Unpacking the Relationship between Sales Control and Salesperson Performance: A Regulatory Fit Perspective
研究引入探索性和利用性两种学习类型，基于调节匹配理论，发现销售控制通过销售人员学习影响绩效，且学习类型与客户及销售人员特征的匹配至关重要。
The literature examining the effect of sales control on salesperson performance is, at best, equivocal. To reconcile inconsistencies in empirical findings, this research introduces two new types of salesperson learning: exploratory and exploitative learning. Drawing on regulatory focus theory, the authors conceptualize exploratory learning as promotion focused and exploitative learning as prevention focused and find that salespeople exhibit both exploratory and exploitative learning, though one is used more than the other depending on the type of sales control employed. The results also suggest that the fit between salesperson learning type, customer characteristics (i.e., purchase-decision-making complexity), and salesperson characteristics (i.e., preference for sales predictability) is critical to salesperson performance and that salesperson learning mediates the relationship between sales control and salesperson performance (Study 1). Study 2 corroborates the findings using new panel data collected over two waves. The results of this research have important implications for integrating sales control, salesperson learning, and salesperson performance.