Title: Functionality of turnover intention and management strategies for sales force: an empirical investigation

Authors: M.A. Sanjeev; Naseem Abidi; A.V. Surya

Addresses: Faculty of Management Studies, Jaypee Business School, JIIT University, A-10, Sector 62, Noida 201307, U.P., India ' Faculty of Management Studies, Jaypee Business School, JIIT University, A-10, Sector 62, Noida 201307, U.P., India ' IMRB International, SRI Division, Kalkaji, New Delhi 110019, India

Abstract: The profession of 'personal selling' is replete with problems of high turnover due to lack of 'job satisfaction'. The lack of job satisfaction leads to build up of 'turnover intention' among employees and translates in to 'turnover' at an opportune and suitable moment. The relation between job satisfaction and turnover intention has been proven to be conclusively negative. This study aims to explore the existence of a contradictory 'positive' relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention, which can be categorised as 'dysfunctional turnover intention'. The study also explores whether practising managers are able to identify this dysfunctional turnover intention and if so what strategies are used to manage the dysfunctional turnover. Findings confirm the existence of 'dysfunctional turnover intention' among the research subjects; where there is uncommon positive relation between 'job satisfaction' and 'turnover intention'. It also appears that the line managers have developed their own strategies to manage such dysfunctional cases.

Keywords: sales force; pharmaceutical industry; job satisfaction; turnover intention; turnover management; functionality; personal selling; line managers.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMP.2016.074888

International Journal of Management Practice, 2016 Vol.9 No.1, pp.24 - 39

Received: 11 Sep 2015
Accepted: 09 Nov 2015
Published online: 22 Feb 2016 *

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