When Sales Managers and Salespeople Disagree in the Appreciation for Their Firm: The Phenomenon of Organizational Identification Tension

•Investigates neglected interactive effects of organizational identification (OI).•Focuses on interactive effects of OI between sales managers and salespersons.•Shows the positive performance related consequences of OI agreement.•Shows the negative performance related consequences of OI tension.•Shows how the negative effects of OI tension can be avoided by sales managers.

Marketing literature emphasizes the importance of organizational identification in the sales force. However, empirical research has so far focused on the separate analysis of the consequences of either sales managers’ or salespersons’ organizational identification, largely ignoring their interactive effects. This study seeks to address this research void by exploring the phenomena of organizational identification agreement and organizational identification tension in the sales manager–salesperson dyad. In contrast to organizational identification agreement, organizational identification tension occurs in a sales manager–salesperson dyad if the sales manager and the salesperson differ in the strength of their organizational identification. Analysis of a triadic data set using hierarchical linear modeling supports the authors’ hypotheses that increasing the level of organizational identification agreement is beneficial but increasing organizational identification tension can have severe negative consequences for the satisfaction of a salesperson's customers and the salesperson's performance. The study additionally explores how sales managers’ leadership styles (charismatic vs. transactional), combined with the appropriate control system (behavioral vs. outcome control), can be effective in avoiding organizational identification tension.

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