The role of satisfaction with territory design on the motivation, attitudes, and work outcomes of salespeople

The primary emphasis of previous research concerning salespeople has been f ocused on their attitudes and behavior: The relationship between organizati onal variables and salesperson attitudes and behavior has received very lim ited attention. Sales territory design is largely uncontrollable by the sal esperson, yet is acknowledged by managers and researchers as an important f actor enabling salespeople to perform well. The objective is to examine sat isfaction with territory design from the perspective of the salesperson. A conceptual model and hypotheses are developed linking the satisfaction with territory design with role ambiguity, intrinsic motivation, job satisfacti on, and performance. Role conflict, met expectations, organizational commit ment, and intention to leave are also included in the model. Survey results provide strong support for 19 of the 21 hypotheses examined. The findings offer significant insights concerning the role of territory design satisfac tion in face-to-face selling and its consequences. Several managerial impli cations and avenues for future research are discussed.