Digitization of selling activity and sales force performance: An empirical investigation

Firms are creating a digitized selling capability by developing Web sites designed to provide information and conduct transactions with customers, replacing many routine sales force activities. The authors use the motivation-ability framework to shape a conceptual model that examines the effects of the digitization of selling activity on two salesperson outcomes: salesperson effectiveness and salesperson job insecurity,,. Using data from salespeople in 168 firms, they assess the moderating effects of environmental-level motivational factors and firm-level ability factors on the impact of digitization of selling activity on salesperson effectiveness and job insecurity. The results reveal that digitization has the paradoxical affect of improving salesperson effectiveness and heightening job insecurity concerns, and also that managers can improve the technology-enabled multichannel capabilities of the firm by giving priority attention to human capital improvement, sales force control systems, and communication of the digitization strategy.