Team potency and its impact on performance via self-efficacy and adaptability.
| Autor | Monteiro, Rodrigo Bastos |
| Cargo | Report |
Introduction
Company performance is in many ways associated with the resourcefulness of its work teams (Clark & Maggiti, 2012). Daily teamwork is one of the ways by which a company seeks to achieve its objectives in highly competitive times (Auh, Spyropoulou, Menguc, & Uslu, 2014). In this highly competitive context, understanding the influence teamwork has on individual and organizational development and sales performance is of interest to marketing managers as a way to achieve better results.
Researchers seek to delimit ideal conditions for sales team performance based upon variables that contribute to understanding performance antecendents (Lester, Meglino, & Korsgaard, 2002). In this context of different conditions, research about team potency (Gully, Incalcaterra, Joshi, & Beaubien, 2002; Jong, Ruyter, & Wetzels, 2005, 2006), interpersonal climate (Ahearne, Mackenzie, Podsakoff, Mathieu, & Lam, 2010; Gil, Rico, Alcover, & Barrasa, 2005; Jong, Ruyter, & Lemmink, 2004), self-efficacy (Cavazotte, Moreno, & Bernardo, 2013; Chen, Casper, & Cortina, 2001; Jong et al., 2006; Wang & Netemeyer, 2002), and adaptability (Griffin & Heskesh, 2005; Predmore & Bonnice, 1994; Pulakos, Arad, Donovan, & Plamondon, 2000; Verbeke, Belschak, Bakker, & Dietz, 2008) have advanced the understanding of team resourcefulness by proposing theoretical and practical implications.
For Gully, Incalcaterra, Joshi and Beaubien (2002), team potency enhances performance, however, mixed results from other researchers, including Lester, Meglino and Korsgaard (2002), Ahearne, Mathieu and Rapp (2005), Jong, Ruyter and Wetzels (2005) and Ahearne, Mackenzie, Podsakoff, Mathieu and Lam (2010) indicate that the relationship isn't necessarily direct and that there is a need for further investigation. Therefore, other ways to study this relationship as a mediator or moderator should be explored. Thus, these mixed results offer insight for this current research.
There is evidence in the literature (Guzzo, Yost, Campbell, & Shea, 1993; Lester et al., 2002) that team potency is the result of extrinsic (ex. interpersonal climate) and intrinsic (ex. self-efficacy) team factors and that individuals' extrinsic aspects enhance their adaptability (Weitz, Sujan, & Sujan, 1986). These factors (ex. interpersonal climate, self-efficacy) can be seen as mechanisms to explain the ways in which team potency interferes with performance. Based on sales and team potency literature (Ahearne, Mathieu, & Rapp, 2005; Ahearne et al., 2010; Jong et al., 2005; Weitz et al., 1986) we propose and analyze four little-explored avenues in this work. They are: (a) the direct effects adaptability and self-efficacy have on sales performance; (b) how team potency as a group element affects two individual characteristics, those being adaptability and self-efficacy; (c) the indirect impact of team potency on performance as mediated by adaptability and self-efficacy; and (d) the effect team potency has to mediate interpersonal climate. In this context, the article adds four contributions to sales literature by focusing on intrinsic and extrinsic sales personnel characteristics, aspects of interpersonal climate quality, and group and team aspects to explain sales performance.
First, with few exceptions (Ahearne et al., 2005; Verbeke, Dietz, & Verwaal, 2011), there is a lack of marketing studies, specifically in sales, that use the two elements of adaptability and self-efficacy as antecedents to individual sales person performance. This is because most such studies come from psychology (Griffin & Heskesh, 2003; Hughes, Le Bon, & Rapp, 2013; Predmore & Bonnice, 1994). In this work we argue that both elements directly impact sales performance.
Second, we defend a new avenue for explaining team performance, through team potency. In other words, we propose the existence of a mediating effect from adaptability and self-efficacy in related to team potency and performance. These two mediated results occur because working on highly effective teams and via highly developed social relationships (Hughes et al., 2013; Lindell & Brandt, 2000; Sparrowe, Liden, Wayne, & Kraimer, 2001; Verbeke et al., 2008) generates confidence and capacity for adaptability, which produce better results (Ahearne et al., 2010; Chakrabarty, Brown, & Widing, 2013; Jong et al., 2006). Results confirm these two mediating effects.
Third, the ability to leam and perform interdependent tasks--inherent to salespeople who exhibit adaptability--is an aspect antecedent to individual performance (Weitz et al., 1986). The ability to deal with conflict, exchange information and implement information--intrinsic to self-efficacious individuals --are also strong predictors of performance and possibly can be promoted by companies that don't have sufficiently trained leaders for the teams that need them (Auh et al., 2014). In this work, we confirm that the group element (team potency) directly affects individual sales person elements (adaptability and self-efficacy).
Fourth, we add that having collaborators working in teams creates synergies among members who have different abilities and experiences (Ahearne et al., 2005). This synergy can be weakened or strengthened depending upon the quality of team climate (Ahearne et al., 2010). Related to this is how collective beliefs, team potency and interpersonal climate quality interact to offer a strong predictor of sales performance. This article applies Ahearne et al.'s (2005) research into the moderating effect consensus has on climate. Based upon Lindell and Brandt (2000), we include a fifth element--climate quality--with similar results to Ahearne et al. (2005), who did not confirm a moderating effect.
After this introduction, the work is divided into: a section on the theoretical model about team potency, self-efficacy, adaptability and interpersonal climate quality. Next, we detail methodological procedures, scales and research operationalization. After that we present results and in the last section discuss them.
Framework and Hypotheses
In this article we propose a framework that examines the direct relationships between sales team potency and individual aspects, such as self-efficacy and adaptability, with interpersonal climate quality as a moderator and adaptability and self-efficacy as mediators.
Monteiro (2014) performed a bibliometric survey of articles published between 2009 and 2013 in 30 Brazilian journals ranked between Qualis A1 and B3 in ANPAD during those same years. Results showed only 25 articles related to one or more of the selection criteria, but none with applications to marketing or sales. Therefore it is important to emphasize that this work began first from a bibliometric survey and second from fieldwork.
Team potency and adaptability
Team potency is the belief shared by team members that their group is effective at achieving assigned results (Guzzo et al., 1993). In this work, we suggest that team potency has an impact on individual adaptability due to two primary reasons. First, the effect occurs through leadership. Studies show that leadership improves a team's potency capacity (Ahearne et al., 2010; Lester et al., 2002) through charisma, which tends to influence member adaptability (Griffin & Hesketh, 2003) regarding sales tasks. Further evidence identifies that behavior aimed at clients by immediate supervisors promotes sales person adaptability towards actions taken with clients (Chakrabarty et al., 2013).
Teams with potency exhibit mutual aid, interpersonal information exchange and assistance, which are related to individual adaptability (Hughes et al., 2013). Assistance between peers can include beating goals, performing market research or filling out documents related to sales or registration activities. Ahearne et al. (2010) highlights this reciprocal subsidy procedure, showing that support behavior within a team was the mechanism that favored team member adaptability. Thus, we propose:
[H.sub.1]: Team potency positively impacts sales person adaptability.
Adaptability and performance
Verbeke, Dietz and Verwaal (2011) explained that the degree of sales person adaptability is important to sales performance since it is conceived of as the seller's capacity to use object knowledge as much as process knowledge to establish sales strategies that meet client needs. In this sense, what is expected is that individual adaptability results in the exchange and implementation of information (Hughes et al., 2013) about an object (the product or service) and about a process (sale, post-sale, exchange). Exhibiting these characteristics of knowledge exchange, the individual tends to improve their effectiveness in executing tasks and can obtain better results, increasing individual performance.
Empirically, Predmore and Bonnice (1994) encountered a positive relationship between adaptability and sales success. Ahearne, Jones, Rapp and Mathieu (2008) showed an association between adaptability and sales person performance in the context of technology use. Finally, Chakrabarty, Brown and Widing (2013) found evidence of adaptability impact on performance for American sales personnel. Therefore:
[H.sub.2]: Adaptability has a positive impact on sales person performance.
Team potency and self-efficacy
Self-efficacy is the individual belief in capability to realize a specific task (Jones, 1986; Wood & Bandura, 1989). Team potency should elevate self-efficacy because teams with potency show a collective belief in themselves (Guzzo et al., 1993) which, in a certain way, generates the habit and confidence to focus on each others' actions (Gully et al., 2002), improving self-efficacy. In this context, the process of believing in the results, the goals and the company is a possible source of synergistic team potency that can elevate sales person performance. Therefore, we believe that collective belief (Marks, Mathieu, & Zaccaro, 2001), the habit of efficacy and trust in...
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