Contribution of sales control in salespeople's creative selling: Work engagement as a mediator

초록

This study investigated the effects of outcome-based control (OBCS) and behavior-based control (BBCS) on creative selling, by exploring their mediating effects on creative selling through work engagement. We also explored the joint effect of the two sales control systems on work engagement, which can eventually increase creative selling. We collected data from salespeople working at an insurance company in South Korea; 270 of the 303 participants were included in the analysis. Our results revealed that OBCS and BBCS increase creative selling. In addition, work engagement was found to mediate the relationship between OBCS and creative selling but not the relationship between BBCS and creative selling. The joint effect of OBCS and BBCS on work engagement was found to function as a hierarchical combination, meaning that work engagement is enhanced when OBCS is high and BBCS is low. These findings suggest that OBCS and BBCS function through different mechanisms to creative selling when they function separately, and the former acts as a primary control and the latter as a supplement to work engagement when they perform jointly.

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