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Mobile Sales Force Automation and the Balance Between Control and Autonomy

Sun, May 24, 10:30 to 11:45, Caribe Hilton, Conference Room 6

Abstract

Mobile technologies introduce greater personal freedom and flexibility for employees, while at the same time enable increased control through managerial use of the technology for monitoring. We focus on how mobile Sales Force Automation (SFA) applications affect the sales force’s balance between autonomy and control. We turn to theory on the imbrication of humans and technologies in practice (Leonardi, 2011) to investigate the affects of SFA in a multi-national beverage company based in The Netherlands. The findings of this research indicate that the introduction of mobile SFA devices impacted the autonomy of a dispersed sales force, but not in the direction that previous research suggests. Mobile SFA devices were found to have a positive effect on the autonomy of the sales force, even though the same sales agents reported that managerial control had also increased. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

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