مطالعه طولی از کار تازه وارد جاگیر شده و نتایج فروش فروشندگان بیمه عمر

From the perspective of job embeddedness theory, this study explores the influence of sales training and job embeddedness on the sales performance and turnover behavior of newcomer employees. To acquire performance and turnover data, this study surveys 327 new financial salespersons after they have spent some time at a large life insurance company. With this data, the study uses regression to explore the hypotheses. Given that salespersons are heterogeneous, the study also employs quantile regression to clarify the effects of sales training and job embeddedness on sales performance. The empirical results support the following conclusions: first, in general, sales training is partially associated with sales outcomes, while job embeddedness is positively related to sales performance and negatively related to turnover. In particular, the model accurately predicts the consequences for newcomers with below-midlevel sales, suggesting that job embeddedness effectively improves the sales of poor performers

The failure rate of newly contracted insurance salespersons is high (Griffeth and Hom, 2001 and Turner, 2008). Newcomer turnover is problematic since companies invest capital in recruitment and training. Instability in the employment of sales staff may also impede service consistency (Trevor & Nyberg, 2008). Sales managers must, therefore, have indicators for effectively monitoring the performance and behavior of newcomers to assist them during training. Researchers suggest that employees who have social relationships gain support and resources from such relationships and are more likely to retain their positions, thus increasing the probability of success (Mossholder et al., 2005 and Üstüner and Godes, 2006). Many recent studies apply job embeddedness (JE) theory to explain turnover behavior (Lee et al., 2004 and Mitchell et al., 2001). Their findings imply that job-related inertia—including employee social bonds (or links), environmental adaption (fit), and job alteration (sacrifice)—helps employees stay and perform ( Lee et al., 2004, Mallol et al., 2007 and Mitchell et al., 2001). Many empirical studies use JE to explain significant variance in employee turnover ( Clinton et al., 2012 and Crossley et al., 2007). These results are valuable, but JE theory is still under development ( Mitchell et al., 2001 and Zhang et al., 2012). Most research to date restricts itself to examining behavioral outcomes. Few studies in this area, however, have evaluated application issues or model potency. Mitchell et al. (2001) note that turnover studies using actual turnover as the criterion (instead of intent to leave) take a long time to conduct. Employee changes need to be incorporated. Allen (2006) shows that job embeddedness plays an important role in understanding newcomer turnover and thus proposes that organizations apply a wide variety of techniques to ease newcomer accommodation. This implies that social fixity is important in helping newcomers transition from being outsiders to becoming active, participating insiders. Allen's research has some limitations, however. First, Allen's sample consists of employees of a large financial institution, and thus salespersons are not included. Mitchell et al. (2001) suggest that some empirical issues also clearly need attention. Salespersons do not achieve a high level of job stability or performance until they have cultivated strong work relationships and achieved person–organization compatibility (Mossholder et al., 2005 and Valentine et al., 2002). The training of new sales employees differs from that of other staff. This study, therefore, examines the applicability of JE theory to sales training in hopes of contributing to the verification of sales effectiveness. Furthermore, Allen (2006) does not project the effect of JE on performance. Other studies do inquire into such a relationship, but its exact nature is seldom clearly explained (Halbesleben and Wheeler, 2008 and Lee et al., 2004). The performance of financial salespersons has a direct bearing on the company's market share and, ultimately, its existence. When newly contracted salespersons do not meet predetermined performance standards, this is cause for intervention by and discussion with their managers. Without improvement, newcomers are fired. This study examines salespersons in an effort to produce a predictive model for their retention. Since sales performance is a key topic in this industry, this study also uses actual performance data to assess model fit and clarify the relationship between JE and performance. Regarding model potency, Mitchell et al. (2001) argue that job embeddedness is conceived of as a combination of forces in predicting turnover, but empirical studies need further attention. Some studies (e.g., Clinton et al., 2012 and Crossley et al., 2007) focus on conceptualization issues; however, salespersons are a heterogeneous group, and salespersons with different production levels will require different forms of management involving different short-term goals. Thus, this study applies quantile regression to compare production to effectively predict the association between job embeddedness and sales performance in cases where no relationship, or only a weak one, exists among the means of variables. It is important to highlight the necessity of developing a theoretical understanding—especially with regard to testing the integrity of the JE model—before exploring the relationships between job embeddedness and other outcomes (Mitchell et al., 2001 and Zhang et al., 2012). This study thus offers a contribution by exploring the model's validity. Accordingly, this study explores the effects of sales training and job embeddedness on sales performance and turnover (Fig. 1). In pursuing these research objectives, this study expects to contribute to the theoretical development of this field by clarifying the relationship between JE and performance and examining model precision, focusing on financial services salespersons.

The goal of this study is to identify, on the basis of the JE paradigm, ways to promote financial salespersons' job-related outcomes and work stability. In particular, this study tries to understand why a salesperson might be fired on the basis of performance downcast during his or her training period and the factors that affect this. This study finds that sales training is partially associated with sales outcomes, and demonstrates that JE ameliorates the performance of new salespersons with lower performance (i.e., at the 0.05 and 0.25 quantiles). Thus, our model accurately predicts sales production, suggesting that JE effectively improves the sales of poor performers. 5.1. Theoretical contributions The findings of this study accord with the notion that embedded resources are indicative of job stimuli (Gorgievski and Hobfoll, 2008, Lee et al., 2004 and Mitchell et al., 2001) and newcomer attachment to unfamiliar environments (Allen, 2006). The main contributions of the study are described below. First, this study extends the scale of JE to the context of the sale of financial services and helps illuminate the causes for the termination of salespersons over the course of one year. Second, this study expands our understanding of the role of links (a dimension of JE) and of training in this process. Lee et al. (2004) use employee tenure to measure links; this study adds types of licenses, types of classes, and training hours to understand in-depth the situations and conditions of social bonding in relation to organizational activities ( Mitchell et al., 2001). Third, this study uses quantile regression to clarify the relationship between JE and performance. The result reveals that the hypothesized model has weak predictive power for high-performance salespersons, which is one of the reasons why the relationship between the two variables is indistinct (e.g., Halbesleben & Wheeler, 2008). Finally, the hypothesized model is superior to previous models in considering cases of inferior performance, and the findings verify several ingredients that nurture the embeddedness of newcomers in organizations. 5.2. Practical implications Aside from the role of embeddedness in sales training, a valuable technique for managers will be to employ embeddedness in helping newcomers thrive in the job (Model 6 in Table 2 shows that the effect of JE on turnover is greater than that of sales training). Generally, with a view to decreasing instability, JE should be an effective way to improve turnover behavior. Sales managers should pay close attention to the attendance records of new salespersons and increase their opportunities to link to activities and people in agencies, especially for new salespersons who are at risk. To increase the degree of fit, managers should observe the compatibility of newcomers with their work contexts and regularly ask them to share their experiences to confirm the adequacy of resources. These results offer sales managers several effective prescriptions, suggesting a new way of thinking about embeddedness in which managers will propose counseling recommendations based on a comprehensive diagnosis of a salesperson's performance issues. With a view to increasing productivity (i.e., at the midlevel quantile), newcomers should be encouraged to participate in different types of training classes, but with a continued focus on promoting their participation in learning activities and connection to people in the organization. For inferior performers (i.e., at the 0.05 quantile), sales managers should focus on license counseling and training courses. This is because, all other things being equal, the more basic licenses a salesperson acquires, and the more areas they are trained in, the better their output. However (again, all other things being equal), training hours have a negative effect on sales performance, which reveals that an excessive training load will crowd out other important activities (e.g., customer contact). Thus, sales managers should follow up on training reports to regulate the quantity and quality of struggling newcomers' learning. Conversely, organizations should develop incentives to encourage top sellers (i.e., at the 0.95 quantile) to tackle higher-level licensing exams (e.g., for cross-selling specific financial products). To increase the capacity of these outstanding newcomers, selling opportunities should always be provided, allowing them to sustain performance goals and learn by doing. In general, embeddedness management is especially useful in directing poor performers during their accommodating period. But it is not adequate on its own—or in all cases—and sales managers should try to implement other techniques to cultivate capacity, especially in top sellers. 5.3. Limitations and suggestions This study has several limitations and offers possible directions for future research. First, the author examines the actual performance and turnover behavior of salespersons but does not consider the dynamics of job embeddedness. Social relationships are not static but change over time (Ostgaard & Birley, 1996). The employment stability of newcomers increases as they adapt to a new environment (Allen, 2006) and accumulate more resources (Gorgievski & Hobfoll, 2008). Future research can explore the dynamic issues of salesperson embeddedness. Second, this study does not consider the effect of off-the-job embeddedness on sales performance and turnover behavior. Exterior social relations—such as those with family, friends, and church members (Hobfoll, 1989 and Hobfoll, 2001)—are important resources for individuals. When the off-the-job embeddedness of a salesperson is high, he or she has more potential customers. From the perspective of social exchange theory, Ahearne, Bhattacharya, and Gruen (2005) suggest that customers will be more likely to identify with salespersons or their companies, buy more of the latter's products, or tend to engage in off-role behaviors, such as recommendations. Positive interactions between salespersons and customers will increase the recommendations of the latter (Crosby et al., 1990). Further observation of off-the-job embeddedness will better clarify the influence of such relationships on the work outcomes of salespersons. Finally, this study does not probe the effects of sales supervisor leadership on the job stability of salespersons. Managers influence the social capital of employees and their performance (Carmeli, Ben-Hador, Waldman, & Rupp, 2009). Relations-oriented leadership enhances the transfer and exchange of resources and knowledge between managers and their staff (Venkataramani, Green, & Schleicher, 2010), thus improving the job fixity of employees (Sekiguchi et al., 2008). Further research on the impact of leadership styles on job embeddedness is needed.