How intrafirm intermediary salespeople connect sales to marketing and product development

Gabriel R. Gonzalez () and Danny P. Claro ()
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Gabriel R. Gonzalez: San Diego State University
Danny P. Claro: Insper Education and Research Institute

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2019, vol. 47, issue 5, No 2, 795-814

Abstract: Abstract This research reveals the ways that salespeople manage intrafirm relationships by acting as intermediaries, connecting intrafirm members that would otherwise be unconnected. Using a two-study, multimethod design, the authors establish that (1) salespeople act as representative intermediaries positioned between peers in sales and those in marketing and product development; (2) the effects of representative positions with marketing and product development on performance are non-linear; and (3) selling-related knowledge moderates representative effects on performance. Representative salespeople act as the exclusive connection between a peer salesperson and a non-sales contact (marketing or product development), controlling non-redundant knowledge to gain influence over their peers. This research contributes to marketing by identifying non-linear effects for how salespeople mediate relationships between their peers and others in key intrafirm functions, and showing that salespeople with high selling-related knowledge realize enhanced effects of the representative position on sales performance.

Keywords: Intrafirm network intermediary; Intrafirm relationships; Network theory; Selling-related knowledge; Salesperson performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11747-019-00656-8

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