Organizational Determinants of the Industrial Salesman's Role Conflict and Ambiguity

THE IMPORTANCE of the field salesman in J. the successful marketing of industrial goods has long been appreciated. Only recently, however, has attention been given to the fact that the nature of the field salesman's job can produce some perplexing problems for marketing and sales managers, as well as for salesmen themselves. Specifically, several characteristics of the industrial salesman's job make him particularly susceptible to role conflict and role ambiguity. 1 Role conflict occurs when the salesman faces two or more incompatible job demands from his organizational superiors, customers, family members, or other role partners. The salesman experiences role ambiguity when he is uncertain about how he is expected to perform his job. The high potential for role conflict poses a problem for the individual salesman because of the negative psychological reactions people often experience in conflict situations. A wide variety of empirical studies have found positive relationships between high levels of perceived role conflict and high levels of job-related tension and anxiety, on the one hand, and low levels of job satisfaction, on