Sales contest research: Business and individual difference factors affecting intentions to pursue contest goals

Calls for sales contest research (1980/81 and 1998) suggest glaring holes in our knowledge of how to design appealing contests, whether and to what extent contests motivate salespeople, and the types of behaviors contests provoke. This study adds to our knowledge of the relationship between sales force attitudes for sales contests and intention to pursue the contest by exploring the effects of business type, demographic, and psychological variables on this relationship. Using surveys and a sorting task for several sales contest designs, a national sample of a firm's multi-business unit sales force (n = 620) provided the data for our study. A replication with two additional companies confirms that intention to pursue sales contest goals is affected by several variables, particularly for consumer/commercial salespeople. The findings and ensuing discussion provide contest planners useful direction for anticipating likely sales force responses to sales contests.