Behaviour‐Based and Outcome‐Based Control Systems: A Meta‐Analytic Study

• Author: Valter Afonso Vieira,Claudio Hoffmann Sampaio,Fernando Oliveira Santini,Wagner Junior Ladeira
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/cjas.1486
• Published date: 01 June 2019
• Date: 01 June 2019

Behaviour-Based and Outcome-Based Control

Systems: A Meta-Analytic Study

Fernando de Oliveira Santini*

Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS)

Valter Afonso Vieira

Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM)

Wagner Junior Ladeira

Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS)

Claudio Hoffmann Sampaio

Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul

(PUC/RS)

Abstract

Sales control systems are instruments used by f‌irms to im-

prove performance and other organizational outcomes. To

understand their antecedents and consequences, this paper

conducts a meta-analysis based on 104 studies. The results

showed signif‌icant relationships between behaviour- and

outcome-based control systems and the complexity of the

products, bonuses, f‌inancial performance, sales innovation,

organizational support and satisfaction with supervisors.

The outcomes revealed that behaviour-based control sys-

tems were the most effective mechanism in turbulent markets

and for determining f‌inancial performance. However,

outcome-based control systems were the most eff‌icient

instrument for complex products. Copyright © 2018 ASAC.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: sales, sales control system, outcome-based

system, behaviour-based system, meta-analysis

Résumé

Les systèmes de contrôle des ventes sont des instruments uti-

lisés par les entreprises pour améliorer le rendement et

d’autres résultats organisationnels. Pour comprendre les an-

técédents et les conséquences de ce système, nous avons

mené une méta-analyse basée sur 104 études. Les résultats

mettent en évidence des relations marquées entre les

systèmes de contrôle basés sur le comportement et les

résultats et la complexité des produits, les primes, la perfor-

mance f‌inancière, l’innovation commerciale, le soutien

organisationnel et la satisfaction par rapport aux

superviseurs. D’après les résultats, les systèmes de contrôle

fondés sur le comportement constituent le mécanisme le plus

eff‌icace dans les marchés turbulents et dans la détermina-

tion de la performance f‌inancière. Par ailleurs, les systèmes

de contrôle basés sur les résultats s’avèrent être l’instrument

le plus eff‌icace pour les produits complexes. Copyright ©

2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mots-clés: Vente, système de contrôle des ventes, système

basé sur les résultats, système basé sur le comportement,

méta-analyse

Introduction

A control system establishes procedures to guide, mon-

itor, evaluate and compensate vendors in order to achieve

sales goals and appraise sales team achievements (Cravens,

Ingram, La Forge, & Young, 1993; Oliver & Anderson

1994). A sales control system represents a vital managerial

tool for directing and correcting salespeople’s behaviour

and outcomes to achieve desired organizational objectives

(Miao & Evans, 2014) and execute marketing objectives

(Challagalla & Shervani, 1996).

Despite a signif‌icant volume of research on the relation-

ship between sales control systems and performance, the

f‌indings regarding this relationship vary substantially in

terms of their direction and magnitude, producing mixed

conclusions (Evans, Landry, Li, & Zou 2007). The predom-

inant view in prior research is that control systems are posi-

tively associated with performance (Crosno & Brown, 2014;

Samaraweera & Gelb, 2014). Nevertheless, several studies

have reported that control systems strictly monitor salespeo-

ple’s behaviour and might even have a negative inf‌luence on

We gratefully acknowledge the f‌inancial support of CNPq and CAPES.

*Please address correspondence to: Fernando de Oliveira Santini,

Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS). Email:

santiniconsultores@gmail.com

Contract/grant sponsor: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científ‌ico

e Tecnológico.

Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences

Revue canadienne des sciences de l’administration

36: 149–162 (2019)

Published online 13 March 2018 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/CJAS.1486

Can J Adm Sci

36(2), 149–162 (2019)Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 149