Boundary Spanning Elements and the Marketing Function in Organizations: Concepts and Empirical Studies PDF
Preview Boundary Spanning Elements and the Marketing Function in Organizations: Concepts and Empirical Studies
Sunil Sahadev · Keyoor Purani Neeru Malhotra Editors Boundary Spanning Elements and the Marketing Function in Organizations Concepts and Empirical Studies Boundary Spanning Elements and the Marketing Function in Organizations ThiSisaFMBlankPage Sunil Sahadev (cid:129) Keyoor Purani (cid:129) Neeru Malhotra Editors Boundary Spanning Elements and the Marketing Function in Organizations Concepts and Empirical Studies Editors SunilSahadev KeyoorPurani SalfordBusinessSchool IndianInstituteofManagement UniversityofSalford Kozhikode Manchester Kerala UnitedKingdom India NeeruMalhotra AstonBusinessSchool Birmingham UnitedKingdom ISBN978-3-319-13439-0 ISBN978-3-319-13440-6(eBook) DOI10.1007/978-3-319-13440-6 SpringerChamHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2015934008 ©SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2015 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpart of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,andtransmissionor informationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilar methodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped.Exemptedfromthislegalreservationarebriefexcerpts inconnectionwithreviewsorscholarlyanalysisormaterialsuppliedspecificallyforthepurposeofbeing enteredandexecutedonacomputersystem,forexclusiveusebythepurchaserofthework.Duplication ofthispublicationorpartsthereofispermittedonlyundertheprovisionsoftheCopyrightLawofthe Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer.PermissionsforusemaybeobtainedthroughRightsLinkattheCopyrightClearanceCenter. 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Printedonacid-freepaper SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com) Contents ManagingBoundarySpanningElements:AnIntroduction. . . . . . . . . . 1 SunilSahadev,KeyoorPurani,andNeeruMalhotra CustomerCyberbullying:TheExperiencesofIndia’sInternational- FacingCallCentreAgents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 PremillaD’CruzandErnestoNoronha AStudyofServiceWorkerBurnoutinRussia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 MichelRod,NicholasJ.Ashill,andTanyaGibbs DriversofSalesperson’sCustomerOrientation:AWork ValuePerspective. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 RamendraSinghandRakeshSingh ExploringtheRoleofSalespersonAttributesandServiceBehaviors inAdaptiveSelling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 SeeMei(Mandy)LoandPiyushSharma TheMediatingRoleofRoleStressintheRelationshipBetween GoalOrientationandJobSatisfactionAmongSalespersons:An EmpiricalStudy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 SunilSahadev,KeyoorPurani,andSatishK.Nair ManagementInterventionsandProsocialBehaviours:Understanding theMediatingMechanisms. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. 99 Anna-LenaAckfeldtandNeeruMalhotra CustomerResponsestoServiceFailureandRecovery Experiences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 JaywantSinghandBenedettaCrisafulli v vi Contents BoundaryObjectsandEndUserEngagement:Illustrationsfrom theSocialEnterpriseDomain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 UnnikrishnanK.NairandAnkitaTandon BoundarySpanningChallengesinaCo-CreativeEnterprise:Lesson fromSocialProblem-SolvingCollaborations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 SatishK.Nair Managing Boundary Spanning Elements: An Introduction SunilSahadev,KeyoorPurani,andNeeruMalhotra Introduction Asanorganisationexpandsintodifferent countries aswellastoentirelydifferent functions, organisational boundaries are formed, which could eventually restrict synergy and therefore efficiency. As Aaker (2008) extols in his book ‘Spanning Silos’, organisations could degenerate into ‘silos’ or organisational units that contain their own management team and talent and lack the motivation to collab- orate with or even communicate with other organisational units. Further, with the emergence of complex organisational structures and a strong emphasis on outsourcing, organisational boundaries have become very flexible and difficult to define in rigid inelastic terms (Cilliers 2001; Brusoni et al. 2001). Boundary spanning activities and boundary spanning behaviours have thus become increas- ingly important and critical to operating successful organisations. Accordingly, a largenumberofacademicstudieshavelookedatboundaryspanningbehaviourand issues associated with it. These studies attempt to cover important dimensions of boundary spanning activities and bring new ideas and perspectives into this discourse. S.Sahadev(*) SalfordBusinessSchool,UniversityofSalford,Salford,UK e-mail:[email protected] K.Purani IndianInstituteofManagement,Kozhikode,India e-mail:[email protected] N.Malhotra AstonBusinessSchool,AstonUniversity,AstonTriangle,B47ETBirmingham,UK e-mail:[email protected] ©SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2015 1 S.Sahadevetal.(eds.),BoundarySpanningElementsandtheMarketingFunction inOrganizations,DOI10.1007/978-3-319-13440-6_1 2 S.Sahadevetal. Theterm‘boundaryspanning’hasachievedmuchtractionrightfromitsincep- tion in the early 1970s and late 1960s. A number of organisational theorists like Brown(1966),Aldrich(1971),AikenandHage(1968),AldrichandHerker(1977), and Leifer and Delbecq (1978) etc. who pioneered the initial theoretical develop- ment in this field, considered boundary spanning as an important construct to explain the boundaries of an organisation, inter organisational exchanges, depen- dence and in general to explain the concept of an organisation. An important purpose of the boundary-spanning construct was (and still continues to be) to explain the dynamics of the information absorption of an organisation. In fact, as LeiferandDelbecq(1978,pp.40–41)putsit: Personswhooperateattheperipheryorboundaryofanorganization,performingorgani- zational relevant tasks, relating the organization with elements outside it, are called boundaryspanners.Theyareprimarilyresponsibleforinformationexchangebetweenthe organizationanditstaskenvironment By this definition, a broad set of activities and organisational tasks can be included within the framework of boundary spanning responsibilities. It also implies that boundary-spanning activities encompasses a large array of organisational roles and skills across different organisational contexts. Endorsing thisview,severalauthorsfromdiversespheresofresearchhaveusedthe‘boundary spanning’frameworktoanalyseandexploredifferenttypesoforganisationalroles. Typical examples include Gasson (2006) and Lindgren et al. (2008) who used boundary spanning effectiveness to explain the tasks of Information Systems managers in IS design; Tortoriello and Krackhardt (2010) who explain the effec- tiveness of R&D managers using the depth of their boundary spanning ties or exploringthe need for boundaryspanning expertise incross-culturalproject man- agementdomainbyDiMarcoetal.(2010). Research studies spawned by ‘boundary spanning theory’ can be seen as com- prising of two different research tracks. One research track emphasises on organisational theory and focuses more on organisational systems and networks. Thislineofresearchtakesageneralmanagementperspectivewithgreateremphasis on organisational learning, innovation and collaboration. These studies look at boundary spanning roles of organisational actors as they span the boundaries betweendifferentorganisationalfunctionsornetworkswithinasingleorganisation. Boundary spanning activities that traverse different organisations or autonomous actors representing varied interests are not necessarily included in this stream of research. Another stream of research that adopts the basic logic of boundary spanning deals with actors that traverse the boundary between an organisation and its customers.Significantly,inthisresearchdomain,discourseonboundaryspanning behaviour is dominated by issues typical of organisational elements specifically entrustedwith the responsibilityof interacting withcustomers.Alarge volume of studies have appeared in this stream that consider issues related to salespersons, serviceworkers,healthcareworkerslikenurses,publicsectorworkerslikepolice officers etc. This is natural given the considerable size of customer facing ManagingBoundarySpanningElements:AnIntroduction 3 employees or frontline employees in the work force. While estimates vary, the percentage of work force employed in some sort of customer facing jobs in developed economies range from 20 to 30 %1 (D’Agostino et al. 2006). In fact, despitethefastandsteadygrowthofe-servicesandastrongthrusttowardsreducing facetofaceserviceorsalesexchanges,theimportanceoffrontlineemployeeshas never waned. Customer facing or frontline employees constitute a significant segment of work force and managing these employees efficiently and effectively can go a long way in generating competitive advantage for any firm. Research focusedoncustomerfacingemployeesconsidersissuesthatarerelatedtoindivid- ualslikerole-stress,motivation,satisfaction,commitment,etc.ofindividualbound- ary spanning employees. In this stream, construct definitions and cause effect relationships relate to perceptions, attitudes and behaviours of individuals rather thanorganisationsornetworks. Whilethetwostreamsofresearchemergefromthesamedefinitionofboundary spanning and share the same theoretical foundation, there exist important differ- encesintermsoffocusvariables,theoreticaltreatmentsaswellasthepurposeofthe research by way of its practical implications. The research stream that looks at boundaryspanningintermsoforganisationwidefactorsaimtocontributeinsights towards strategy development for organisational level innovation, organisational learning, knowledge management effective collaboration between organisational entities or between different organisations etc. This research stream, that take the premise that spanning boundaries of diverse professional and organizational set- tings can become a key organizational competence, has received extensive theo- reticalsupport(Grant1996;KogutandZander1992asquotedinLevinaandVaast 2005)especiallyinfieldslikeinformationsystemsresearch.Ontheotherhand,the research stream focused on individuals that traverse the boundary between the organisationanditscustomersmainlylooksathowindividualattitudesandbehav- iour are shaped by spanning the boundary between the organisation and its cus- tomers.Thisresearchstreamprimarilyaimstocontributetowardshumanresources management, service quality, service processes etc. For want of another term, it may be suitable to differentiate the two streams as organisation focused and individualfocused. Even though the two research streams emanating from boundary spanning theory are both crucial in understanding an organisation’s existence, growth and relationshipswithitsmainstakeholders,thetworesearchstreamshavecompletely differentfocusandseekanswerstocompletelydifferentresearchquestions.How- ever,giventhesignificantimportanceattachedtotheboundaryspanningactivities in general, there is a vast scope for new research studies in this area. There are significant research questions to be addressed and new theoretical perspectives to beintegrated. 1Basedontheroughestimateofemployeesworkinginwholesaleandretailtrade,restaurantsand hotelsprovidedintheworkingpaperauthoredbyD’Agostinoetal.(2006).
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