Call for Papers

Journal of Peronal Selling and Sales Management
Special Issue on “The Role of Social Media in Personal Selling and Sales Management”

With the recent advent of social media, consumers are rapidly adopting social networking sites and engaging in micro-blogging to enhance their social lives and promote communication with friends and family. However, at the organizational level, firms have been slower to adopt these technologies but are quickly seeing the potential value in their use.  Of the firms and strategic business units that have witnessed the potential impact of social media, the sales function holds the potential to be dramatically changed by these technological advancements. Virtually all aspects of personal selling and sales management could be inherently affected by these technologies. Importantly, social media is not limited to technologies available for public consumption (i.e., Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, etc.) but also includes internal social media and network tools being offered by companies such as Salesforce.com (Chatter). Yet, there has been little research on the role of social media and its influence on salesperson behavior, the selling process, and sales management practices. 

Against this background, manuscripts are invited for a special issue on “The Role of Social Media in Personal Selling and Sales Management.” All research approaches and methodologies are welcome. Comprehensive conceptual frameworks and innovative methodological approaches are especially encouraged. Papers should be both theoretically well grounded and managerially relevant. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• How salespeople can utilize their social network contacts to increase their ability to generate sales leads and increase conversion rates
• Changes in the sales process due to the use of social media
• The influence of relationship development and long-term satisfaction and service with the use of social media
• Internal social media technologies and their influence on organizational identification
• How social media technologies can help in customer value co-creation
• Social media as a tool for product and service review, testimonials and to provide salesperson credibility
• The use of social networks for referral opportunities
• The role of social media and networks for customer retention, acquisition and loyalty
• Is a customer's social network important for sales resource allocation decisions
• How can social CRM systems aid salespeople in leveraging the advantages of social networking and user-generated content to conduct essential sales activities
• The influence of social media on sales management practices, such as recruiting, selecting, socializing, and communicating with salespeople.
• How social media can influence knowledge transfer within an organizational sales force
• How customer communities can influence a salesperson’s network and knowledge base via social media

Submission Information
The manuscript submission deadline is March 30, 2011. Papers will be reviewed in accordance with JPSSM guidelines. See http://jpssm.org/submsinf/initial_submission.htm for further details. Papers will be reviewed and decisions made in a timely manner as they are received. At least one author of the accepted manuscripts will be required to present his or her paper at a conference session associated with the special issue. For further information, please contact the Special Issue Co-Editors:
Manuscripts can be submitted via email to:

Nikolaos G. Panagopoulos
Athens University of Economics and Business
Department of Marketing & Communication
76 Patission
Athens 104 34
Greece
npanag@aueb.gr

or

Adam A. Rapp
Department of Marketing
245 Sirrine Hall
Clemson University
Clemson, SC  29634-1325
USA
arapp1@clemson.edu