesperson, the lower the role conflict experienced by the saleperson

2.The smaller the difference between the market orientation of the firm and the customer orientation
of the salesperson, the lower the role ambiguity experienced by the saleperson.

3.The smaller the differenc between the market orientation og the firm and the customer orientation
of the salesperson, the greater the job satisfaction of the salesperson.

4.The smaller the differenc between the market orientation of the firm and the customer orientation
of the salesperson, the greater the orgranization commitment of the salesperson.

Replication Hypotheses

1.The greater the perception of role conflict, the lower the job satisfaction.

2.The greater the perception og role ambiguity, the lower the job satisfaction.

3.The greater the perception of role conflict, the lower the organization commitment.

4.The greater the perception of role ambiguity, the lower the organizational commitment.
B] Methodology

1.Construct Measurement
2.Sample and Data Collection Procedures
3.Salesperson Characteristics
4.Measurement Issues

Results

1.The market orientation of the firm significantly influences the customer orientation of the
saleperson and each of the job attitudes in the directions hypothesized.

2.The customer orientation of the salesperson is unrelated to the job attitudes.

3.The differenc between the market orientation of the firm and the customer orientation of the
salesperson marginally influences only role conflict in the direction hypothesized.,

Conclusion ,Limitations and Further Research.

If the firm is perceived as having a high market orientation, the sales force practice a greater
customer orientation, which reduce role stress and expresses greater job satisfaction and
organizational commitment .The market orientation of the firm was found to influence significantly
the job attitudes and customer orientation of the saleperson.The difference between market and
customer orientation were not supported.The difference measure had no relationship with job
attitudes could be caused by the overwhelming influence of the firms market-orientation on the
customer orientation of the sales force.This study also indicate that the degree to which a firm is
perceived to be market oriented is a direct and significant factor in determining the manner in which
the sales force will behave in interactions with customers.In any case, we suggest that further
research on job attiudes examine the effecr of customer orientation by salespeople in light of the
firms market orientation and the level of customer orientation desired by salepeople.

Limitation

1.The model should be tested further with other independent samples.

2.Only one industry was included in our sampling frame.
3.Many measurement problems regarding difference scores have been noted in the literature that
pertain to the DIFF variable which was created to study the difference between the market
orientation of the firm and the customer orientation of the salesperson.
4.The orientation of the firm could be moving toward a greater or lesser market orientation but the
effect on the salesperson customer orientation and attitudes could be lagged.

A longitudinal study would capture better the dynamism of these constructs.

Further Research

The market orientation of the firm and the customer orientation of the salesperson on saleperson
performance and attitudes , each of the variable have a clear potential to influence the buyer-seller
relationship.Further research considering having senior management assess the market orientation
of the firm independently.And further research could identify and investigated less customer-
oriented industries.Market orientation of the firm could help explain why role conflict leads to more
sales in some instances and fewer sales in others

References

1.O'Hara, Bradley S., James S. Boles, and Mark W. Johnston(1991), “The Influence of Personal
Variables on Salesperson Selling Orientation,” Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management,
11 (Winter), 61-67.