Inducing salespeople to sell proprietary products: The roles of traditional, transaction-cost, and relational factors
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Abstract
Two frameworks finding increasing application in the marketing literature are relationship marketing (RM) and transaction cost analysis (TCA). Both have been applied to decision-making in an exchange context, investigating similar issues, such as salesperson motivation. To date, there has been little overlap of the two frameworks, either in theory or research. Relational factors, such as trust and commitment, are usually absent in TCA-based models of decision-making (which treats them largely as 'friction," rather than as explanatory variables). Conversely. TCA factors are rarely considered in relational models. However some researchers, rather than view RM and TCA as competitors, argue for combining the two frameworks in the same model (Zaheer and Venkatraman 1995; Hesterly. Liebskind. and Zenger 1990: Granovetter 1985).
This research integrates constructs from both frameworks with traditional motivational factors and investigates a salesperson's decision to adopt proprietary or non-proprietary products. The dissertation (1) models trust and commitment in organizations. (2) compares this relational model to a TCA-based model, (3) further develops a model incorporating relational, traditional, and TCA factors, and (4) tests this integrated model using data from a sample of ethical-drug distribution salespeople