Question: The MBA programme of a small Business

The MBA programme of a small Business School in the United States has always welcomed diversity in its student body and staff. Students from different countries come together in a multicultural classroom where they can share their ambitions for a career in international business. The Business School firmly believes that a combination of an international student body and an international teaching staff creates an interesting and enriching learning environment where students learn from the viewpoints of their fellow students coming from different countries. Daisy (a student from Brasil), Mario (from Italy), Benjamin (from Germany), and Yoshi (from Japan) have just undertaken a research project for their Business Research Methods course. They have worked hard throughout the entire semester and they are happy to have finished their research report. This report communicates the results of their study on the effect of salesperson behavior on customer satisfaction with a retailer. Before handing over their report over to Brian Ruiz - the initiator of the project and General Manager of the Jupiter Consumer Electronics chain – and Cedric Staples – their Business Research Methods professor - they have asked you to read and evaluate their report. You have agreed to their request and that is why you have just received the research report from Yoshi.

Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Motive for our research When making complex buying decisions consumers use a wide range of criteria for evaluating products and services. The most important criteria are product or service attributes such as price, quality, durability, and after-sales support and derived benefits from these attributes such as safety, reliability, and performance. However, sometimes consumers are also influenced by criteria or factors that are not directly related to the product and/or service such as for instance salesperson behavior. If you have ever bought a car, a new television, or a mobile phone you have probably experienced how salespeople are sometimes only focused on selling the product instead of on your specific needs, wants, and feelings as a consumer. In this study, we are interested in how the orientation (selling orientation versus customer orientation) of a salesperson influences customer satisfaction with a retailer. The Jupiter Consumer Electronics Chain is a big-box store and retailer of software, consumer electronics, computer hardware, with in store computer repair and custom computer building services and household appliances with a chain of superstores headquartered in Silicon Valley. Starting with one store located in Berkeley, California, by 2010 the chain posted sales of $12.1 billion and operated 42 stores in 12 states. Brian Ruiz, General Manager of the chain is convinced that a strong sales team can have a powerful and positive effect on the sales and market share of the company. Indeed, the Goff et al (1997) paper suggests that an improvement of a salesperson’s customer orientation (for instance by training) can add value to a company’s perception and performance. For this reason Jupiter may benefit from exerting more control over its sales force. 1.2 Objectives of our research In this study, the behavior of salespeople and the influence of this behavior on satisfaction with the retailer will be examined. We will investigate the effect of salespersons’ selling and customer orientation on satisfaction with the salesperson and satisfaction with the retailer. 1.3. Problem definition and research questions 1.3.1. Problem definition “How does the behavior of a salesperson influence customer satisfaction with the retailer?” 1.3.2. Research questions - Does salesperson behavior influence customer satisfaction with retailer? - What is salesperson customer orientation? - What is salesperson-selling orientation? - What is satisfaction with a salesperson? - What is satisfaction with the retailer? 1.4. Structure of the report Chapter 2 will describe the SOCO-model. What’s more, hypotheses will be formulated in this chapter. In chapter 3 we will describe the research design, discuss the method and procedure, sampling, and the operationalization of the variables in our model. Chapter 4 will contain the results of the study combined with an in-depth analysis of the data. Finally, in chapter 5 we will present the conclusions and provide recommendations to the Jupiter Consumer Electronics chain. Chapter 2 Theory This chapter deals with the theory we used with regard to our research project. The dependent variable – the variable of primary interest in our study - is customer satisfaction with the retailer. We based the conceptual model of our study on the model of Goff, Boles, Bellenger and Stojack (1997). The variables of our conceptual model will be introduced and defined in this chapter. What’s more, we will try to explain how and why the variables in our conceptual model are related to each other. This chapter will conclude with hypotheses relevant to our study. 2.1 Research objective Our research objective is: “How do salesperson customer orientation and salesperson selling orientation influence customer satisfaction with the retailer and is this relationship mediated by satisfaction with the salesperson.” Definition of satisfaction (Swan and Oliver, 1989, p. 518): “Satisfaction is an affective or emotional response to a specific consumption experience, with increasing satisfaction reflecting more positive affect and dissatisfaction reflecting greater negative affect.” 2.1.1 Westbrook (1981) Product performance is an important determinant of overall customer satisfaction, but according to Westbrook (1981) it is certainly not the only one. For example, Westbrook indicates that retail salespeople may also influence overall customer satisfaction with the purchase. Thus, the importance of salesperson behaviour as an antecedent of overall customer satisfaction should not be underestimated. 2.1.2 Goff, Boles, Bellenger and Stojack (1997) Goff et al. (1997) introduce the concept of SOCO to understand customer satisfaction with the retailer. SOCO stands for “salesperson Selling Orientation-Customer Orientation.” SOCO affects customer satisfaction with the salesperson and the retailer (Goff et al., 1997). Proposed is, that salesperson customer orientation will have a positive influence on both customer satisfaction with the salesperson and the retailer. On the opposite, when a salesperson acts selling oriented, this will have a negative effect on both customer satisfaction with the salesperson and the retailer. 2.2 Theoretical framework In this section, the theoretical framework will be depicted and the variables that are included in this theoretical framework will be explained. Below, in figure 1, you can see the theoretical framework that will be used in this study. Figure 2.1 Proposed Effects of Salesperson SOCO on Customer Satisfaction Figure 2.1:

2.3 Explanation of the variables in our model Salesperson Customer Orientation: The salesperson shows interest in the needs and demands of the customer and tries to provide as much information as he can. Salesperson Selling Orientation: The salesperson shows no or little interest in the needs of the customer. Satisfaction with Salesperson: Influences the overall customer satisfaction with a purchase (Westbrook, 1981). Therefore, satisfaction with the behavior of a salesperson is very important. Satisfaction with Retailer: In most cases influenced by salesperson behavior, because for the customer salespersons are an important factor in their decision making process. 2.4 Relationship between constructs This research examines the effect of salesperson behaviour on customer satisfaction in a consumer electronics setting. This research aims to prove that a salesperson selling orientation and customer orientation will affect both the customer satisfaction with the salesperson as well as satisfaction with a retailer of electronic appliances (Jupiter). Goff et al (1997) suggest that a salesperson's actions can influence customer satisfaction with the salesperson as well as the retailer. More specifically, they argue that a selling orientation will have a negative effect on satisfaction with the salesperson and satisfaction with the retailer. On the other hand, a customer oriented approach will have a positive effect on satisfaction with the salesperson and satisfaction with the retailer. Hence, we are able to develop the following hypotheses: 2.5 Hypotheses In this research, we would like to solve the central problem by the means of several hypotheses. In a following chapter, these hypotheses will be tested on their validity through statistical testing. Hypothesis 1: When a salesperson uses a customer orientated sales approach, it will lead to increased customer satisfaction with the salesperson. Hypothesis 2: When a salesperson uses a selling orientated sales approach, it will lead to decreased customer satisfaction with the salesperson. Hypothesis 3: When a salesperson uses a customer orientated sales approach, it will lead to increased customer satisfaction with the retailer. Hypothesis 4: When a salesperson uses a selling orientated sales approach, it will lead to decreased customer satisfaction with the retailer. Hypothesis 5: Customer satisfaction with the salesperson will predict satisfaction with the retailer. Higher satisfaction with the salesperson will lead to an increased satisfaction with the retailer. Chapter 3 Research design In this chapter, we will explain how we set up our study. More specifically, we will pay attention to the study setting, the procedure, the sampling technique we used, sample size, and the operationalization of the variables in our study. 3.1 Research method and procedure A field study was used to test the hypotheses we developed. Data were collected from the stream of shoppers leaving Jupiter stores between the hours of 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, over a three-week period in July 2011. A total of 253 consumers who left the store with a plastic bag displaying the store’s logo were asked to participate in our study. Respondents were asked to complete a personally administered questionnaire. 3.2 Sampling We used convenience sampling for our study. In multivariate research, the sample size should be preferably ten times as large as the number of variables in the study. Since our model includes four variables, our minimum sample size is 40. A total of 50 consumers (31 women) agreed to participate in our study. The median age of the respondents was 51 years. The respondents were customers of one of the Jupiter stores, who had been in contact with a salesperson of the store. 3.3 Operationalization of our variables To gather the necessary data a questionnaire has been developed. This questionnaire can be found in appendix 2. The measures were adapted from Goff et al (1997). Every variable (salesperson customer orientation, salesperson selling orientation, satisfaction with salesperson, and satisfaction with retailer) was measured with multi-item scales. All the items are tested with 5-point Likert scales with end-points labelled “completely disagree” (1) and “completely agree” (5). As can be seen in table 3.1, the measures were of adequate reliability. All measured Cronbach’s alphas were larger than .70. Although the fact that item 15 and 16 were sometimes a bit confusing for the respondents, their Cronbach’s alpha is larger than 0.70. This is why we decided to include these results as well in our model. Table 3.1:

At the end of the questionnaire two general questions are asked, i.e. the age (specific) and gender of the respondent. Chapter 4 Data analysis In this chapter, we will analyze our data. In the first section, we will discuss the descriptive statistics. Next, we will provide a correlation matrix which provides an overview of the relationships between the variables in our conceptual model. Finally, we will test our hypotheses. 4.1 Descriptive statistics Table 5.1 offers a general picture of our data. The table shows the salespersons of the Jupiter Consumer Electronics chain are very much oriented towards the consumer and less towards closing the deal. Satisfaction with the salesperson is therefore reasonably high. Also, the consumers are very satisfied with Jupiter. Table 4.1:

4.2 Correlation In order to test whether there is a relationship between our variables we produced a correlation matrix, which is shown in table 5.2. Table 4.2:

Table 5.2 shows that there is a strong correlation between all the variables. Selling orientation and customer orientation are negatively correlated, selling orientation is negatively correlated with the mediator and the dependent variable, customer orientation is positively correlated with these variables, and satisfaction with the salesperson and satisfaction with the retailer are positively correlated. 4.3 Testing our hypotheses In chapter 3 we stated the hypotheses of our model. In this section we will carry out the statistical analysis of these hypotheses. All tests performed are with a reliability of 95%. Table 5.3 provides the standardized estimates of the regression coefficients (the beta’s) together with their respective significance levels and the adjusted R2 values of the models. A more complete overview of the statistical analyses can be found in Appendix 3. Table 4.3:



The results show that a selling orientation has a negative effect on satisfaction with the retailer. This effect is mediated by satisfaction with the salesperson. These results support hypotheses 2, 4, and 5. Hypothesis 1 was also supported; a customer orientation has a positive effect on satisfaction with the salesperson. However, no support was found for hypothesis 3; a customer orientation does not affect satisfaction with the retailer. 4.4 Summary The results show that customers are very satisfied with the shop and with the salespersons of the shop. Salespersons are to a large extent focused on the consumer, and less on closing the deal. This is desirable because a customer orientation has a positive effect on satisfaction with the salesperson and a selling orientation has a negative effect on both satisfaction with the salesperson as on satisfaction with the retailer. F-tests showed that our model was to some extent useful in predicting satisfaction with the retailer. We acknowledge however that the model can probably be improved in order to better predict the level of satisfaction with the retailer. Chapter 5 Conclusions and recommendations In this chapter the conclusions of our research are presented. The conclusions are based on a combination of our theory and the empirical research findings. This will be done in the first section of this chapter. The second section will contain a discussion on the way the variables can be interpreted. In the third and last section the recommendations to IT’s management are given. 5.1 Conclusions We based our model on the model of Goff et al. (1997). From our model we derived several hypotheses. These hypotheses were tested through a field study. Fifty consumers who left the consumer electronics store responded to our questionnaire. Hence, we were able to judge in what way salesperson customer orientation and salesperson selling orientation influence customer satisfaction with the salesperson and customer satisfaction with the retailer. The analyses of our data showed that salesperson customer orientation does not have a significant direct influence on customer satisfaction with the retailer (hypotheses 3). Therefore, we had to reject this hypothesis. However, salesperson customer orientation and salesperson selling orientation do have significant effect on customer satisfaction with the salesperson (hypotheses 1 and 2). We also found a significant, negative relationship between the selling orientation of the salesperson and the level of satisfaction with the retailer, this implies that we can accept hypothesis 4. Moreover, customer satisfaction with the salesperson has a significant positive direct influence on customer satisfaction with the retailer. We therefore conclude that salesperson selling orientation has an indirect influence on customer satisfaction with the retailer through customer satisfaction with the salesperson. Since we were not able to detect a positive direct relationship between salesperson customer orientation and customer satisfaction with the retailer, we cannot conclude that there is an indirect relationship between those two variables via the mediating variable. 5.2 Discussion For us it is surprising that salesperson customer orientation does not have a direct significant influence on customer satisfaction with the retailer. We strongly believed that such a direct influence exists; first because of our own intuition (a salesperson does have a representative function of the store), but also according to the findings of Goff et al. (1997). An explanation for the difference between the Goff et al. (1997) paper and our research that Goff et al. focus on car salesman whereas we focus on salespersons in a consumer electronics store. Salespersons may play a more important role in the decision making process of consumers when they buy a car in comparison to when they buy electronic appliances such as an electronic toothbrush or a toaster. 5.3 Recommendations When we take a look at the research results and the conclusions we have drawn in the previous chapter, we come up with the following recommendations to the management of retailers in consumer electronics retailers in general and the Jupiter Consumer Electronics chain in particular. This study provides some evidence that utilizing a customer orientated selling style for electronics retail purchases is appreciated by buyers and may result in long-term rewards for the salesperson. However, a customer orientated approach of the salesperson does not have an indirect effect on the level of satisfaction with the retailer. On the other side, a selling orientated approach of the salesperson does have an indirect negative effect on the level of satisfaction with the retailer. Therefore reducing selling orientation of the salesperson during retail sales training can add additional value to the electronics retailer’s product offering and influence the customer’s perception of the retailer. It may also generate more favorable word-of-mouth communication. This shows that the influence of the salesperson’s customer orientation and selling orientation are not to be underestimated. Further research can tackle the problem of the relatively low R2 by including more significant variables in the model. Another interesting opportunity for further research would be to identify specific salesperson behavior that signals to the buyer whether the salesperson is customer orientated or selling orientated. Hence, retailers in consumer electronics can identify specific behavior that optimizes customer satisfaction. Salespersons can be trained to behave in a certain way when they talk to consumers. References Goff, Boles, Bellenger and Stojack, Journal of Retailing, Volume 73(2), 1997, “The influence of salesperson selling behaviors on customer satisfaction with products”. Swan and Oliver, Journal of Retailing, Volume 73(2), 1989, “Postpurchase Communications by Consumers”, p. 516-533. Westbrook, Journal of Retailing, Volume 57 (Fall) 1981, “Sources of consumer satisfaction with retail outlets” p. 68-85. Internet: homepage Jupiter Electronics The Business Studies programme of a small university in the United States has always welcomed diversity in its student body and staff. Students from different countries come together in a multicultural classroom where they can share their ambitions for a career in international business. The university firmly believes that a combination of an international student body and an international teaching staff creates an interesting and enriching learning environment where students learn from the viewpoints of their fellow students coming from different countries. Daisy (a student from Brasil), Mario (from Italy), Benjamin (from Germany), and Yoshi (from Japan) have just undertaken a research project for their Business Research Methods course. They have worked hard throughout the entire semester and they are happy to have finished their research report. This report communicates the results of their study on the effect of salesperson behavior on customer satisfaction with a retailer. Before handing over their report over to Bryan Ruiz - the initiator of the project and General Manager of the Jupiter Consumer Electronics chain – and Cedric Staples – their Business Research Methods professor - they have asked you to read and evaluate their report. You have agreed to their request and that is why you have just received the last four chapters of the research report from Yoshi.

Chapter 3 Theory This chapter deals with the theory we used with regard to our research project. The dependent variable – the variable of primary interest in our study - is customer satisfaction with the retailer. We based the conceptual model of our study on the model of Goff, Boles, Bellenger and Stojack (1997). The variables of our conceptual model will be introduced and defined in this chapter. What’s more, we will try to explain how and why the variables in our conceptual model are related to each other. This chapter will conclude with hypotheses relevant to our study. 3.1 Research objective Our research objective is: “How do salesperson customer orientation and salesperson selling orientation influence customer satisfaction with the retailer and is this relationship mediated by satisfaction with the salesperson.” Definition of satisfaction (Swan and Oliver, 1989, p. 518): “Satisfaction is an affective or emotional response to a specific consumption experience, with increasing satisfaction reflecting more positive affect and dissatisfaction reflecting greater negative affect.” 3.1.1 Westbrook (1981) Product performance is an important determinant of overall customer satisfaction, but according to Westbrook (1981) it is certainly not the only one. For example, Westbrook indicates that retail salespeople may also influence overall customer satisfaction with the purchase. Thus, the importance of salesperson behaviour as an antecedent of overall customer satisfaction should not be underestimated. 3.1.2 Goff, Boles, Bellenger and Stojack (1997) Goff et al. (1997) introduce the concept of SOCO to understand customer satisfaction with the retailer. SOCO stands for “salesperson Selling Orientation-Customer Orientation.” SOCO affects customer satisfaction with the salesperson and the retailer (Goff et al., 1997). Proposed is, that salesperson customer orientation will have a positive influence on both customer satisfaction with the salesperson and the retailer. On the opposite, when a salesperson acts selling oriented, this will have a negative effect on both customer satisfaction with the salesperson and the retailer. 3.2 Theoretical framework In this section, the theoretical framework will be depicted and the variables that are included in this theoretical framework will be explained. Below, in figure 1, you can see the theoretical framework that will be used in this study. Figure 3.1 Proposed Effects of Salesperson SOCO on Customer Satisfaction Figure:

3.3 Explanation of the variables in our model Salesperson Customer Orientation: The salesperson shows interest in the needs and demands of the customer and tries to provide as much information as he can. Salesperson Selling Orientation: The salesperson shows no or little interest in the needs of the customer. Satisfaction with Salesperson: Influences the overall customer satisfaction with a purchase (Westbrook, 1981). Therefore, satisfaction with the behavior of a salesperson is very important. Satisfaction with Retailer: In most cases influenced by salesperson behavior, because for the customer salespersons are an important factor in their decision making process. 3.4 Relationship between constructs This research examines the effect of salesperson behaviour on customer satisfaction in a consumer electronics setting. This research aims to prove that a salesperson selling orientation and customer orientation will affect both the customer satisfaction with the salesperson as well as satisfaction with a retailer of electronic appliances (Jupiter). Goff et al (1997) suggest that a salesperson's actions can influence customer satisfaction with the salesperson as well as the retailer. More specifically, they argue that a selling orientation will have a negative effect on satisfaction with the salesperson and satisfaction with the retailer. On the other hand, a customer oriented approach will have a positive effect on satisfaction with the salesperson and satisfaction with the retailer. Hence, we are able to develop the following hypotheses: 3.5 Hypotheses In this research, we would like to solve the central problem by the means of several hypotheses. In a following chapter, these hypotheses will be tested on their validity through statistical testing. Hypothesis 1: When a salesperson uses a customer orientated sales approach, it will lead to increased customer satisfaction with the salesperson. Hypothesis 2: When a salesperson uses a selling orientated sales approach, it will lead to decreased customer satisfaction with the salesperson. Hypothesis 3: When a salesperson uses a customer orientated sales approach, it will lead to increased customer satisfaction with the retailer. Hypothesis 4: When a salesperson uses a selling orientated sales approach, it will lead to decreased customer satisfaction with the retailer. Hypothesis 5: Customer satisfaction with the salesperson will predict satisfaction with the retailer. Higher satisfaction with the salesperson will lead to an increased satisfaction with the retailer. Chapter 4 Research design In this chapter, we will explain how we set up our study. More specifically, we will pay attention to the study setting, the procedure, the sampling technique we used, sample size, and the operationalization of the variables in our study. 4.1 Research method and procedure A field study was used to test the hypotheses we developed. Data were collected from the stream of shoppers leaving Jupiter stores between the hours of 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, over a three-week period in July 2011. A total of 253 consumers who left the store with a plastic bag displaying the store’s logo were asked to participate in our study. Respondents were asked to complete a personally administered questionnaire. 4.2 Sampling We used convenience sampling for our study. In multivariate research, the sample size should be preferably ten times as large as the number of variables in the study. Since our model includes four variables, our minimum sample size is 40. A total of 50 consumers (31 women) agreed to participate in our study. The median age of the respondents was 51 years. The respondents were customers of one of the Jupiter stores, who had been in contact with a salesperson of the store. 4.3 Operationalization of our variables To gather the necessary data a questionnaire has been developed. This questionnaire can be found in appendix 2. The measures were adapted from Goff et al (1997). Every variable (salesperson customer orientation, salesperson selling orientation, satisfaction with salesperson, and satisfaction with retailer) was measured with multi-item scales. All the items are tested with 5-point Likert scales with end-points labelled “completely disagree” (1) and “completely agree” (5). As can be seen in table 4.1, the measures were of adequate reliability. All measured Cronbach’s alphas were larger than .70. Although the fact that item 15 and 16 were sometimes a bit confusing for the respondents, their Cronbach’s alpha is larger than 0.70. This is why we decided to include these results as well in our model. Table 4.1:

At the end of the questionnaire two general questions are asked, i.e. the age (specific) and gender of the respondent. Chapter 5 Data analysis In this chapter, we will analyze our data. In the first section, we will discuss the descriptive statistics. Next, we will provide a correlation matrix which provides an overview of the relationships between the variables in our conceptual model. Finally, we will test our hypotheses. 5.1 Descriptive statistics Table 5.1 offers a general picture of our data. The table shows the salespersons of the Jupiter Consumer Electronics chain are very much oriented towards the consumer and less towards closing the deal. Satisfaction with the salesperson is therefore reasonably high. Also, the consumers are very satisfied with Jupiter. Table 5.1:

5.2 Correlation In order to test whether there is a relationship between our variables we produced a correlation matrix, which is shown in table 5.2. Table 5.2:

Table 5.2 shows that there is a strong correlation between all the variables. Selling orientation and customer orientation are negatively correlated, selling orientation is negatively correlated with the mediator and the dependent variable, customer orientation is positively correlated with these variables, and satisfaction with the salesperson and satisfaction with the retailer are positively correlated. 5.3 Testing our hypotheses In chapter 3 we stated the hypotheses of our model. In this section we will carry out the statistical analysis of these hypotheses. All tests performed are with a reliability of 95%. Table 5.3 provides the standardized estimates of the regression coefficients (the beta’s) together with their respective significance levels and the adjusted R2 values of the models. A more complete overview of the statistical analyses can be found in Appendix 3. Table 5.3:

The results show that a selling orientation has a negative effect on satisfaction with the retailer. This effect is mediated by satisfaction with the salesperson. These results support hypotheses 2, 4, and 5. Hypothesis 1 was also supported; a customer orientation has a positive effect on satisfaction with the salesperson. However, no support was found for hypothesis 3; a customer orientation does not affect satisfaction with the retailer. 5.4. Summary The results show that customers are very satisfied with the shop and with the salespersons of the shop. Salespersons are to a large extent focused on the consumer, and less on closing the deal. This is desirable because a customer orientation has a positive effect on satisfaction with the salesperson and a selling orientation has a negative effect on both satisfaction with the salesperson as on satisfaction with the retailer. F-tests showed that our model was to some extent useful in predicting satisfaction with the retailer. We acknowledge however that the model can probably be improved in order to better predict the level of satisfaction with the retailer. Chapter 6. Conclusions and recommendations In this chapter the conclusions of our research are presented. The conclusions are based on a combination of our theory and the empirical research findings. This will be done in the first section of this chapter. The second section will contain a discussion on the way the variables can be interpreted. In the third and last section the recommendations to IT’s management are given. 6.1 Conclusions We based our model on the model of Goff et al. (1997). From our model we derived several hypotheses. These hypotheses were tested through a field study. Fifty consumers who left the consumer electronics store responded to our questionnaire. Hence, we were able to judge in what way salesperson customer orientation and salesperson selling orientation influence customer satisfaction with the salesperson and customer satisfaction with the retailer. The analyses of our data showed that salesperson customer orientation does not have a significant direct influence on customer satisfaction with the retailer (hypotheses 3). Therefore, we had to reject this hypothesis. However, salesperson customer orientation and salesperson selling orientation do have significant effect on customer satisfaction with the salesperson (hypotheses 1 and 2). We also found a significant, negative relationship between the selling orientation of the salesperson and the level of satisfaction with the retailer, this implies that we can accept hypothesis 4. Moreover, customer satisfaction with the salesperson has a significant positive direct influence on customer satisfaction with the retailer. We therefore conclude that salesperson selling orientation has an indirect influence on customer satisfaction with the retailer through customer satisfaction with the salesperson. Since we were not able to detect a positive direct relationship between salesperson customer orientation and customer satisfaction with the retailer, we cannot conclude that there is an indirect relationship between those two variables via the mediating variable. 6.2 Discussion For us it is surprising that salesperson customer orientation does not have a direct significant influence on customer satisfaction with the retailer. We strongly believed that such a direct influence exists; first because of our own intuition (a salesperson does have a representative function of the store), but also according to the findings of Goff et al. (1997). An explanation for the difference between the Goff et al. (1997) paper and our research that Goff et al. focus on car salesman whereas we focus on salespersons in a consumer electronics store. Salespersons may play a more important role in the decision making process of consumers when they buy a car in comparison to when they buy electronic appliances such as an electronic toothbrush or a toaster. 6.3 Recommendations When we take a look at the research results and the conclusions we have drawn in the previous chapter, we come up with the following recommendations to the management of retailers in consumer electronics retailers in general and the Jupiter Consumer Electronics chain in particular. This study provides some evidence that utilizing a customer orientated selling style for electronics retail purchases is appreciated by buyers and may result in long-term rewards for the salesperson. However, a customer orientated approach of the salesperson does not have an indirect effect on the level of satisfaction with the retailer. On the other side, a selling orientated approach of the salesperson does have an indirect negative effect on the level of satisfaction with the retailer. Therefore reducing selling orientation of the salesperson during retail sales training can add additional value to the electronics retailer’s product offering and influence the customer’s perception of the retailer. It may also generate more favorable word-of-mouth communication. This shows that the influence of the salesperson’s customer orientation and selling orientation are not to be underestimated. Further research can tackle the problem of the relatively low R2 by including more significant variables in the model. Another interesting opportunity for further research would be to identify specific salesperson behavior that signals to the buyer whether the salesperson is customer orientated or selling orientated. Hence, retailers in consumer electronics can identify specific behavior that optimizes customer satisfaction. Salespersons can be trained to behave in a certain way when they talk to consumers. QUESTIONS: Assess the research report critically. Discuss it in terms of organization, presentation mode, clarity, and coherence but also in terms of “good” and “bad” research, suggesting how the study could have been improved. Discuss at least three weak points per chapter. Provide suggestions for improvement for every weak point. Also, discuss how the research report itself can be improved. Finally, offer at least three strong points (and start your feedback to Yoshi with these strong points). 1. There are three basic features that should be incorporated in a theoretical framework: a. Provide a brief discussion of these features b. Assess the quality of the theoretical framework developed in the report (include the three basic features in your discussion). 2. One of the characteristics of cause-and-effect relationships is that one “controls for the effects of other variables”. a. What does controlling for the effects of other variables mean? b. Why is it important to control for the effects of other variables? c. How do you control for the effects of other variables in an experiment? d. How do you control for the effects of other variables in field studies? e. Do the researchers in this case control for the effects of other variables? 3. The researchers ask people who leave the shop with a plastic bag of the shop to fill out a questionnaire. a. Is this an example of probability or of non-probability sampling? b. How do you feel about the sampling method that has been employed in this study? 4. Table 3.1 provides an overview of Cronbach’s alpha’s in this study. a. What is the purpose of calculating a Cronbach’s alpha? b. Discuss the Cronbach’s alpha outcomes in Table 3.1. 5. The researchers test their hypotheses using regression analysis. How are statistical tests related to the questionnaire that has been used? 6. The researchers mention a few weak points of their study. Provide and discuss at least two additional weak points of the study. Provide recommendations for improvement.