از خشم تا هیجان – ادراک دانش آموزان استرالیایی از شغل فروشندگی From resentment to excitement – Australasian students’ perception towards a sales career

Introduction Selling has been a critical marketing activity that accounts for a major portion of revenue generation for any company (Barat and Spillan, 2009; Concha et al., 2014). However, a review of the literature suggests that sales still falls short of being recognized as a profession by society with numerous studies over a period of sixty years reporting negative views of sales as a career (Mason, 1965; Paul and Worthing, 1970; Dubinsky, 1980; Honeycutt et al., 1999; Wiles and Spiro, 2004; Caballero and Joonas, 2009; Waldeck et al., 2010; Bahhouth et al., 2011). In recent times, it is believed that these negative images have been reinforced through anecdotes, stories, and the mass media focussing on the business-to-consumer salesperson resulting in all salespeople being stereotyped in a similar manner, perpetuating the myth of the “door to door” salesperson. For example Hartman (2006) found that television and movies have consistently characterized salespeople in terms that are stereotypical and negative i.e. (“deceptive”, “shady” and “villains”). In doing so the author narrowly defined the task requirements of professional salespeople. These stereotypical representations imply that a salesperson personifies some of society’s most despised characteristics i.e. greed, deception, distrust, and selfishness (Hartman, 2006). Sales managers and recruiters, therefore, face the dilemma of trying to combat these engrained negative perceptions as they start to reposition their sales forces with an emphasis on customer relationship management (Marcos-Cuevas et al., 2014), and the significant shift towards customer-centric marketing (Oviedo-Garcia, 2007; Bristow and Gulati, 2002). However, results to date indicate that recruitment agencies face an uphill battle in trying to fill sales positions (Agnihotril et al., 2014). In response to this, many universities are being encouraged by corporations and recruiters to offer sales education courses for those interested in pursuing a career in sales (Bolander et al., 2014; Peltier et al., 2014; Gray et al., 2012; Leasher and Moberg, 2008). Sales education in universities equip students with crucial job-related skills and contributing to sales representatives’ performance (Bolander et al., 2014) through the establishment of sales centers (Stewart, 2006; Mantel et al., 2002). However, it is thought that university students may still hold stereotypes (Bahhouth et al., 2011) based on external influences. If students have concerns regarding poor ethical image of sales (Burnett et al., 2008) or inaccurate stereotypes about the nature of sales, they are less likely to consider selling as a career (Cummins et al., 2015; DelVecchio and Honeycutt, 2002; Sparks and Johlke, 1996). This may have an adverse effect on the recruitment of high quality applicants to selling jobs (Bahhouth et al., 2011). Although prior research has advanced the literature on students’ intent to pursue a sales career, shortcomings still remain (e.g. Bristow et al., 2011; Karakaya et al., 2011). For example, existing research does not specify different inherent aspects of a sales job that may attract students to pursue a career. Peltier et al. (2014) warranted further research to elicit the underlying motivation to pursue a sales career. Moreover, existing research is largely silent whether prevailing stereotypical negative views toward sales as a career has changed in recent times among the university students. Besides, past studies are somewhat quiet as to whether new age students’ perception towards a sales career differs across cultures. In addition, marketing education literature, thus far, has been relatively less responsive to the needs of both students and employers (Deeter-Schmelz and Kennedy, 2011; Anderson et al., 2005; McIntyre and Tanner, 2004).