Industrial Marketing Management 36 (2007) 408 – 419

Assessing the evolution of sales knowledge: A 20-year content analysis

Brian C. Williams a,⁎, Christopher R. Plouffe b,1
a
Department of Marketing, Terry College of Business, University of Georgia, 131 Brooks Hall, Athens, GA 30602, United States
b
College of Business, Washington State University, 14204 N.E. Salmon Creek Avenue, Vancouver, WA 98686, United States

Received 21 June 2005; received in revised form 26 September 2005; accepted 29 November 2005
Available online 26 January 2006

Abstract

1012 articles appearing in 15 prominent journals over the period 1983–2002 were content analyzed in order to assess the state of published
research in the domain of selling and sales management. The results provide a comprehensive, two-decade look at the key topical, theoretical, and
methodological patterns prevalent at the aggregate level as well as within selected journals. Without question, the sales field has generated a
considerable body of knowledge representing a range of issues, empirical approaches, and conceptual foundations. However, this review reveals
several longer term trends that may challenge the sales community to consider new approaches to designing and executing sales research.
Implications of these findings for researchers and industrial marketing practitioners are discussed.
© 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Selling; Sales management; Academic publishing; Content analysis

1. Introduction
Systematically analyzing the state of knowledge develop-
ment in an academic field is a critical step in any discipline's
growth and maturity. Reviewing published research in peer-
reviewed journals is one of the most useful and relevant approa-
ches for evaluating a field's accrued knowledge. Although time
consuming and data intensive, journal content analyses can
mark a discipline's progress, while simultaneously providing
direction into future areas of needed inquiry. In addition,
reviews that cover extended time periods are especially helpful
because they offer insight into a research community's longer
term topical, methodological, and theoretical trends. Given that
so much of the effort of individual researchers focuses on
purposefully restricted studies and research questions, taking
the time to consider a discipline's broader knowledge output
can make future research investments more productive to both
academics and managers. In many ways, a comprehensive con-
tent analysis of published research encourages scholars to step
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 706 542 2123.
E-mail addresses: bcw@uga.edu (B.C. Williams), cplouffe@wsu.edu
(C.R. Plouffe).
1
Tel.: +1 360 546 9147.
0019-8501/$ - see front matter © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2005.11.003
back from their individual “trees” in order to assess the entire
“forest” of knowledge generation within a discipline.
The sales literature is ripe for such a review. Over the last two
decades, sales has emerged from its historical roots as a narrow,
tactically focused marketing specialty to become a topic of
strategic importance within the industrial marketing field (Hon-
eycutt, 2002). During this period, the sheer volume of published
sales articles has also increased substantially. In response to this
evolving landscape, a number of prominent scholars have ob-
served, at least anecdotally, that sales research should break new
ground, make use of new theoretical perspectives, and employ
new methods in order to continue its advancement (Leigh &
Tanner, 2004; Marshall & Michaels, 2001). Likewise, a casual
review of managerial publications reveals that sales profes-
sionals continue to struggle with a set of enduring issues that
have yet to be addressed adequately by academics (e.g., Gallan-
ter, 2003; Marchetti, 2004). Although a few comprehensive
reviews of the business-to-business (B2B) literature have been
conducted (e.g., Reid & Plank, 2000), their focus has been
somewhat general with little attention given to detailing and
classifying the various aspects of all published articles. Within
the sales field specifically, a number of limited content reviews
have been published (e.g., Moncrief, Marshall, & Watkins,
2000), but unfortunately, the conclusions from the last major
 B.C. Williams, C.R. Plouffe / Industrial Marketing Management 36 (2007) 408–419
study—a four-journal content analysis by Bush and Grant
(1994)—are now well over a decade old.
This paper presents the results of a comprehensive content
analysis covering two decades of research on the domain of
industrial selling and sales management. Our review, which
evaluated more than 1000 articles published across 15 key
journals, provides a descriptive snapshot of the status of con-
temporary sales research, including the patterns that have char-
acterized its development over a recent two-decade period.
After a brief background review and methodological summary,
we present the major findings of the analysis. Included in these
results are details regarding the most dominant topical issues,
theoretical foundations, and empirical research approaches
appearing within the sales literature from 1983 to 2002. In
addition, journal-level statistics reveal trends across the range
of reviewed publication outlets. Beyond its primarily descrip-
tive reporting, a major aim of this paper is to encourage reflec-
tion and dialogue among industrial marketing and sales
scholars into ways to advance future sales research. We con-
clude by discussing implications of these findings for research-
ers, managers, and other stakeholders.
2. Background
Journal content and publication trend analyses have been
conducted at the overall discipline level (e.g., Baumgartner &
Pieters, 2003) and within specific streams of marketing (e.g.,
Helgeson, Kluge, Mager, & Taylor, 1984; Yale & Gilly, 1988).
Sales research is no different in this respect. Swan, Powers, and
Sobczak (1991) offered one of the first formal attempts to study
sales publishing trends by reviewing a set of articles appearing
during the period of 1980–1990. Their effort, which focused on
manuscripts published exclusively in the Journal of Personal
Selling & Sales Management (JPSSM), categorized 175 articles
by topic and analyzed the degree to which JPSSM articles were
cross-cited in Journal of Marketing (JM), Journal of Marketing
Research (JMR), and Industrial Marketing Management
(IMM). That same year, Bush and Grant (1991) identified the
leading contributors to sales research published in JM, JMR,
JPSSM, and IMM during the decade of the 1980s. Later,
Moncrief et al. (2000) evaluated authorship trends for approx-
imately 250 articles appearing in 16 marketing journals during
the 1993–1997 time period. Although Moncrief et al.'s find-
ings did include the frequency of sales articles appearing in the
examined journals, they gave primary attention to tracking the
doctoral training and current institutional affiliation of publish-
ing researchers during the 5-year timeframe.
The most comprehensive analysis of sales publication trends
to date is the work of Bush and Grant (1994), which examined
sales research published in JM, JMR, JPSSM, and IMM over
the period of 1980–1992. This study identified 358 articles,
which were classified according to topical categories first used
by Swan et al. (1991), plus two additional categories. Also
reported in this analysis were the number of articles published
by year in terms of journal outlet, empirical method, sampled
unit, statistical analysis approach, target audience, and theoret-
ical/conceptual foundation utilized.
409
While these previous reviews provided an invaluable under-
standing of the sales field's evolution, their somewhat restricted
scope is worth noting. No doubt, for reasons of practicality,
each of the previous analyses incorporated a relatively limited
set of journals and thus excluded many key journals that regu-
larly publish sales manuscripts. For example, the industrial–
organizational (I/O) psychology field has generated a notable
body of research on salespeople, yet journals from areas outside
the core marketing discipline were not included in prior
reviews. Similarly, the European Journal of Marketing was
not analyzed in previous studies, potentially giving past results
an overly North American-centric perspective. A review incor-
porating a broader collection of journals, especially over a
longer period of time, can provide a more complete understand-
ing of the field's knowledge development, even in the years
covered by previous studies. Given the dual importance of
assessing: (1) a larger and more diverse collection of journals
and (2) the most recent decade's worth of sales research pub-
lished since the last large-scale review, a new content analysis
can provide a greater understanding of the sales field's evolu-
tion, current status, and future direction.
3. Methodology
To uncover the major trends within the selling and sales
management literature, we content analyzed sales articles
appearing in the following 15 journals during the 20-year
period of 1983–2002: Journal of Marketing (JM), Journal of
Marketing Research (JMR), Marketing Science (MS), Journal
of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS), Journal of
Retailing (JR), Journal of Business Research (JBR), Industrial
Marketing Management (IMM), Journal of Business and In-
dustrial Marketing (JBIM), Journal of Personal Selling and
Sales Management (JPSSM), European Journal of Marketing
(EJM), International Journal of Research in Marketing (IJRM),
Marketing Letters (ML), Psychology and Marketing (P&M),
Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice (JMTP), and Jour-
nal of Applied Psychology (JAP). Included in this selection are
the most prestigious journals within marketing (JM, JMR, MS,
JAMS, JR), the more prominent field journals focused on B2B
and industrial marketing (IMM, JBIM, JPSSM), a number of
notable, but more secondary marketing journals (JBR, ML,
P&M, JMTP), a representative set of non-U.S.-based journals
(EJM, IJRM), and the premier I/O psychology journal (JAP). A
16th journal, Journal of Consumer Research, was included in
the original journal sample, but was not incorporated into the
subsequent analysis because it contained only four articles
specifically focused on selling or sales management over the
studied timeframe. This selection of journals appears to repre-
sent the vast majority of published sales-related research during
this period.2 The specific timeframe of 1983–2002 was chosen
to provide a long-term (20-year) view of sales research through
2
Four journals (IJRM, JBIM, JMTP, and ML) commenced publishing at
some point after 1983; therefore, the analysis does not include a full 20 years of
coverage for these journals.
410 B.C. Williams, C.R. Plouffe / Industrial Marketing Management 36 (2007) 408–419
the most currently available and completed publication year at
the time this study commenced.
In the initial phase of this research, we manually reviewed
every issue of the 15 examined journals in order to identify
articles for inclusion in the analysis. We independently read
each paper's title and abstract and, in many cases, inspected the
full article in order to select those related to selling and sales
management. Consistent with the approach followed in previ-
ous research (Bush & Grant, 1994; Swan et al., 1991), a very
small number of publication entries—including editorials,
abstracts, book reviews, and practitioner profiles—were ex-
cluded. In total, this identification phase yielded a sample of
1012 sales articles.
3.1. Content dimensions
The second phase of the study involved systematically cate-
gorizing the major aspects of each sales article. Following the
approach used by Bush and Grant (1994), which itself mirrors
the structure found in the content analyses of other fields, such
as management (Mahoney, 1985) and advertising (Yale & Gilly,
1988), we coded each article according to the following dimen-
sions: topic, article type, theoretical/conceptual foundation, data
collection method, sampled unit, and data analysis method. Two
additional dimensions, product category/industry focus of the
sample (goods, services, or combination) and research design
(longitudinal or cross-sectional), were added to provide a more
granular perspective on emerging research issues (Day & Mon-
tgomery, 1999; Vargo & Lusch, 2004). One dimension original-
ly used in Bush and Grant's (1994) analysis—“audience
addressed”—was eliminated. In our view, it was too challenging
and ultimately imprecise to attempt to discern who might read
any specific article. We assumed that the vast majority of the
reviewed articles were targeted to an academic readership.
We independently evaluated and coded the eight dimensions
of the 1012 manuscripts. All of the categories within each
dimension were considered mutually exclusive, and in the
case of certain articles covering several topics or deploying
multiple data collection and/or analytical approaches, we
attempted to identify the primary or focal category, be it
topic, data collection, analytic method, etc. Within the content
categories, we made minor adjustments to the coding scheme
utilized in previous sales content analyses. For instance, Bush
and Grant's (1994) original list of 18 topics, which itself fol-
lowed the list utilized by Swan et al. (1991), was modified to
create a list of 20 potential topical categories. Specifically, we
added three new topics to reflect changes occurring in the
general selling and industrial marketing environment. The
first addition, “salesforce automation/technology”, was incor-
porated in response to the proliferation of technology (includ-
ing laptops, PDAs, cell phones, CRM software, etc.) in the
everyday life of a salesperson (Plouffe, Williams, & Leigh,
2004; Schillewaert, Ahearne, Frambach, & Moenaert, 2005).
A second new topic, “the salesforce and marketing/firm strate-
gy”, was added to capture the growing interest in how the
salesforce interfaces with the firm as a whole and higher level
strategic issues (Capron & Hulland, 1999; Jap, 2001). The third
new topic, “intraorganizational aspects of the sales role”, was
included to reflect increasing recognition that tasks associated
with their internal work environment may be pivotal to the
salesperson's overall job performance (Sujan, 1999; Weitz &
Bradford, 1999). Finally, the two previously separate topics of
“budgeting” and “sales and cost analysis” were collapsed into
one topic labeled “budgeting and cost analysis” because the two
topics were so closely related on a conceptual basis and repre-
sented an extremely small number of the articles analyzed in
Bush and Grant's (1994) study.
Coding for the other content dimensions followed the basic
structure used in prior sales content analyses. One of three
codes were assigned to the “article type” dimension to reflect
whether or not the article was “empirical”, “conceptual”, or
“other” (typically, short practitioner commentaries or technolo-
gy-oriented product discussions most often found in early
issues of JPSSM). “Data collection method” was assigned one
of six possible categories (“survey”, “lab experiment”, “field
experiment”, “archival/secondary data”, “qualitative methods”,
and “other”). The “data analysis method” dimension was coded
as “descriptives”, “correlations”, “analysis of variance” (e.g.,
ANOVA, MANOVA, ANCOVA, etc.), “factor analysis”, “data
classification” (e.g., cluster analysis, discriminant analysis,
etc.), “regression” (e.g., univariate, multiple, logistic, etc.),
“structural equation modeling” (e.g., SEM, PLS, etc.), “longi-
tudinal data analysis” (e.g., time series, hazard, survival mod-
eling, etc.), “qualitative analysis”, or “other”. Finally, the
dimension of “sampled unit” was assigned one of six possible
codes: “salespeople”, “sales manager”, “buyers”, “students”,
“multiple”, or “other”.
In contrast to all other dimensions, the category structure for
“theoretical/conceptual foundation” was not determined a
priori, but rather followed an inductive process. Bush and
Grant (1994) used a similar approach to ensure that their coding
captured the widest possible array of applied theoretical per-
spectives. We carefully reviewed each article's introduction,
literature review, reference list, and, where applicable, formal
proposition or hypothesis-development sections. While most
articles briefly or indirectly cited related studies or other bodies
of literature, the focus here was to determine whether or not
authors grounded their models, hypotheses, and/or arguments
in a clearly identifiable theoretical base. A determination was
then made as to which academic discipline or literature base
each theoretical perspective originated or was primarily devel-
oped. In total, eight “theoretical/conceptual foundation” cate-
gories emerged as a result of this process.
Finally, two additional dimensions for each empirical article
were gathered. “Research design” was classified as either
“cross-sectional” or “longitudinal” and “sampled product cate-
gory” was coded as one of four possible categories: “good”,
“service”, “combination” (heterogeneous), or “not applicable”
(most typically applied to student sample-based studies).
3.2. Reliability
Given the subjective nature of the categorization process in
content analyses, disagreements are expected to arise between
 B.C. Williams, C.R. Plouffe / Industrial Marketing Management 36 (2007) 408–419 411

raters. A number of statistical methods can be used to evaluate
the level of consistency between the raters' coding, thus gen-
erating a formal assessment of the data's reliability. One of the
more robust and relatively conservative measures of inter-rater
reliability is Cohen's kappa, an index with a value between 1
(perfect consensus between raters) and 0 (agreement is no better
than chance) (Neuendorf, 2002). As noted in Appendix A, the
Cohen's kappa reliabilities for the eight dimensions ranged
from a high of .99 for “article type” to a low of .89 for
“topic”, well within acceptable ranges for studies of this nature
(Krippendorff, 2004; Neuendorf, 2002).
In the case of disagreements, the authors discussed the
specific article category until consensus was reached (e.g.,
Scandura & Williams, 2000). In the small number of cases in
which such discussion failed to yield an agreement, the final
classification was assigned the code suggested by the senior
author.
4. Results and analysis
A total of 1012 sales articles appeared from 1983 to 2002
across the 15 journals. As noted in Table 1, a historical view of
the frequencies reveals a steadily growing number of published
sales articles across an increasingly diverse set of journal out-
lets. The output of sales researchers has been relatively robust,
with an average of 50.6 (standard deviation of 10.9) articles
published per year during the 20-year timeframe. It comes as
little surprise that the largest percentage of sales-related manu-
scripts have appeared in JPSSM (45.1%), followed by IMM
(14.6%), and JBIM (6.9%). Interestingly, JAMS, a more gen-
erally focused marketing outlet, published the fourth largest
number of sales articles, nearly 6% of the total. Among the
three “elite” marketing journals included in this study (JM,
JMR, and MS), JM appears most receptive to sales research,
having published 5.1% of the total article pool over the exam-
ined time period, with an average of 2.6 articles per year.
These results also highlight an important—but often over-
looked—body of sales research in journals with a primarily
non-North American orientation, such as EJM (n = 25) and
IJRM (n = 17). In addition, the article frequency data reveals
that sales research appears to be of interest to both scholars and
journal editors associated with areas outside the set of “pure”
marketing journals. For instance, a modest number of sales
articles have been published in JAP during the 20-year period
(n = 13).
4.1. Article topics
The findings illustrate that there is a considerable range of
topics being addressed by researchers in the sales field. Table 2
details the frequency of the article topics across the studied
timeframe while Table 3 provides additional details and com-
mentary about each topic. The two most common topics, com-
bining for nearly one quarter of the articles, represent “classic”
salesforce issues of concern to most practicing managers: sell-
ing process and technique (n = 146) and salesperson motivation
(n = 102). Other topics receiving a great deal of attention in-
clude salesforce and marketing/firm strategy (n = 80), buyer
behavior (n = 79), supervision (n = 69), and sales organization
and positions (n = 68). Few overall topical patterns are discern-
able from the data, except for the fact that articles addressing
issues at the intersection of the salesforce and broader firm-
level strategy as well as matters delving into buyer behavior
are becoming more prevalent. The increasingly strategic posi-
tioning of the sales function by executives and the growing
sophistication with which industrial firms view their buyers
may account for the positive trend in the volume of these
studies.
Beyond the “popular” topics, it is worth considering the
topics less frequently pursued in the sales literature. Four
field-level or implementation-oriented topics (time and territory
management, quotas, forecasting, and budgeting/cost analysis)
were the least researched topics during the evaluated time
period. It is somewhat surprising to see such a small number
of articles focused in these areas, especially since these topics
are issues of daily concern to many sales managers. These four
topics may also frequently involve financial aspects of the
firm's operations. Because the marketing-finance interface,

Table 1
Sales article frequency by journal and year
1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Total
JM 0 7 1 4 5 2 3 2 2 1 2 5 1 3 4 3 2 1 2 2 52
JMR 3 3 5 5 2 2 2 3 1 2 3 2 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 36
MS 0 0 2 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 1 0 14
JAMS 3 3 3 2 4 1 5 2 5 1 3 4 2 3 3 1 3 2 8 2 60
JR 2 1 0 0 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 3 0 0 16
JBR 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 3 3 2 0 4 2 1 3 3 4 0 3 3 41
JPSSM 13 13 14 25 22 21 23 30 30 28 27 24 21 23 22 21 24 27 27 21 456
IMM 6 4 9 6 9 4 6 4 7 6 7 5 6 11 7 6 15 3 10 17 148
JBIM 0 0 0 4 3 4 2 2 4 3 4 5 1 7 12 1 5 9 3 1 70
EJM 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 6 1 4 1 2 0 5 25
IJRM 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 10 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 1 0 1 0 17
ML 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 1 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 9
P&M 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 8 0 1 1 2 2 3 2 20
JMTP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 10 2 0 1 0 9 1 4 3 35
JAP 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 1 1 1 0 1 13
Total 30 32 36 50 47 40 47 61 53 45 53 65 47 61 57 45 70 53 62 58 1012
412 B.C. Williams, C.R. Plouffe / Industrial Marketing Management 36 (2007) 408–419

Table 2
Sales article frequency by topic and year
1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Total
Selling process 1 6 9 8 6 7 4 7 6 5 4 15 11 9 5 4 14 9 8 8 146
and technique
Motivation 3 6 7 7 1 7 4 4 3 2 9 8 3 5 8 4 6 4 1 10 102
Salesforce and 3 1 1 4 4 2 1 2 3 2 4 6 5 6 4 7 6 4 10 5 80
marketing/firm
strategy
Buyer behavior 1 1 2 2 2 5 3 2 5 3 4 7 4 7 7 2 6 4 10 2 79
Supervision 1 3 3 3 1 0 1 3 5 1 4 3 4 6 5 6 5 6 6 3 69
Sales organization 3 1 2 4 3 3 1 6 0 3 1 3 1 5 11 4 8 3 2 4 68
and positions
Social, legal and 3 2 1 2 1 5 2 1 9 6 1 5 4 2 2 3 1 5 2 3 60
ethical issues
Recruiting and 4 1 4 2 4 2 4 5 2 8 4 0 2 3 1 2 4 2 3 1 58
selection
Sales evaluation 4 1 3 4 3 1 6 5 3 0 5 2 2 2 2 4 3 3 1 0 54
and performance
General selling 1 2 0 4 4 3 3 1 9 2 2 4 1 1 1 1 1 2 4 4 50
and sales
management
Technology/ 0 2 3 3 7 2 3 5 2 1 2 2 1 1 3 0 1 1 4 4 47
salesforce
automation
Training 0 1 0 1 2 0 5 2 1 3 4 1 2 5 2 1 2 3 2 7 44
Turnover and 3 2 0 1 4 2 5 7 3 1 2 2 1 2 1 0 2 3 0 2 43
retention
Measurement 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 3 0 2 3 2 3 4 2 0 4 1 4 2 34
Compensation 2 0 1 2 2 0 3 3 0 2 0 1 2 1 1 5 2 1 2 0 30
Intraorganizational 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 2 4 2 0 0 0 1 2 2 1 2 21
issues
Time and territory 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 2 0 2 0 15
management
Quotas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 5
Forecasting 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
Budgeting and 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3
cost analysis
Total 30 32 36 50 47 40 47 61 53 45 53 65 47 61 57 45 70 53 62 58 1012

cost control, and “revenue management” represent areas of
considerable interest within both academic and practitioner
circles (Marketing Science Institute, 2004), it is interesting to
note what appears to be a strong financial theme inherent in
topics of least interest to sales researchers. In addition, in a bit
of a surprise, the number of articles related to technology and
salesforce automation did not dramatically increase over the 20
examined years. Although there were four technology-oriented
articles published in each of the last 2 years studied—and
technology was a modestly frequent topic across the 2-decade
period—there was no dramatic upswing in technology-focused
manuscripts in the latter years as might have been expected
given the recent influx of technology into the business and
selling environment (Morgan & Inks, 2001).
It is also interesting to observe topical trends at the journal
level. For instance, “selling process and technique” and “moti-
vation” were among the most popular topics in the more pres-
tigious journals, including JM, JMR, and JAMS. In contrast,
MS almost exclusively published articles addressing issues
related to compensating and structuring the salesforce. IMM,
JBIM, and JPSSM published articles devoted to a wide range of
sales topics, while JAP seemed to concentrate more on moti-
vation research, not completely unexpected given this journal's
interest in individual-level cognition. But in general, no journal
appeared to focus exclusively on any one topic. In addition, the
topical patterns across the 15 journals remained somewhat
steady over the 20 years covered in this review. This relatively
consistent topical pattern may reflect the rather defined content
domain of sales research, preference for these topics by editors
and reviewers, or some combination of both.
4.2. Theoretical/conceptual foundation
Perhaps one of the more insightful ways to assess a disci-
pline's knowledge generation is to evaluate the theoretical
domains it leverages. Toward this aim, we categorized the
major theoretical/conceptual foundation of each sales article
in order to identify which disciplines and literature streams
have had the greatest influence on the field during the last 20
years as well as how those influences may have changed over
this period. Although authors commonly cited previous studies
as justification for an article's perspective without mention of
an underlying theoretical mechanism or integrated body of
literature, at issue was whether or not one or more theories or
 B.C. Williams, C.R. Plouffe / Industrial Marketing Management 36 (2007) 408–419 413

Table 3
Summary of sales research topics
Topic Description Comments
Selling process Individual-level approaches to improving the Represents the biggest theme within published sales research; dominated by
and technique effectiveness of customer and prospect interactions the individual level of analysis. Additional focus on the customer side of the
and sales outcomes. interaction dyad is needed.
Motivation Theories and practices designed to better understand Steady in popularity throughout the studied timeframe, research in this area
salespeople's goal attainment, retention, and has grown largely incremental in more recent times, perhaps because of a
satisfaction. lack of new underlying theories and applied constructs.
Salesforce and Higher level sales management issues related to the A major area not assessed as a separate topical category in prior content
marketing/firm firm's overall and/or marketing strategy. analyses of sales research. Most studies consider the primary unit of analysis
strategy to be the salesperson, not the sales function. In particular, additional focus
needed to examine the enduring problems associated with the marketing-
sales interface.
Buyer behavior Theories and models associated with the activities, Many of the same perspectives leveraged frequently, although new theories
emotions, and responses of prospects and customers. and perspectives from consumer behavior show promise in more recent
sales research.
Supervision The direction, management, guidance, and mentoring The constant supply of manuscripts reveals the popularity of this stream of
of first-level salespeople. work, but applied theoretical perspectives (e.g., transaction cost economics;
role theory) are of uncertain utility to practicing sales managers.
Sales organization The deployment of sales personnel, organizational Work in this area appears aligned with actual sales practice, with one
and positions structure, and titles/job responsibilities of salespeople. exception: the dearth of much needed research on selling teams and “next-
generation” salesforce deployment options.
Social, legal and Assessment of how the sales function impacts, or A number of areas assessed over the studied timeframe, including
ethical issues itself is impacted by, social, legal, and ethical demographic and racial composition of the salesforce; legal issues (e.g.,
trends/issues. bribes); and work–life balance for salespeople. Most empirical tests limited
to student samples.
Recruiting and The process and characteristics by which salespeople Topics included educational attainment and salesperson performance; pros/
selection are recruited and selected for the firm. cons of hiring “green” vs. “experienced” salespeople, etc.
Sales evaluation Research which endeavors to understand how to Common themes included subjective vs. objective measurement of sales
and performance measure/assess the performance of salespeople. performance; levels-of-analysis issues; other metrics of performance beyond
“traditional” ones (e.g., customer satisfaction), etc.
General selling Work which clearly pertained to the rubric of “sales Typically a small number of articles per year fell into this umbrella category.
and sales and sales management,” but for which no clear-cut
management topical coding category could be assigned.
Technology/ The impact and usage of new and emerging Individual productivity tools, including mobile phones and computers,
salesforce technologies and innovations by the salesforce in emphasized in the early years of the analysis; firmwide salesforce
automation the conduct of their day-to-day work. automation and CRM systems addressed in more recent years.
Training Strategies and techniques to ensure the salesforce is A marked uptick in published literature in the final years of the study.
prepared to serve its customers and prospects. Emerging topics include mentoring and outsourcing sales training.
Turnover and The extent to which salespeople are retained, and A fair amount of interest in the middle portion of the studied time period
retention factors which negatively/positively influence this (∼1989–1996). Perspectives from I/O psychology are heavily leveraged in
outcome. exploring this area.
Measurement Work which advances the science and practice of The vast majority of this work dealt with introducing or critiquing/refining
conducting empirical research in sales. (1) existing measurement scales, or (2) best practices on how sales
researchers should gather primary data. Little attention given to qualitative
and archival data collection methods.
Compensation Remuneration schemes and plans for rewarding the For the most part, this research involves the application of some form of
salesforce. modeling technique to help elucidate logical or idealized compensation
schemes. Potential for additional behavioral research in this domain.
Intraorganizational Factors and processes associated with how the An under-represented topic in sales research. A small number of pieces,
issues salesperson manages their own internal work mostly conceptual in nature, appeared in the latter portion of the analysis.
environment and those within it.
Time and territory Factors which influence, and mechanisms by which, An important, but little-understood topical area. More work is needed on
management the salesperson works their geographic territory or optimal call routing; equitable distribution of territories; creating territories
sales assignment (e.g., assigned industry). that are balanced in terms of revenue potential, etc.
Quotas Raw amount and metrics associated with what the Just five articles of the 1000+ examined. Research is needed on what works
salesperson is expected to sell for their firm. best: “low,” “fairly set” or “unrealistically high” sales quotas.
Forecasting Processes and techniques for predicting sales volume A dearth of attention over the studied timeframe, perhaps because many
and trends in the future. sales researchers lack the underlying methodological skills or interest.
Budgeting and Planning and monitoring associated with the Ripe for research, perhaps of a cross-disciplinary nature with tools and
cost analysis significant expenditures made on the salesforce. methods from the accounting and finance disciplines.

integrated literature streams were used to logically ground the Eight theoretical/conceptual foundation categories emerged
development of key arguments, research questions, proposi- from the inductive categorization process described previously.
tions, and/or hypotheses. Table 4 details the results of this portion of the analysis. One of
414 B.C. Williams, C.R. Plouffe / Industrial Marketing Management 36 (2007) 408–419

Table 4
Sales article frequency by theoretical/conceptual foundation and year
1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Total
“Atheoretical” 17 13 22 26 28 24 23 30 34 29 25 27 23 28 29 19 34 27 26 24 508
I/O Psychology 2 8 5 4 7 5 8 10 6 4 9 7 4 9 6 7 10 5 10 5 131
Marketing 2 0 2 1 1 1 6 5 2 2 9 11 6 8 5 4 6 7 10 11 99
(Non-CB)
Management 3 2 1 9 3 1 3 6 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 5 5 6 4 7 85
Social 2 6 3 4 4 3 3 4 4 1 4 7 4 4 3 5 4 1 4 4 74
Psychology
Cognitive 3 1 0 4 1 5 3 5 2 2 1 4 2 1 0 0 3 3 1 5 46
Psychology
Economics 1 0 2 2 2 0 1 1 0 1 0 3 2 0 4 3 4 1 2 0 29
Consumer 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 2 5 1 2 3 2 3 2 26
Behavior
Sociology 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 3 0 1 1 2 0 14
Total 30 32 36 50 47 40 47 61 53 45 53 65 47 61 57 45 70 53 62 58 1012

the more compelling findings is the substantial number of
“atheoretical” articles, that is, articles that failed to reference
an identifiable and/or coherent theoretical perspective. A re-
markable 50% of the 1012 articles were characterized as lack-
ing any discernable theoretical base according to the strict but
appropriate standard utilized in this review process. More re-
cently, sales researchers appeared to be using strong theoretical
foundations with greater frequency, but the rate of improvement
in this area is modest. Consider that during the first 5 years of
the analysis (1983–1987), some 54% of the articles were coded
as “atheoretical”. In comparison, during the last 5 years of the
study (1998–2002), approximately 45% of the articles lacked a
strong theoretical grounding. Although this result provides
some evidence of the need to improve the theoretical rigor of
sales research, as Bush and Grant (1994) observed, a percent-
age of the atheoretical articles may be attributable, in some
cases, to authors and journals attempting to more effectively
communicate with managerial audiences.
For those articles in which a definitive theoretical/conceptu-
al foundation was apparent, sales researchers most frequently
utilized theories and perspectives emanating from I/O psychol-
ogy (n = 131). Other subfields within psychology, including
social psychology (n = 74) and cognitive/learning psychology
(n = 46), are also important sources of theoretical grounding, a
clear signal to the influence of that discipline on contemporary
sales research. In addition, sales researchers are looking closer
to home for their guiding frameworks and theories. Perhaps a
sign of marketing's increasing maturity, 19.6% of the sales
articles with an identifiable theoretical/conceptual foundation
tapped into general marketing-based, non-CB related theoreti-
cal perspectives to ground their efforts. A large component of
this non-CB marketing category involved several theoretical
frameworks developed by the sales field itself in recent years,
including various models of industrial buying behavior and
selling effectiveness. Sales researchers are also more frequently
adapting CB-related theories for use in industrial settings. Fi-
nally, the management discipline, representing a number of
theories within the domains of strategy, human resource man-
agement, and organizational behavior, was the third most fre-
quent theoretical/conceptual foundation (n = 85). Despite its
obvious relevancy to sales, the sociology literature was the
least utilized theoretical perspective.
At the journal level, the trends for this dimension are even
more revealing. Those journals considered by many to be
among the most prestigious in their area of focus (e.g., JM in
general marketing, JMR in marketing research, JAP in applied
psychology) had the lowest percentage of atheoretical articles.
For instance, just 17% of sales articles appearing in JM, 25% of
the papers in JMR, and 23% of the manuscripts published in
JAP lacked a discernable theoretical foundation. JR and P&M
also had a relatively low number of atheoretical articles, at 25%
each. These statistics differ markedly from the considerably
larger incidence of atheoretical papers in such journals as
JBIM (77%), IMM (76%), and JPSSM (51%).
4.3. Article type
A core dimension of any journal article relates to its primary
purpose: does it seek to provide conceptual commentary and
conjecture on a topic or does it aim to communicate the results
of an empirical research study. Of the 1012 manuscripts ana-
lyzed, the majority (n = 738) were classified as empirical in
nature; that is, they were designed to report the findings from
some form of qualitative or quantitative data collection and
analysis exercise. A smaller number were conceptual (n = 230),
including articles positioned as literature reviews; introductions
of new models, frameworks, and taxonomies; or theoretical
analyses and related commentaries. An even smaller minority
of articles (n = 44) were classified as “other”, generally brief,
non-conventional entries, such as practitioner profiles or other
features commonly found in the early volumes of JPSSM.
Interestingly, the ratio of empirical to conceptual articles
has fluctuated over the 20-year period. In the early years
covered by the analysis, a larger percentage of articles were
empirical; in the mid-1990s, conceptual papers were more
frequently seen, and in the most recent years, there was a
shift back toward more empirical articles. Articles within the
non-traditional “other” category described above have all but
disappeared, presumably as editorial and publishing practices
have become more standardized.
 B.C. Williams, C.R. Plouffe / Industrial Marketing Management 36 (2007) 408–419 415

From a journal perspective, the ratio of empirical to concep-
tual articles is dramatically different in the subset of the highest
tier marketing journals (JM, JMR, and MS). Within these
prestigious outlets, a notable 91% of the articles (n = 93) were
empirical. In fact, during the period studied, only one elite-level
journal, JM, published any conceptual sales-related articles, the
most recent of which was back in 1991. Within the entire set of
15 journals, JBIM and IMM appear the most receptive to
conceptual manuscripts. In the 1983–2002 period, 44% of
JBIM's articles and 35% of IMM articles were classified as
conceptual. In addition to JMR and MS, four other journals (JR,
ML, P&M, and JAP) only published empirical sales articles in
the period reviewed.
4.4. Data collection method
Sales researchers employed a range of methods to collect
data across the 1012 analyzed articles. Table 5 details the
various data collection approaches by year. By far, the most
typical method of collecting data in the sales field is through the
use of surveys (n = 558). In fact, surveys were utilized as the
primary data collection method nearly three times as often as all
other data collection methods combined. Surprisingly, the fre-
quency of survey use is not declining—this despite the emer-
gence of new methods and data sources in recent times.
Collecting data via archival or secondary data sources
(n = 48), lab experiments (n = 46), and various qualitative
approaches (n = 44) appeared on an infrequent basis. It is also
interesting to note that one of the least employed methods,
although one with seemingly high relevancy to sales research,
is the field experiment (n = 25). Finally, the “other” category
(n = 17) was assigned to a small number of articles using vari-
ous, typically non-traditional approaches to data generation. In
most of these cases, the articles were quantitatively oriented
modeling papers that created “artificial” data sets in order to
evaluate a proposed model or algorithm. It is worth noting that
many studies deployed more than one data collection method
(e.g., qualitative field interviews used to design a survey, which
was later distributed to a large sample). Because the coding
approach was purposely constrained to record a single data
collection method per article, the authors sought to capture
the primary or principal method.
From a trend perspective, the pattern of data collection
methods has not dramatically shifted during the 1983–2002
period. In particular, survey research was the most dominant
method of obtaining data across the two decades evaluated,
although the use of other techniques has increased modestly
in recent years. When viewed at the journal level, JMR, JAMS,
JBR, and IJRM published articles with a wider diversity of
methods compared to other outlets.
In recent years and in appreciation of the complexities facing
the implementation of sales programs, there has been a major
call for more longitudinal data collection efforts within the
marketing field. However, it appears that sales researchers
have yet to heed this suggestion. A revealing finding from
this analysis is the severe imbalance between cross-sectional
and longitudinal sales research designs. Over 98% of the em-
pirical articles in this review relied on purely cross-sectional
data gathering methods. Interestingly, the number of longitudi-
nal studies did not increase in the latter years of the analysis,
despite the emergence and acceptance of more sophisticated,
multiple time period approaches. In fact, only one article made
use of a longitudinal approach within the last 5 years of the
review.
4.5. Sampling
A researcher's decision as to what source they will use to
collect their data has important implications in a practical and
theoretical sense. As depicted in Table 6, we found that sales
researchers have relied on a range of sampling sources. Not
surprisingly, one-half of the empirical articles focused on the
individual salesperson as the primary unit sampled (n = 373), an
approach that remained the most frequent over the entire 20
years investigated. Sales managers and other executive-level
individuals were the second most frequently sampled source on
an overall basis (n = 104), but sampling at this level has not
always been as popular as it appears in the aggregate. In certain
years, the sampling of buyers was an especially common strat-
egy within sales research. For instance, in 1997, nearly 27% of
studies directly tapped the buyer side of the dyad compared to
approximately 5% that sampled sales managers.
The data also imply that multiple sampling techniques (e.g.,
collecting data from both salespeople and their managers and/or
salespeople and customers) are occurring with greater frequen-
cy in more recent years. During the first 5 years investigated,
less than 1% of empirical research deployed a multiple sample
design. Yet, nearly 11% of the studies had multiple sampled

Table 5
Empirical sales article frequency by data collection method and year
1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Total
Survey 19 14 21 20 14 21 27 29 31 25 38 37 26 35 37 24 36 36 32 37 558
Archival/ 1 3 2 2 5 0 2 4 4 3 3 4 1 1 0 4 3 1 4 1 48
Secondary Data
Lab Experiment 1 1 0 1 2 2 0 3 3 2 3 2 6 2 1 3 1 5 2 6 46
Qualitative 1 2 1 3 3 2 1 3 0 1 1 0 3 2 2 5 5 1 5 3 44
Methods
Field Experiment 1 2 0 0 0 3 3 0 1 2 0 4 2 1 0 0 2 1 2 1 25
Other 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 2 1 2 1 1 1 0 1 0 17
Total 24 22 25 28 24 28 33 43 39 33 45 49 39 43 41 37 48 43 46 48 738
416 B.C. Williams, C.R. Plouffe / Industrial Marketing Management 36 (2007) 408–419

Table 6
Empirical sales article frequency by sampling approach and year
1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Total
Salespeople 11 12 16 21 11 15 18 23 15 12 23 28 15 20 24 15 24 24 19 27 373
Sales Manager 5 2 4 1 3 3 7 6 5 6 10 5 4 3 2 7 9 6 10 6 104
Buyers 1 4 3 0 1 6 4 1 7 4 2 7 6 7 11 3 3 2 7 5 84
Students 4 2 1 3 4 3 1 4 5 2 4 0 5 3 1 3 2 7 2 4 60
Other 2 1 1 2 4 0 2 4 5 3 3 4 3 3 0 4 4 1 3 1 50
Multiple 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 5 2 6 3 5 6 7 3 5 6 3 5 5 67
Total 24 22 25 28 24 28 33 43 39 33 45 49 39 43 41 37 48 43 46 48 738

Goods Sample 14 12 11 12 11 15 19 21 13 17 26 28 16 22 19 15 23 16 22 23 355

Services Sample 1 1 7 5 3 2 5 8 3 2 1 2 6 3 4 3 3 5 5 4 73
Combination 5 7 5 8 8 9 8 6 15 9 13 14 13 14 16 12 17 13 13 17 222
Not Applicable 4 2 2 3 2 2 1 8 8 5 5 5 4 4 2 7 5 9 6 4 88
Total 24 22 25 28 24 28 33 43 39 33 45 49 39 43 41 37 48 43 46 48 738

units in the last 5 years analyzed. The use of student samples,
while decreasing somewhat in popularly over the 20 years of
the study, remained a relatively common data collection strat-
egy. Finally, empirical articles using “other” sampled units—
such as industry-level databases and archival data repositories
in the case of quantitative studies, or various media and other
physical artifacts in the case of qualitative research—were not
pervasive.
At a journal level, there are few discernable trends, although
some journals seemed to favor certain sampling designs. For
instance, none of the sales articles published in JM used stu-
dents as the primary sample, yet approximately 20% of the
empirical pieces in JMR and P&M relied on student samples.
JMTP and P&M appeared to be favorable outlets for studies
using multiple sample designs, with 19.2% and 15% of their
respective articles tapping more than one data source, and it is
little surprise that MS, with its traditionally heavy focus on
modeling and archival data, had the lowest frequency of re-
search using the individual salesperson as the sampled unit.
Other outlets with a lower number of salesperson-only samples
included ML (33% of articles used salesperson-only samples)
and IJRM (31% of studies).
Another aspect of sampling involves the industry environ-
ment represented in each study. Durable “goods” companies are
the dominant focus of sales researchers, with nearly 50% of all
empirical studies utilizing samples from firms or individuals
associated with the sale of tangible products. Although services
represent the largest component of the global economy (Rust,
2004), studies that exclusively sampled services firms are con-
siderably less frequent in sales research. What's more, it was
informally observed that the vast majority of services-only sales
research focused on the insurance industry, with very little work
addressing other important service contexts. The goods/services
coding distinction was not applicable to 12% of the studies,
primarily those using student samples.
4.6. Data analysis techniques
Once data is collected, it may be analyzed and reported in
innumerable ways. As noted by Table 7, sales researchers
deployed a variety of analytical techniques in their published
studies. Unlike the overwhelming preference for survey data
collection, no single analytical method appeared to dominate
the sales field. The most popular approaches for analyzing
empirical data included the use of univariate, multiple, or
logistic regression (23.7%), analysis of variance techniques
(22.9%), and structural equation modeling (15%). A surpris-
ingly large number of articles used basic analytical approaches,

Table 7
Empirical sales article frequency by data analysis method and year
1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Total
Regression 4 8 10 6 7 5 8 10 10 6 8 12 9 14 12 5 12 12 7 10 175
Analysis of 8 7 1 7 2 7 7 10 11 12 8 9 14 8 5 10 7 12 10 14 169
Variance
Descriptives 3 0 7 4 6 7 8 5 11 10 9 9 7 5 3 5 8 3 5 3 118
S.E.M. 1 0 4 1 2 2 3 1 3 8 9 0 9 12 9 7 8 16 16 111
Correlations 5 1 1 0 1 4 4 3 2 0 3 6 1 1 2 1 4 3 2 1 45
Qualitative 1 2 1 0 0 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 4 1 3 3 4 1 3 3 31
Analysis
Other 0 2 2 2 2 0 1 5 0 2 0 2 1 2 1 3 1 1 2 0 29
Factor Analysis 0 1 1 4 0 2 1 2 1 0 5 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 0 1 28
Data Classification 2 1 2 1 2 0 0 1 3 0 1 1 2 2 1 0 1 1 1 0 22
Longitudinal Data 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 10
Analysis
Total 24 22 25 28 24 28 33 43 39 33 45 49 39 43 41 37 48 43 46 48 738
 B.C. Williams, C.R. Plouffe / Industrial Marketing Management 36 (2007) 408–419
including simple descriptive statistics (16%) and correlations
(6.1%). The least popular analytical methods within sales re-
search were factor analysis (3.8%), data classification
approaches (e.g., cluster and discriminant analysis–3%), and
methods suited for longitudinal data (e.g., time-series model-
ing–1.4%). Nearly 4% of the empirical articles were coded as
“other” to reflect their use of a wide range of less mainstream,
primarily model-based analytical approaches.
It was not surprising to find an increasing use of more
sophisticated techniques such as SEM coupled with a cor-
responding decrease in the frequency of studies reporting only
basic descriptives and correlations. Both regression and
ANOVA-based methods remained quite popular among sales
researchers during the entire 20-year timeframe. Analytical
methods appropriate for qualitative data, although experiencing
an apparent drop in popularity in the 1990s, were seen with
regular frequency in the latter years of the studied timeframe.
At the journal level, JPSSM published the widest range of
analytical methods while MS published the most narrow. JM
and JAMS appeared more favorably inclined toward articles
using structural equation-based approaches, with SEM used in
34.9% and 35.7% of their respective empirical sales articles.
Interestingly, qualitative analysis most frequently appeared in
JR, with 12.5% of this journal's empirical sales articles utilizing
one or more qualitative techniques.
5. Implications
Without question, the selling and sales management field
has generated a significant body of knowledge in recent dec-
ades. The many articles reviewed in this content analysis rep-
resent an increasingly substantial base of intellectual capital
relevant to many stakeholders—those interested in sales re-
search, those in industrial marketing, and others within and
beyond the academy. Yet, despite this unquestionable progress
in knowledge generation and dissemination, this analysis iden-
tified a number of areas for concern and further reflection by
members of the sales community.
At the highest level, the frequency data paint a mixed picture
for sales scholars. First, it is clear that sales researchers face
considerable challenges when attempting to publish in the high-
est strata of marketing journals. Of the articles appearing in the
study time period, JM, JMR, and MS published a mere 10% of
the total. What's more, today's sales researchers must confront
especially tough historical trends if they seek to publish purely
conceptual work at top-tier journal outlets. In fact, this analysis
revealed a dearth of conceptual sales articles at the elite mar-
keting journals, with the most recent non-empirical sales man-
uscript appearing some 15 years ago.
However, the preceding may be somewhat balanced by the
growing number of field-specific and secondary journals, many
of whom, such as IMM and JBIM, publish more than four
issues per year. Some of these alternative outlets include titles
that many sales scholars may not immediately consider as
primary venues for disseminating their research, such as JAP
and JMTP. In addition, the data in this analysis highlight the
idea that sales research is being advanced by scholars outside of
417
North America, as is evidenced by the encouraging number of
sales articles found in IJRM and EJM. This fact, combined with
the presence of sales research in journals outside the core set of
marketing outlets, such as I/O psychology, suggest the need for
greater awareness, collaboration, and integration across the
seemingly artificial geographic and discipline-based boundaries
of the sales community.
Overall, sales researchers have demonstrated surprising con-
sistency in their topic selection during the studied timeframe.
While this lack of variation can be quite helpful in building a
strong body of knowledge that includes multiple replications
and extensions of earlier work, it may signal some degree of
stagnation or, at the very least, an opportunity to explore new
issues. At a practical level, the findings imply the need to
ensure that the topics being pursued continue to be the most
relevant to sales practitioners and other key stakeholders. As
reinforced by others (e.g., Ingram, LaForge, & Leigh, 2002),
members of the sales academy must consider the alignment
between their research questions and the issues of greatest
concern to sales managers and other industrial marketing
executives. As a compliment to these results, a formal “needs
analysis” of practicing sales professionals might be considered
as one approach to formally evaluate the correlation between
the research efforts of academics and the interests of
practitioners.
This analysis implies the need for additional research in
several topical areas. For instance, despite the increasingly
complex and strategic role played by sales (Marshall, Goebel,
& Moncrief, 2003; Weitz & Bradford, 1999), researchers ap-
pear to paint an overly simplistic view of the activities and
attributes of the individual salesperson. In addition, too little
attention has been given to examining the challenges and op-
portunities associated with the interaction between the sales
function and other firm units, such as marketing, finance, and
operations (Sujan, 1999). In this regard, we echo the call by
Tanner (2002) to change the primary unit of analysis within
sales research from the salesperson to the sales function.
In addition, many new research opportunities may emerge
by moving beyond industrial goods settings. Although consum-
er researchers significantly expanded their horizons with a shift
in focus to services in the 1980s, industrial researchers have
only begun to tap into the issues and complexities associated
with the domain of B2B services (Wilson & Smith, 1996).
Furthermore, a number of topics of special interest to field-
level sales managers appear under-explored. This review
revealed that time and territory management, quotas, forecast-
ing, and budgeting/cost analysis-focused studies were less fre-
quent despite the importance of these areas to successful sales
practice. Lastly, in the face of dramatic shifts to marketing
brought about by new technology (e.g., Gardiner, Hanna, &
LaTour, 2002), these results suggest important opportunities to
further examine the impact of automation on selling and sales
management.
The findings also support the idea that sales researchers
frequently return to many of the same theories and conceptual
models, particularly theoretical perspectives originating from
the field of psychology. Sales academics should challenge
418 B.C. Williams, C.R. Plouffe / Industrial Marketing Management 36 (2007) 408–419
themselves to apply new theoretical domains and literature
streams. Exploring new theoretical lenses from such fields as
economics, sociology, and anthropology may yield important
new insights into sales-related phenomena. This appears to be a
particular opportunity for current doctoral students and others
with the greater flexibility and resources needed to gain famil-
iarity with alternative paradigms.
In the face of increasingly vocal concerns by journal editors
and others over the lack of methodological sophistication
within marketing, the results from this analysis reinforce the
need to consider the methods utilized within sales research. In
a practical sense, an over reliance by sales researchers on
cross-sectional, single-informant survey designs implies that
many publishing outlets—particularly the top-tier journals—
may no longer be viable. At a broader, more conceptual level,
these findings should challenge the field to expand into new
methodological territory. Field experiments and supplementing
survey data with objective data sources may be reasonable
first steps toward introducing more complexity and diversity
into sales research. In the near future, collecting data from
multiple informants or over extended time periods, although
more difficult and costly, may represent the new minimum
“bar” of methodological sophistication for journal editors and
reviewers. Finally, the methodological trends illustrated in
these findings should have important implications for the
education of future sales academics. Graduate coordinators
are encouraged to use these results to reassess their program
requirements, while current and future doctoral students can
reference this data when setting their own personal develop-
mental agendas.
Other stakeholders should consider these findings closely.
For instance, journal editors, critical gatekeepers in the knowl-
edge creation and dissemination system, are encouraged to
examine their own review practices in light of these results. In
particular, editors should question if and how their editorial
policies and procedures may have contributed to the shortcom-
ings highlighted by this analysis. A number of factors, such as
the identification of special issue topics and the selection and
use of reviewers, might be considered as but a few strategies to
improve the current state of affairs.
Because of the important role played by sales in most, if not
all industrial firms, this analysis should raise a number of
concerns for managers. Although the success factors for effec-
tively managing the salesforce have changed dramatically in
recent decades, sales academics appear tardy in both identifying
and addressing the new issues in need of study. Likewise,
popular press anecdotes reveal a set of enduring management
problems that continue to challenge sales managers (e.g., Ligos,
2004). Although our findings reveal that many of the “classic”
topics typically pursued by sales researchers have generated a
considerable body of academic knowledge, the insights of this
research seldom appear to make their way to the practitioner
ranks. Obviously, proper sharing of these lessons requires more
effective outreach by academics to the managerial community.
In addition, managers should be encouraged to consider these
findings when targeting their time and attention to specific
journal outlets of greatest relevance to their needs.
Evaluating an academic discipline's knowledge production
and diffusion is a daunting, complex, and ultimately essential
responsibility for any community of scholars. Analyzing the
content of academic journals is only one approach to such a
task, but it may be one of the most revealing. Clearly, there are
important limitations to any content analysis, including the
challenges associated with subjective coding and the proper
management of the sheer volume of data, yet such an approach
can yield unique insights. In isolation, each journal article
offers an acute view into a particular issue, not only the original
author's ideas and frames of reference, but also those held by
reviewers, editors, and readers. When aggregated together,
however, a collection of journal articles can reveal the larger
ebbs and flows that mark a field's advancement as well as
issues in need of addressing before future progress can be
achieved. The results from this content analysis should encour-
age continued dialogue and renewed debate over the future
development of the sales field.
Appendix A. Inter-Rater Reliabilities
Dimension Cohen's kappa (κ)
Article type .99
Research design (longitudinal vs. cross-sectional) .97
Sample product type/industry .96
Data collection method .94
Data analysis method .92
Theoretical/conceptual foundation .91
Sampled unit .91
Topic .89
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Brian C. Williams (M.A., Northwestern University) is a marketing doctoral
candidate at the Terry College of Business, University of Georgia.
Christopher R. Plouffe (Ph.D., University of Western Ontario) is an assistant
professor of marketing at Washington State University.