The Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions on the Sales Force

Autor: Michael Ahearne, Son K. Lam, Raghu Bommaraju, Zachary R. Hall, Seshadri Tirunillai
Rok vydání: 2018
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Marketing Research. 55:254-264
ISSN: 1547-7193
0022-2437
Popis: This research draws from the psychodynamic perspective of social identity theory to examine the causal effect of mergers and acquisitions involving a mismatch of external images on the sales force. Study 1, a natural longitudinal experiment, shows that a merger with a poorer-image firm immediately dilutes salespeople's organizational identification (OI), which in turn impairs their performance. As sense makers, salespeople who are more tenured experience stronger OI dilution, whereas those who perceive a high level of social inclusion experience weaker OI dilution. As sense givers, managers who emphasize the firm's strategic intent in their communication buffer the OI-dilution effect, whereas those who emphasize the firm's organizational culture aggravate the effect. Study 2, a scenario-based experiment, further demonstrates that the OI-dilution effect is stronger than the OI-enhancement effect from merging with a better-image firm. Furthermore, both studies confirm that the adverse effect of mergers and acquisitions that involve a mismatch of external image stems from image uncertainty rather than job uncertainty.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Nepřihlášeným uživatelům se plný text nezobrazuje