THE MODERATING EFFECT OF PERSONALITY IN THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SALES TRAINING

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THE MODERATING EFFECT OF PERSONALITY IN THE

EFFECTIVENESS OF SALES TRAINING

Master thesis, Msc Human Resource Management

University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business

February 1, 2011

MARGRIET FEENSTRA

Student number: S1428977

Hanialeane 25

9024 EP Weidum

Tel.: +31 (0)6-13179081

Email: M.Feenstra.4@student.rug.nl

Supervisors/university

Dr. L.B. Mulder

Prof. Dr. G.S. van der Vegt

Supervisors/field of study

A.C.M. B.

M. de J.

B.W. S.

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ABSTRACT

THE MODERATING EFFECT OF PERSONALITY IN THE EFFECTIVINESS OF SALES TRAINING

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1. INTRODUCTION

Training is one of the most commonly used human resource practices these days. Both profit and non profit organizations invest a lot of money in training in order to improve employees’ skills, knowledge and abilities and, therefore, their turnover. Despite all these investments and the promising effects of training many organizations do not achieve the desired results. On average about 10% of the typical organizational training programs achieve improved individual and organizational performance (e.g., Baldwin & Ford, 1988; Tannenbaum & Yukl, 1992). Brinkerhoff (2006) studied a marketing skills training program and showed that only 17 percent of all program participants had applied their skills in their workplaces. This is called the transfer what takes place when the knowledge learned during training is really used on the job for which it was intended (Olsen, 1998). This finding points out a serious problem for organizations, given that transfer of training is considered the most important way for management to influence organizational-level outcomes and results (Kozlowski, Brown, Weissbein, Cannon-Bowers & Salas, 2000).

This thesis presents research on the effect of sales training in terms of four dependent variables (job performance, ability, motivation, and use of sales techniques) and the moderating effect of personality. Sales training, in this case, is defined as “a deliberate and formalized accumulation of information, concepts, and skills that are intended to foster competence or enhance the performance of salespeople” (Wilson, Strutton & Farris II, 2002, page 77). Sales training methodologies have one main objective: to develop a productive salesperson (Lupton, Weiss & Peterson, 1999) by improving sales techniques. The reason for this desired improvement is that sales employees are the main source of sales and, with training improving the SKA’s (skills, knowledge, and abilities), an organization pursues increased returns.

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This research was conducted at XYZ, an energy company. The business unit ABC consists of several components, one of these is the DEF, a call center spread over four locations. In May 2010 XYZ started a pilot of nine teams within the DEF for a sales training which ended at the end of August. In this training four techniques were taught which helps employees to really hold a conversation, understand the customer’s needs and create opportunities for selling products or services of XYZ. This study investigates the effects of this pilot training which aims to improve sales of their employees and therefore the job performance.

In this study the effect of training on job performance in terms of objective results will be examined. However, I will also focus on the training’s effect on the ability to apply sales techniques, the motivation to apply sales techniques and the actual use of the sales techniques. I choose to focus on these variables for several reasons. First, job performance such as sales performance is the most objective measurement of change in the use of sales techniques. Second, motivation and ability are relatively unstable characteristics of individuals that influence the cognition and behavior of a person (Colquitt, LePine & Noe, 2000). In other words, a change in motivation and ability will be translated in a change in the use of sales techniques. Since motivation can be influenced by both individual and situational characteristics this provides opportunities for leaders to encourage desired behavior (Colquitt et al., 2000). The third reason concerns the possibility to detect possible causes for finding, or not, a change in the job performance. When job performance does not increase after training this can be caused by a lack of motivation or ability. The subjective measurement should indicate if this is the case. Otherwise, these variables could be excluded as a reason for no performance improvement and further research is necessary.

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2. THEORY SECTION

In the following paragraphs I discuss the four variables (job performance, ability, motivation, use of sales techniques) and show how they are expected to be influenced by sales training and personality.

2.1 Job-performance

Job performance can also be called “results” and refers to “the objective of most programs stated in terms of the results desired” (Kirkpatrick, 1960). There is a long history of assessing salesperson behavior and performance utilizing qualitative methods and data (e.g., Erffmeyer & Johnson, 2002; Johnston, Hair, & Boles, 1989). Examples of sales training objectives are decrease turnover, improve customer relations, decrease selling costs, improve control of the sales force, increase sales volume, and improve use of time (Honeycutt, Howe, & Ingram, 1993).

The sales training of XYZ aims improvement of the sales skills of their employees in order to increase sales volume, improve customer satisfaction, and decrease call duration of calls without sacrificing service quality. These indicators are called KPIs which stands for key performance indicators. The most commonly used KPI in a call center is the call duration. Murthy et al.’s (2008) findings suggest that role-play training results in a significant reduction in call duration and that this may come at the cost of call accuracy. As XYZ also uses role-plays with an actor it is probable that this will shorten the call duration.

Another indicator of job-performance is sales what is expressed in points. Since the summer of 2010 XYZ works with a points system where points are accounted to every product an employee can sell. The number of points is determined by the importance and value of the product and, in this way, products that are more valuable for XYZ are rewarded with more points compared to the less convenient products to sell.

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The last KPI is the number of handled calls. In other words, the number of calls an individual employee handles. This indicator is connected with the previous two. If the call duration decreases and the sales per call increase, it does not automatically mean that the total sales at the end have increased. After all, when the total numbers of calls decrease, the total profit will remain the same or even will be lower. So, these three indicators separately show the effect of the sales training. In order to show a total picture of the eventual profit these three indicators should be integrated. In line with the previous reasoning, the following hypothesis is defined.

H1: sales training positively influences job performance in terms of increased points per call, shortened call duration and increased number of handled calls.

2.2 Ability

In the context of this research, ability means the capability of a worker to apply what is learned during training into practice after the training. No effects can be observed when training does not teach the employees how to apply the new sales techniques. This ability of a person depends on several factors. Following the model of Cannon-Bowers, Salas, Tannenbaum, & Mathieu (1995) three factors affect this ability to transfer, namely the training itself, the general ability of the person and the motivation during the training.

Elangovan & Karakowsky (1999) state that two ability-related factors play a role in the transfer of training process. Trainees who acquired a lot of skills and knowledge offered by the training program are better prepared and able to transfer training than those whose knowledge acquisition during training is low. The other factor concerns the situation identification. This implies the generalization and application of the training to the actual job. If an employee is able to identify an appropriate situation to apply the sales techniques, this person is more able to transfer the lessons learned into practice. A lack of ability to apply sales techniques can be caused by a low skill acquisition and/or low situation identification of the training and point out possible abilities for (further) improvement or suggestions for research for deeper understanding of the interpretation of factors that influences ability to transfer.

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implies that employees who received training have learned the SKA’s to apply the new sales techniques and will be better able to actually apply them, resulting in the following hypothesis.

H2: sales training influences the ability to apply sales techniques positively.

2.3 Motivation

Besides improvement of the ability to apply the sales techniques, a second aim of sales training is to motivate employees to actually apply the sales techniques. After all, an employee can be able to apply the sales techniques but when motivation is low no change in the work behavior will occur. Noe (1986) described motivation to transfer as the trainee’s desire to use the knowledge and skills mastered in the training and development program on the job. He also stated that ‘maximum behavior change is likely to result when trainees have mastered the program content and are highly motivated to use newly acquired skills on the job’ (p. 739).

Elangovan & Karakowsky (1999) state there are five crucial elements that influence the motivation to transfer of the individual trainee. First, the perceived relevance of training affects the motivation to transfer training positively. Employees who value the training are more likely to effectively transfer the training than those who are not. Second, Hicks & Klimoski (1987) found that the motivation to learn is higher when employees have a choice in attending training. Third, motivation to transfer training is positively related to the outcome expectancies associated with training (Elangovan & Karakowsky, 1999). Fourth, several studies have shown that the enhancement of self-efficacy facilitates positive transfer of training. And lastly, a higher level of job involvement leads to a higher level of motivation to transfer (Noe & Schmitt, 1986). Other studies also indicated participant motivation to learn (Kontoghiorghes, 2002), self-efficacy (Machin & Fogarty, 2004), utility reactions (Ruona, Leimback, Holton, & Bates, 2002), and transfer climate factors (Seyler, Holton, Bates, Burnett, & Carvalho, 1998).

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reasoning explains why it is important to the organization to investigate the effect of training on motivation and how it can be influenced.

Most studies examined motivation to transfer as an outcome of the factors written above. Subsequently, the motivation to transfer also affects the transfer process. An empirical study of Axtell, Maitlis, & Yearta (1997) showed that motivation to transfer significantly predicts a positive transfer at one year. This leads to the following hypothesis.

H3: sales training influences the motivation to apply sales technique positively.

2.4 Use of sales techniques

As written above, in reference to training, the use of sales techniques can be examined by assessing changes in a trainee’s overt behavior in addition to the knowledge that was acquired at a training (Wexley & Latham,1991). In other words, this is the extent to which salespeople actually modify their job-related behaviors due to training (Attia, Honeycutt, & Leach, 2005). This level of evaluation is also referred to as the “transfer of learning” (Kirkpatrick, 1994). Wexley & Latham (1991) identified three transfer possibilities. First, a positive transfer implies that learning in the training situation results in better performance on the job. Second, when learning in the training situation results in poorer performance on the job there is a negative transfer. Third, when no change occurs zero transfer is the case.

The goal of the sales training was to obtain a positive transfer and a positive change in the use of sales techniques. Otherwise, the whole investment of the training did not create any benefit and the investment would be futile. Examination of the use of sales techniques is important because it indicates how employees judge whether they apply the relevant sales techniques or not. The sales training stimulates application of the newly learned sales skills, and assuming these skills improve the job performance, the use of the sales techniques will increase after training.

H4: sales training influences the use of sales techniques positively.

2.5 Personality

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conscientiousness, and openness to experience) and examine how they affect the influence of training on training outcomes. Salgado (1998) provided more insight in the importance of the Big Five by demonstrating usefulness of personality in the selection process of new employees.

Concerning personality at work, Salgado (1997) presents three advantages of the Big Five. First, it is a very parsimonious taxonomy. Second, it is a model for integrating results of multiple studies carried out to investigate the relationships between personality and the use of sales techniques. And third, it advances understanding of job performance by proposing some personality traits related to all jobs and criteria. Previous researches particularly focused on the linkage between Big Five characteristics and job performance with the most proven relationship between conscientiousness and job performance (Schmidt, Shaffer & Oh, 2008). The results of other meta-analyses suggest that two of the Big Five personality traits (conscientiousness and emotional stability) may be valid for predicting performance on most or all jobs (Barrick & Mount, 1991; Hurtz & Donovan, 2000; Mount & Barrick, 1995; Salgado, 1997, 2003).

With concern to training, a review of Schmidt et al (2008) suggest that extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness to experience are related to performance in training programs. However, little is known on how Big Five traits actually affect outcomes of training. The present research focuses on the moderating effect of the Big Five variables on the effect of training on the ability, motivation and use of sales techniques. Below we discuss how the Big Five factors may moderate the effect of training.

Conscientiousness

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H5: conscientiousness moderates positively the relationship between sales training and a) ability to apply the sales techniques, b) motivation to apply the sales techniques, and c) actually applying the sales techniques in the use of sales techniques.

Extraversion

Extraversion concerns the tendency to like people, prefer being in large groups, and desire excitement and stimulation, likely to be active, bold, energetic and talkative (Costa & McCrae, 1992; Goldberg, 1992; Major et al, 2006). Extraverted persons are generally more assertive and sociable than less extraverted individuals, and these qualities seem related to a desire to learn (Major, Turner, & Fletcher, 2006). The desire to excel and obtain rewards is identified as a basic psychological feature of extraverts (Gray, 1987; Lucas, Diener, Grob, Suh, & Shao, 2000; Stewart, 1996) and stimulates to improve performance. Also Barrick & Mount (1991) found extraversion to be a significant predictor for job performance for sales employees and Naquin & Holton (2002) discovered significant relationships between extraversion and both motivation to learn and transfer motivation.

H6: extraversion moderates positively the relationship between sales training and a) ability to apply the sales techniques, b) motivation to apply the sales techniques, and c) actually applying the sales techniques in the use of sales techniques.

Agreeableness

Descriptions of agreeableness (Costa & McCrae, 1992; Goldberg, 1992) suggest that agreeable people are altruistic, sympathetic, kind, unselfish, generous, fair, and eager to help others. Costa & McCrae (1992) state that these people usually strive for cooperation rather than competition. The sales techniques focused on during training stimulate to really listen to the customer and react on his story. These skills match with the social aspect of agreeableness and clarifications of a possible moderation of agreeableness can be done in two directions.

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more to gain from the training then people with high agreeableness. For this mutual reasoning the examination of this variable stays explorative and no hypothesis is formulated.

Neuroticism

The last variable neuroticism (i.e., tendency to experience negative affects, such as fear, sadness, embarrassment, anger, guilt and disgust; Major, et al. 2006) is expected to influence the three dependent variables, ability, motivation, and the use of sales techniques in a negative way. People with neurotic characteristics tend to be less successful than more emotionally stable individuals because worry, nervousness, and self-pity tend to inhibit rather than facilitate the accomplishment of work tasks (Barrick & Mount, 1991). Employees with high levels of anxiety and few coping skills are not expected to be motivated to apply and obtain the new sales techniques.

H7: neuroticism moderates negatively the relationship between sales training and a) ability to apply the sales techniques, b) motivation to apply the sales techniques, and c) actually applying the sales techniques in the use of sales techniques.

Openness to experience

Openness to experience means the tendency to have an active imagination, aesthetic sensitivity, intellectual curiosity, and be attentive to feelings (Major et al, 2006). Individuals high in openness are more curious about one’s environment, and willingness to explore new things. Herold, Davis, Fedor & Parsons (2002) argue ‘the traits associated with openness to experience should be helpful to persons in a training program as they are required to accept or process new information and explore and adopt new behavior patters’ (p.855). Also Barrick & Mount (1991) found that openness to experience relates to training success across multiple occupational groups. So, people who are open to experience may be interested in learning for the sake of learning and are generally more likely to try something new (Major et al, 2006).

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3. METHOD

The effect of sales training and the moderating effect of personality were studied within XYZ and the training was given in February and September 2010. The participants of the training received a basic training where four sales techniques were introduced. The first technique concerns ‘interrogating’. This means that the employee asks open questions during a phone call in order to find out why a customer asks a particular question and what the background of the question is. The employee looks for the ‘story behind the question’. The second technique ‘responding to the story and experience of the customer’ requires an employee to listen to the story and proposes other XYZ products or services than those the customer actually called for. The third technique is ‘summarizing’, where the employee summarizes the story of the customer. And the last technique ‘give a personal reaction to the story of the customer’ requires the employee to show more sympathy.

After the basic training some employees attended one or two of the six follow-up trainings. In this follow-up training points of interest from the basic training were emphasized. Each employee determined in agreement with his supervisor whether or not to participate the follow-up training. Because the training was given in groups of eight to ten employees, not everybody attended the training at the same time. The basic training and the follow-up training were taught spread over a period of six months.

The method of this research has a twofold character because the data collection was elaborated in two different ways. In both cases I made a comparison between an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group concerns people who followed training the control group contained people who did not (yet) follow training. The first part, concerns the analysis of the job performance by collecting data out of a performance management system (“objective job performance part”). The second part involves the examination of the ability, motivation and the use of sales techniques by using a self-rating questionnaire (“questionnaire part”). The moderating effect of personality was tested in the second part. As the questionnaire in the second part was done anonymous it was not possible to combine the job performance measures with the outcomes about personality, ability, motivation and the use of sales techniques. Both methods of analysis will be discussed in the next paragraphs.

3.1 Participants

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In the data collection of the key performance indicators a performance management system is used which provided information about the objective performance indicators per employee per week. Of 131 employees of which 87 followed training and a control group of 41 employees, who did not receive training, data was collected. The sales trainings were taught during a period of ten weeks and the data collected concerned data of three weeks before the first employee received training (time period 1) and three weeks after the last employee received training (time period 2).

Questionnaire part

In the examination of the ability, motivation and the use of sales techniques, 186 employees spread over four locations received an online self-defined anonymous questionnaire sent by a questionnaire program called ‘Qualtrics’. Again, an experimental group and a control group were compared. Nine weeks after the last trainee completed the sales training the both groups received the questionnaire. An after-only control group design is used wherein the employees received the questionnaire after the participants of the training have completed the training program.

In total, 60 employees completed the survey which results in a response rate of 32.3 percent. Overall, there were 39 female respondents and 21 male respondents. The age of the respondents ranged from 19 to 63 years, and 39 employees who filled in the questionnaire did follow training. So, 21 respondents who filled in the questionnaire did not receive the sales training and represent the control group. The survey contained questions about the three dependent variables ability, motivation and the use of sales techniques of the four different sales techniques on which much attention was paid during training. According to the vision of XYZ, these sales techniques are crucial during phone calls for creating an optimal conversation with chances for sales.

3.2 Measures

In the next paragraphs, properties of the scales for the assessment of the study’s constructs are described.

Objective job performance part Independent variables

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Dependent variables

Job performance. Job performance is expressed in three objective performance indicators; the call duration, number of handled calls and number of points per call. XYZ strives for call duration as low as possible, number of handled calls as high as possible and points per call as much as possible. The call duration is the average number of seconds per call and the number of handled calls defined as the average number of handled calls per week. The points are indicated as the average number of points per call.

Control variables

The control variables were gender (0 = woman, 1 = men), age, and educational level.

Questionnaire part Independent variables

Training. This indicator was defined in the same way as in the objective job performance part. Trainees were asked to indicate whether they followed training or not. This two categorical measure is transformed into a dummy variable with ‘no training’ coded 0 (zero) and ‘training’ coded 1 (one).

Big Five. Big five personality traits were measured using the Big Five Inventory (BFI), a short instrument with 44 items that are common across investigators (John, Donahue, and Kentle, 1991). All these items were measured by using a five-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4= agree, 5 = strongly agree) for eight statements

Extraversion: The extraversion scale demonstrated a coefficient alpha of .84. Example statements are ‘I see myself as someone who is talkative’ or ‘I see myself as someone who generates a lot of enthusiasm’.

Agreeableness: One statement was deleted before the analysis because this was translated into Dutch wrongly. The Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient for this scale was .75. Examples are ‘I see myself as someone who can be cold and aloof’ (reverse coded) and ‘I see myself as someone who has a forgiving nature’.

Conscientiousness: Nine statements were examined and the scale had a Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of .86. Examples of statements are: ‘I see myself as someone who is a reliable worker’ and ‘I see myself as someone who makes plans and follows through with them’.

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Openness to experience: The scale had a Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of .73. Examples of statements are: ‘I see myself as someone who is inventive’ and ‘I see myself as someone who is original, comes up with new ideas’.

Dependent variables

Motivation. Ability, motivation, and the use of sales techniques variables are measured by self-report scales all with the same five-point Likert scale. Four statements were given about every sales technique, namely, in the case of summarizing: ‘I like to summarize’, ‘I only summarize’ because I have to’ (reversed), ‘I think it is important to summarize’ and ‘I find it interesting to summarize’ (α = .73). The same items were presented for interrogating (α = .80), responding (α = .75) and personal reaction (α = .84).

Ability. Three questions are asked about every sales technique, namely in the case of giving a personal reaction: ‘I feel I am capable to give a personal reaction’, ‘Giving a personal reaction comes naturally’, and ‘I find it easy to give a personal reaction’ (α = .91). The same items were presented for interrogating (α = .87), responding (α = .93), and summarizing (α = .91). Use of sales techniques. About every sales technique two questions are asked. For example, ‘Over the past week, I tried to give a personal reaction on the story of the customer’ or ‘Over the past week, I did everything to respond on the story of the customer’ (α = .81). The same items were presented for interrogating (α = .78), summarizing (α = .85) and personal reaction (α = .81).

Control variables

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4. RESULTS

4.1 Job performance

Table 1 shows the descriptive statistics of the correlation analysis of training and the job performance indicators. Training is positively correlated with call duration on time 2 (r = .18), average number of handled calls on time 1 (r = .30), and average points per call on time 2 (r = .25). Days between measurement and training correlated with call duration on time 1 (r = .33).

The call duration on time 1 showed a significant correlation with the call duration on time 2 (r = .62), average number of handled calls on time 2 (r = -.18) and average points per call on time 1 (r = .33). The call duration on time 2 correlated with the average points per call on time 2 (r = .24). Average number of handled calls on time 1 was positively related with average number of handled calls on time 2 (r = .41) and average points per call on time 2 (r = .26). Also, there was a correlation between the average points per call on time 1 and the average points per call on time 2 (r = .39).

--- Insert Table 1 here ---

I hypothesized that training influences job performance positively (hypothesis 1). To test this I conducted a stepwise multiple regression analysis in which I regressed the three indicators of job performance at time 2 separately on training and on the same performance indicator at time 1 as a control. In all these three analyses the control variables gender, age, educational level, days between training and measurement, and days between training and follow-up training were added in the first step.

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Call duration. The second regression tested the call duration as job performance indicator. Standardized results are presented in Table 3. In the first step, the control variables and the call duration on time 1 were added. Only call duration on time 1 showed a marginal relationship with number of call duration on time 2 (B = .66, p = .00) and predicted the outcome of call duration on time 2. In the second step, training was added. This did not result in an increase in explained variance (∆R2 = .00, p = .70). Training did not predict call duration at time 2 (B = .07, p = .70). So, in the case of call duration, no support is found for hypothesis 1.

Points per call. The third regression tested the points per call as job performance indicator. Standardized results are presented in Table 4. In the first step, the control variables and the points per call on time 1 were added. Again, only points per call on time 1 showed a marginal relationship with points per call on time 2 (B = .45, p = .04) and predicted the outcome of points per call on time 2. In the second step, training was added. This did not result in an increase in explained variance (∆R2 = .02, p = .45). Training did not predict points per call at time 2 (B = .16, p = .45). So, also in the case of points per call, no support is found for hypothesis 1.

The average points per call of the control group and the experimental group are plotted in Figure 1. The scale ranges from 0 to 30 since these were the lowest and highest scored number of points. This figure shows that the experimental group had more points on time 1 already and that the control group also showed a small rise in points per call after training.

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4.2 Questionnaire part

Descriptive statistics for the three relevant control variables, ability, motivation and use of sales techniques and the five personality traits are presented in Table 5. Training shows no significant correlation with the variables ability, motivation and the use of sales techniques. Also examination of the ability, motivation and use of sales techniques for the techniques separately did not give a significant difference between the experimental and control group. So, hypotheses 2, 3, and 4, where I hypothesized that sales training positively influences the ability to apply sales techniques, the motivation to apply the sales techniques and the use of sales techniques, were not supported.

The ability to apply the sales techniques correlated with the personality traits extraversion (r = .42), agreeableness (r = .53), conscientiousness (r = .46) and openness to experience (r = .40). Motivation to apply the sales techniques showed a positive relationship with four out of the five personality traits, namely extraversion (r = .52), agreeableness (r = .59), conscientiousness (r = .51) and openness (r = .39). The actual use of sales techniques related to the same variables extraversion (r = .51), agreeableness (r = .35), conscientiousness (r = .56) and openness (r = .32). Neuroticism correlated negatively with the use of sales techniques (r = -.30).

Ability

To test whether the big five variables moderate the effect of training in terms of the ability to apply sales techniques I conducted a stepwise regression in three steps. In the first step the dummy variables of Location B, Location C and Location D were added. This showed a significant relationship between Location B and the ability to apply sales techniques (B = -.30, p = 0.05; ∆R2 = .07, p = .24). Step two and three are discussed for the five personality traits separately. The results of this regression analysis are presented in Table 6.

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where I hypothesized that conscientiousness moderates positively the relationship between sales training and the ability to apply the sales techniques.

Extraversion. In step 2, training and extraversion were added. This showed that extraversion predicted the ability to apply sales techniques (B = .41, p = .00). This model added significant to the explained variance (∆R2 = .16, p = .01). Finally, the interaction term of training and extraversion was added in step 3. This interaction term was not significant (B = -.01, p = .96; ∆_R2 _{= .00, p = .96). So, no support was found for hypothesis 6 where I hypothesized that} extraversion moderates positively the relationship between sales training and the ability to apply the sales techniques.

Agreeableness. In step 2, training and agreeableness were added. This showed that agreeableness predicted the ability to apply sales techniques (B = .50, p = .00). This model added significant to the explained variance (∆R2 = .24, p = .00). Finally, the interaction term of training and agreeableness was added in step 3. This interaction term was not significant (B = .16, p = .22; ∆R2 = .02, p = .22).

Neuroticism. In step 2, training and neuroticism were added. This showed that training and neuroticism had no effect (∆R2 = .03, p = .41). Finally, the interaction term of training and neuroticism was added in step 3. This interaction term was correlated with the ability to apply sales techniques (B = .25, p = .06; ∆R2 = .06, p = .06). So, support was found for hypothesis 7 where I hypothesized neuroticism moderates negatively the relationship between sales training and the ability to apply the sales techniques. Plotting these findings in a graph (Figure 2) shows that training has a more positive effect for low neurotic people than for high neurotic people.

--- Insert Figure 2 here ---

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Motivation

To test whether the big five variables moderate the effect of training in terms of the motivation to apply sales techniques I conducted a stepwise regression in three steps. In the first step the dummy variable age was added. This showed a marginal significant relationship between age and the motivation to apply sales techniques (B = .25, p = .05; ∆R2 = .06, p = .05). Step two and three are discussed for the five personality traits separately. The results of this regression analysis are presented in Table 7.

Conscientiousness. In step 2, training and conscientiousness were added. This showed that conscientiousness predicted the motivation to apply sales techniques (B = .49, p = .00). This model added significant to the explained variance (∆R2 = .26, p = .00). Finally, the interaction term of training and conscientiousness was added in step 3. This interaction term was not significant (B = -.05 p = .66; ∆R2 = .00, p = .66). So, no support was found for hypothesis 5 where I hypothesized that conscientiousness moderates positively the relationship between sales training and the motivation to apply the sales techniques.

Extraversion. In step 2, training and extraversion were added. This showed that extraversion predicted the motivation to apply sales techniques (B = .53, p = .00). This model added significant to the explained variance (∆R2 = .30, p = .00). Finally, the interaction term of training and extraversion was added in step 3. This interaction term was not significant (B = .-.13, p = .21; ∆R2 = .02, p = .21). So, no support was found for hypothesis 6 where I hypothesized that extraversion moderates positively the relationship between sales training and the motivation to apply the sales techniques.

Agreeableness. In step 2, training and agreeableness were added. This showed that agreeableness predicted the motivation to apply sales techniques (B = .58, p = .00). This model added significant to the explained variance (∆R2 = .36, p = .00). Finally, the interaction term of training and agreeableness was added in step 3. This interaction term was not significant (B = .02 p = .86; ∆R2 = .00, p = .86).

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hypothesis 7 where I hypothesized neuroticism moderates negatively the relationship between sales training and the motivation to apply the sales techniques. Plotting these findings in a graph (Figure 3) shows that training has a more positive effect for low neurotic people than for high neurotic people.

Openness to experience. In step 2, training and openness to experience were added. This showed that openness to experience predicted the motivation to apply sales techniques (B = .41, p = .00). This model added significant to the explained variance (∆R2 = .19, p = .00). Finally, the interaction term of training and openness to experience was added in step 3. This interaction term was not significant (B = -.18, p = .12; ∆R2 = .03, p = .12). So, no support was found for hypothesis 8 where I hypothesized that openness to experience moderates positively the relationship between sales training and the motivation to apply the sales techniques.

Use of sales techniques

To test whether the big five variables moderate the effect of training in terms of the use of sales techniques I conducted a stepwise regression in three steps. In the first step the dummy variable gender was added. This showed a marginal significant relationship between gender and the use of sales techniques (B = -.21, p = .10; ∆R2 = .05, p = .10). Step two and three are discussed for the five personality traits separately. The results of this regression analysis are presented in Table 8.

Conscientiousness. In step 2, training and conscientiousness were added. This showed that conscientiousness predicted the use of sales techniques (B = .54, p = .00). This model added significant to the explained variance (∆R2 = .28, p = .00). Finally, the interaction term of training and conscientiousness was added in step 3. This interaction term was not significant (B = .08 p = .49; ∆R2 = .01, p = .49). So, no support was found for hypothesis 5 where I hypothesized that conscientiousness moderates positively the relationship between sales training and the use of sales techniques.

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explained variance (∆R2 = .24, p = .00). Finally, the interaction term of training and extraversion was added in step 3. This interaction term was not significant (B = .07, p = .55; ∆_R2 _{= .01, p = .55). So, no support was found for hypothesis 6 where I hypothesized that} extraversion moderates positively the relationship between sales training and the use of sales techniques.

Agreeableness. In step 2, training and agreeableness were added. This showed that agreeableness predicted the use of sales techniques (B = .33, p = .01). This model added significant to the explained variance (∆R2 = .12, p = .03). Finally, the interaction term of training and agreeableness was added in step 3. This interaction term was correlated with the use of sales techniques (B = .26, p = .06; ∆R2 = .05, p = .06). So, support was found for the non-hypothesized relationship that agreeableness moderates negatively the relationship between sales training and the use of sales techniques. Plotting these findings in a graph (Figure 4) shows that training has a more positive effect for low agreeable people than for high agreeable people.

Neuroticism. In step 2, training and neuroticism were added. This showed that neuroticism predicted the use of sales techniques (B = -.30, p = .02). This model added significant to the explained variance (∆R2 = .10, p = .04). Finally, the interaction term of training and neuroticism was added in step 3. This interaction term was not significant (B = .12, p = .33; ∆_R2 _{= .02, p = .33). So, no support was found for hypothesis 7 where I hypothesized that} neuroticism moderates negatively the relationship between sales training and the use of sales techniques.

Openness to experience. In step 2, training and openness to experience were added. This showed that openness to experience predicted the use of sales techniques (B = .38, p = .00). This model added significant to the explained variance (∆R2 = .15, p = .01). Finally, the interaction term of training and openness to experience was added in step 3. This interaction term was not significant (B = -.15, p = .22; ∆R2 = .02, p = .22). So, no support was found for hypothesis 8 where I hypothesized that openness to experience moderates positively the relationship between sales training and the use of sales techniques.

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5. DISCUSSION

The aim of this paper was to investigate the effect of training in sales techniques on the job performance expressed in objective performance indicators (KPIs), on the ability to apply sales techniques, on the motivation to apply essential sales techniques, and on the actual use of sales techniques. It was hypothesized that the sales training would increase the objective job performance, the ability, the motivation and the actual use of applying sales techniques. In addition, I hypothesized that this would be moderated by four out of the five big five personality traits. Given the results, some conclusions can be drawn.

Striking is that no support was found for hypotheses 1, 2, 3, and 4, which predicted that sales training positively influenced job performance, ability, motivation and use of sales techniques respectively. This means that the sales training did not lead to a positive transfer concerning the motivation of employees to apply the sales techniques in practice, did not positively influence the ability of employees to apply the sales techniques in practice, and did not lead to an increased use of the sales techniques in practice. In other words, training did not lead to a behavioral change and no benefit was created for XYZ. Various factors related to the training itself, the surroundings, and the evaluation method could explain the findings of this study.

First, the most logical explanations for the findings focuses on the training itself. Reason for the lack of improved performance could be the short duration and short term focus of the training. The training aims to teach the employees a new sales technique within four hours where every participant practiced a conversation once or twice. Just as in the case of driving, a new technique takes time and practicing to learn and control. People need to practice newly learned skills in order to be able to change their way of working. Research of Taylor, Russ-Eft, & Chan, 2006) emphasizes the importance of practice during training and the hours of training. They underline that mental rehearsal can lead to greater task performance (Driskell, Copper, & Moran, 1994) and that more practice time is associated with greater retention of newly learned skills (Driskell, Willis, & Copper, 1992). Based on previous findings it is very logical that the training of XYZ of four hours is too short to achieve a behavioral change.

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Research of Montesino (2002) showed that transfer success tends to increase when training objectives are aligned with organizational goals. In the case of XYZ, the incentives of the training and the goals of the team leaders of the employees contradict each other. XYZ should provide the employees with extra time for practicing the sales techniques.

Third, XYZ informed the employees about the training with some general information in a newsletter. To create a surprising effect the management did not tell the exact content, method and expected outcomes of the training. Saks and Belcourt’s research (2006) indicates that, for an optimal training result, a number of activities into the training process before and after training should be incorporated. One of these is expectations of trainees. Previous research indicated that it is very important to create the right expectations and convince employees that training helps them improving their organization’s performance (DeSmet, McGurk, & Schwartz, 2010). Because people perform worse when expectations are not met or when they do not believe in the utility of training, XYZ could improve the effects of training by informing the participants in a more personal and elaborated way. An example is a personal letter with extensive information about the purpose and importance of the training. In addition, an official meeting with the team leader and a person involved in the project are good opportunities for further improvement. In conclusion, when an organization wants to optimize the results after training, they should pay attention to the phases before and after training.

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Personality

The next goal of this study was to examine the moderating effect of personality on the effect of training in terms of the ability to apply sales techniques, motivation to apply sales techniques and the use of sales techniques in practice. No support was found for the hypotheses that extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness to experience would moderate the effectiveness of sales training positively. However, for ability and motivation support was found for the moderating effect of neuroticism in the effectiveness of training.

The training increased ability and motivation to apply the sales techniques more so for people low in neuroticism and had no added value for high neurotic people. This suggests that characteristics of nervousness, worry, and fear make a training less successful in enabling and motivating people to apply sales techniques. The finding concerning motivation is consistent with previous research. In a meta-analysis of Colquitt et al. (2000), anxiety, a component of the Big Five’s neuroticism factor, was negatively related to motivation to learn. Also Judge & Ilies (2002) reported a significant negative relationship between neuroticism and performance motivation. Burke & Hutchins (2007) state that trainees low in neuroticism, thus with high positive affectivity, may be able to readily focus on training tasks, absent mental distractions. In conclusion, receptivity to training is lower for neurotic people. For practice this is useful because it points out that this personality trait indicates how trainable a person is.

Unexpectedly, it was found that agreeableness moderated the effectiveness of sales training in terms of the use of sales techniques. The training only had an effect on low agreeable people. An explanation of this may be that high agreeable people already use the sales techniques before the training, making the training to have less of a surplus value for these people. However, low agreeable employees may not have been used to using such techniques. Because sales training provides these people the techniques how to be more helpful and empathic to customers, it may have made more difference for them. In training people a Big Five personality test referring to neuroticism and agreeableness might lead to the selection of the most trainable people. This in turn can lead to a more efficient training program.

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However, I did find main effects for almost all Big Five characteristics. Employees who are more agreeable, conscientious, extraverted, and open to experience were, irrespective of the training, more motivated and able to apply sales techniques and do use the sales techniques more in practice. An implication of this is that sales functions in a call center demand highly extraverted, agreeable, emotionally stable and open-minded employees to perceive optimal outcomes. Organizations can use this in their recruitment and selection of new employees.

The findings of this study highlight potential for further research. More research should focus on the exact clarifications why training had more effect for people low in neuroticism and agreeableness. This is worth knowing for predicting behavior in case of organizational changes. Also it seems valuable to clarify the effect of neuroticism and agreeableness on training outcomes and study this in a more broad perspective. A new question could be whether these personality traits play a role in learning situations in general or only for this specific type of training.

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APPENDIX

TABLE 1

MEANS (M), STANDARD DEVIATIONS (SD) AND PEARSON CORRELATIONS OF THE VARIABLES

M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1. Training .66 .47

2. Days between measurement and

training 38.98 3.10 .00

3. Days between measurement and

follow-up training 12.38 7.64 -.23 .14

4. Call duration on time 1 540.00 113.82 .17 .33** .13

5. Call duration on time 2 579.91 129.34 .18* .12 -.05 .62** 6. Average number of handled calls on

time 1 97.16 93.14 .30** .07 -.21 -.06 .05

7. Average number of handled calls on

time 2 83.41 39.15 .08 -.03 -.26 -.18* -.12 .41**

8. Average points per call on time 1 2.60 2.45 .13 .00 .33* .20* .15 -.10 -.15

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TABLE 2

Number of handled calls on time 2

Variables (N = 60) Step 1 (B) p Step 2 (B) p

Gender -.13 .53 -.12 .56

Age -.06 .75 -.06 .76

Educational level .20 .32 .19 .36

Days between training and

measurement -.01 .94 -.01 .94

Days between follow-up

training and measurement -.13 .52 -.13 .52

Number of handled calls

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TABLE 3

Call duration on time 2

Gender .10 .56 .08 .63

Age -.10 .54 -.10 .57

Educational level .14 .41 .16 .38

measurement -.10 .55 -.10 .59

Call duration on time 1 .66** .00 .64** .00

Training .07 .70

R2 .45 .46

∆_R2 _.45* _.02 _.00 _.70

F 3.16* .15

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TABLE 4

Average points per call on time 2

Gender .11 .60 .08 .71

Age -.10 .61 -.09 .66

Educational level -.07 .74 -.02 .91

measurement -.01 .95 -.01 .94

Average points per call on

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TABLE 5

MEANS (M), STANDARD DEVIATIONS (SD) AND PEARSON CORRELATIONS OF THE VARIABLES OF ALL EMPLOYEES

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TABLE 6

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TABLE 7

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TABLE 8

MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS USE OF SALES TECHNIQUES Use of sales techniques

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FIGURE 1

AVERAGE POINS PER CALL PER EMPLOYEE AT TIME 1 AND TIME 2

FIGURE 2

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FIGURE 3

MOTIVATION AS A FUNCTION OF HAVING FOLLOWED A TRAINING AND LEVEL OF NEUROTICISM 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5 4 4,5 5

No training

Training

M

o

ti

v

a

ti

o

n

(

5 -p

o

in

t

sc

a

le

)

Low neuroticism High neuroticism FIGURE 4

USE OF SALES TECHNIQUES AS A FUNCTION OF HAVING FOLLOWED A TRAINING AND LEVEL OF AGREEABLENESS

THE MODERATING EFFECT OF PERSONALITY IN THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SALES TRAINING