Building on new theoretical foundations in the professional selling domain, growing bodies of research on frontline ambidexterity, and an increasingly demanding and dynamic frontline role, this article advances frontline ambidexterity through three focal goals. We first provide an in-depth discussion of the evolution of the professional selling role. This foundation allows us to identify and explore the implications of a market-driven model of ambidexterity that can manifest organically within certain professional selling contexts. In so doing, we espouse a new model of individual-level ambidexterity—organic frontline ambidexterity. Next, we discern existing models of frontline ambidexterity (characterized as inorganic) and compare these to the organic model proposed. Finally, we provide an organizational framework of frontline ambidexterity enablement to provide context for organizations to best align and enable ambidexterity as a dynamic capability. We provide corresponding research questions in an effort to aid in the systematic expansion of frontline ambidexterity research.
AdlerPaul S.GoldoftasBarbaraLevineDavid I. (1999), “Flexibility Versus Efficiency? A Case Study of Model Changeovers in the Toyota Production System,” Organization Science10 (1), 43–68.
2.
AgnihotriRajGablerColin B.ItaniOmar S.JaramilloFernandoKrushMichael T. (2017), “Salesperson Ambidexterity and Customer Satisfaction: Examining the Role of Customer Demandingness, Adaptive Selling, and Role Conflict,” Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 37 (1), 27–41.
3.
AhearneMichaelHughesDouglas E.SchillewaertNiels (2007), “Why Sales Reps Should Welcome Information Technology: Measuring the Impact of CRM-Based IT on Sales Effectiveness,” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 24 (4), 336–349.
4.
AhearneMichaelJelinekRonaldJonesEli (2007), “Examining the Effect of Salesperson Service Behavior in a Competitive Context,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 35 (4), 603–616.
5.
AndersonRolph E. (1996), “Personal Selling and Sales Management in the New Millennium,” Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 16 (4), 17–32.
6.
ArndtF.PierceL. (2017), “The Behavioral and Evolutionary Roots of Dynamic Capabilities,” Industrial and Corporate Change, 27 (2), 413–424.
7.
ArnettDennis B.BadrinarayananVishag (2005), “Enhancing Customer-Needs–driven CRM Strategies: Core Selling Teams, Knowledge Management Competence, and Relationship Marketing Competence,” Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 25 (4), 329–343.
8.
BadrinarayananVishagDixonAndreaWestVicki L.ZankGail M. (2015), “Professional Sales Coaching: An Integrative Review and Research Agenda,” European Journal of Marketing, 49 (7/8), 1087–1113.
9.
BolanderWillySantorninoCinthiaHughesDouglas E.FerrisGerald R. (2015), “Social Networks within Sales Organizations: Their Development and Importance for Salesperson Performance,” Journal of Marketing, 79 (6), 1–16.
10.
BoltonRuth N.LemonKatherine N.VerhoefPeter C. (2008), “Expanding Business-to-Business Customer Relationships: Modeling the Customer’s Upgrade Decision,” Journal of Marketing, 72 (1), 46–64.
11.
BoltonRuth N.LemonKatherine N.VerhoefPeter C. (2004), “The Theoretical Underpinnings of Customer Asset Management: A Framework and Propositions for Future Research,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 32 (3), 271–292.
12.
CespedesFrank V. (1994), “Industrial Marketing: Managing New Requirements,” MIT Sloan Management Review, 35 (3), 45.
13.
CronWilliam L.BaldaufArturLeighThomas W.GrossenbacherSamuel (2014), “The Strategic Role of the Sales Force: Perceptions of Senior Sales Executives,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 42 (5), 471–489.
14.
DaviesIain A.RyalsLynette J.HoltSue (2010), “Relationship Management: A Sales Role, or a State of Mind? An Investigation of Functions and Attitudes across a Business-to-Business Sales Force,” Industrial Marketing Management, 39 (7), 1049–1062.
15.
DayGeorge S. (2011), “Closing the Marketing Capabilities Gap,” Journal of Marketing, 75 (4), 183–195.
16.
DeCarloThomas E.LamSon K. (2016), “Identifying Effective Hunters and Farmers in the Salesforce: A Dispositional–Situational Framework,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 44 (4), 415–439.
17.
DewsnapBelindaJobberDavid (2000), “The Sales-Marketing Interface in Consumer Packaged-Goods Companies: A Conceptual Framework,” Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 20 (2), 109–119.
18.
DuncanR. B. (1976), “The Ambidextrous Organization: Designing Dual Structures for Innovation,” The Management of Organization, 1 (1976), 167–188.
19.
GablerC. B.OgilvieJ. L.RappA.BachrachD. G. (2017), “Is There a Dark Side of Ambidexterity? Implications of Dueling Sales and Service Orientations,” Journal of Service Research, 20 (4), 379–392.
20.
GibsonC. B.BirkinshawJ. (2004), “The Antecedents, Consequences, and Mediating Role of Organizational Ambidexterity,” Academy of Management Journal, 47 (2), 209–226.
21.
GlazerE. (2018), “Whistleblowers Detail Wells Fargo Wealth Management Woes,” The Wall Street Journal, July 28, B1.
22.
GreenKenneth W.JrWhittenDwayneAnthony InmanR. (2012), “Aligning Marketing Strategies Throughout the Supply Chain to Enhance Performance,” Industrial Marketing Management, 41 (6), 1008–1018.
23.
GrewalDhruvSharmaArun (1991), “The Effect of Salesforce Behavior on Customer Satisfaction: An Interactive Framework,” Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 11 (3), 13–23.
24.
HartmannNathaniel N.WielandHeikoVargoStephen L. (2018), “Converging on a New Theoretical Foundation for Selling,” Journal of Marketing, 82 (2), 1–18.
25.
HekmanDavid R.BigleyGregory A.Kevin SteensmaH.HerefordJames F. (2009), “Combined Effects of Organizational and Professional Identification on the Reciprocity Dynamic for Professional Employees,” Academy of Management Journal, 52 (3), 506–526.
26.
HughesDouglas E.LeBonJoelRappAdam (2013), “Gaining and Leveraging Customer-Based Competitive Intelligence: The Pivotal Role of Social Capital and Salesperson Adaptive Selling Skills,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 41 (1), 91–110.
27.
HughesDouglas E.MalsheAvinashLeBonJoel (2012), “The Marketing-Sales Interface at the Interface: Creating Market-Based Capabilities through Organizational Synergy,” Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 32 (1), 57–72.
JapSandy D. (1999), “Pie-Expansion Efforts: Collaboration Processes in Buyer-Supplier Relationships,” Journal of Marketing Research, 36 (November), 461–475.
30.
JasmandC.BlazevicV.De RuyterK. (2012), “Generating Sales While Providing Service: A Study of Customer Service Representatives’ Ambidextrous Behavior,” Journal of Marketing, 76 (1), 20–37.
31.
LamSon K.DeCarloThomas E.SharmaAshish (2019), “Salesperson Ambidexterity in Customer Engagement: Do Customer Base Characteristics Matter?” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 47 (4), 659–680.
32.
LeBonJoelHughesDouglas E. (2009), “The Dilemma of Outsourced Customer Service and Care: A Transaction Cost Perspective,” Industrial Marketing Management, 38 (4), 391–397.
33.
LiuAnnie H.LeachMark P. (2001), “Developing Loyal Customers with a Value-Adding Sales Force: Examining Customer Satisfaction and the Perceived Credibility of Consultative Salespeople,” Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 21 (2), 147–156.
34.
LubatkinM. H.SimsekZ.LingY.VeigaJ. F. (2006), “Ambidexterity and Performance in Small-to medium-Sized Firms: The Pivotal Role of Top Management Team Behavioral Integration,” Journal of Management, 32 (5), 646–672.
35.
LuschRobertWebsterF. (2010), “Marketing’s Responsibility for the Value of the Enterprise,” Marketing Science Institute Working Paper Series, 10 (111), 1–48.
36.
MacKenzieScott B.PodsakoffPhilip M.AhearneMichael (1998), “Some Possible Antecedents and Consequences of In-Role and Extra-Role Salesperson Performance,” The Journal of Marketing, 62 (3), 87–98.
37.
MarshallGreg W.MichaelsRonald E. (2001), “Research in Selling and Sales Management in the Next Millennium: An Agenda from the AMA Faculty Consortium,” Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 21 (1), 15–17.
38.
MomT. J.FournéS. P.JansenJ. J. (2015), “Managers’ Work Experience, Ambidexterity, and Performance: The Contingency Role of the Work Context,” Human Resource Management, 54 (S1), s133–s153.
39.
NguyenCarlin A. (2017), “Essays on Sales Coaching,” Graduate Theses and Dissertations, (accessed April 27, 2018), [available athttp://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6917].
40.
OgilvieJessicaAgnihotriRajRappAdamTrainorKevin (2018), “Social Media Technology Use and Salesperson Performance: A Two Study Examination of the Role of Salesperson Behaviors, Characteristics, and Training,” Industrial Marketing Management, 75 (2018), 55–65.
41.
OgilvieJessicaRappAdamBachrachDaniel G.MullinsRyanHarveyJaron (2017), “Do Sales and Service Compete? The Impact of Multiple Psychological Climates on Frontline Employee Performance,” Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 37 (1), 11–26.
42.
PalanisamyRamaraj (2003), “Measurement and Enablement of Information Systems for Organizational Flexibility: An Empirical Study,” Journal of Services Research, 3 (2), 82.
43.
PiercyNigel F. (2006), “The Strategic Sales Organization,” The Marketing Review, 6 (1), 3–28.
44.
RackhamNeilDeVincentisJohn (1998), Rethinking the Sales Force. New York: McGraw-Hill.
45.
RaischS.BirkinshawJ. (2008), “Organizational Ambidexterity: Antecedents, Outcomes, and Moderators,” Journal of Management, 34 (3), 375–409.
46.
RappAdam A.BachrachDaniel G.FlahertyKaren E.HughesDouglas E.SharmaArunVoorheesClay M. (2017), “The Role of the Sales-Service Interface and Ambidexterity in the Evolving Organization: A Multilevel Research Agenda,” Journal of Service Research, 20 (1), 59–75.
47.
SharmaArunTzokasNikolaosSarenMichaelKyziridisPanagiotis (1999), “Antecedents and Consequences of Relationship Marketing: Insights from Business Service Salespeople,” Industrial Marketing Management, 28 (6), 601–611.
48.
SharmaSanjay (2000), “Managerial Interpretations and Organizational Context as Predictors of Corporate Choice of Environmental Strategy,” Academy of Management Journal, 43 (4), 681–697.
49.
ShethJagdish N.SharmaArun (2008), “The Impact of the Product to Service Shift in Industrial Markets and the Evolution of the Sales Organization,” Industrial Marketing Management, 37 (3), 260–269.
TeeceDavid J. (2007), “Explicating Dynamic Capabilities: The Nature and Microfoundations of (Sustainable) Enterprise Performance,” Strategic Management Journal, 28 (13), 1319–1350.
52.
TurnerNeilSwartJuaniMaylorHarvey (2013), “Mechanisms for Managing Ambidexterity: A Review and Research Agenda,” International Journal of Management Reviews, 15 (3), 317–332.
53.
TushmanMichael L.O’Reilly IIICharles A. (1996), “Ambidextrous Organizations: Managing Evolutionary and Revolutionary Change,” California Management Review, 38 (4), 8–29.
54.
Van der BorghMichel, Ad De JongNijssenEdwin J. (2017), “Alternative Mechanisms Guiding Salespersons’ Ambidextrous Product Selling,” British Journal of Management, 28 (2), 331–353.
55.
VargoStephen L.LuschRobert F. (2004), “Evolving to a New Dominant Logic for Marketing,” Journal of Marketing, 68 (1), 1–17.
56.
WalkerOrville C.JrChurchillGilbert A.JrFordNeil M. (1977), “Motivation and Performance in Industrial Selling: Present Knowledge and Needed Research,” Journal of Marketing Research, 14 (May), 156–168.
57.
WeitzBarton A.BradfordKevin D. (1999), “Personal Selling and Sales Management: A Relationship Marketing Perspective,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 27 (2), 241.
58.
WinklhoferHeidemarie (2002), “Information Systems Project Management During Organizational Change,” Engineering Management Journal, 14 (2), 33–37.
59.
WotrubaThomas R. (1996), “The Transformation of Industrial Selling: Causes and Consequences,” Industrial Marketing Management, 25 (5), 327–338.
60.
YuTingPattersonPaul G.Kode Ruyter (2013), “Achieving Service-Sales Ambidexterity,” Journal of Service Research, 16 (1), 52–66.
