The Technicization of Sales Work: an Ethnographic Study in the US Electronics Industry

Asaf Darr
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Asaf Darr: University of Haifa, Israel darr@soc.haifa.ac.il

Work, Employment & Society, 2002, vol. 16, issue 1, 47-65

Abstract: When do salespeople become technical experts, and when does sales work become technical in nature? To address these questions, this study presents a typology of markets and compares the impact of the structure of knowledge on the organization of sales practices in a mass and in a non-standard market in the electronic industry. A year-long ethnographic study in the United States shows that the technicization of sales occurs only in the non-standard market, in which buyers do not possess knowledge on products' quality and in which no common image of use exists. The technicization of sales is manifested in a larger percentage of engineers in the sales force, an infusion of engineering knowledge into initial sales interactions, and in a greater dependence on social and interactive skills. The technicization of sales is further compounded by the need to communicate contextual knowledge. Co-development and shared practice emerge as dominant forms of work organization in the non-standard market.

Keywords: customization work; sociology of work; technical sales work; technicization of sales; technology and work organization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:16:y:2002:i:1:p:47-65

DOI: 10.1177/09500170222119245

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