Performance, Attribution, and Expectancy Linkages in Personal Selling

The authors examine the relationships among performance, causal attribution, and the expectancy component of sales force motivation through the measurement and manipulation of components of a proposed conceptual framework. They conducted one field survey, two laboratory experiments, and one field experiment to test hypothesized effects. The results generally support the hypotheses, indicating that causal attributions can either raise or lower expectancy, depending on certain underlying conditions. The results also suggest that salespeople's prior experience may moderate the effect of attribution on expectancy change. These findings have important implications for sales managers as coaches and trainers.