文章基本信息

标题：An Empirical Investigation Of Perceptions Of The Sales Profession In A Developing Economy: A Survey Of Turkish Business Students
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作者：Beverly T. Venable ; A. Ercan Gegez ; Ibrahim Kircova 等
期刊名称：B Quest
电子版ISSN：1084-3981
出版年度：2008
出版社：Richards College of Business, University of West Georgia
摘要：As the global economy moves more and more toward being service driven, the demand for sales professionals will also increase. Successful recruitment of marketing graduates may depend in part on their perceptions of sales as a career option. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of Turkish business students regarding the sales profession. A self-administered questionnaire was used in this study to gather data from 443 Turkish business students. The results provide a view of students’ perceptions of sales as a professional career. Factor analysis using a varimax rotation was done to examine the structure of the sales related statements by producing a subset of variables related to the perceptions of sales as a profession. Results of the study indicate that perceptions regarding a sales profession vary based on the educational background (courses taken, student majors, etc.) as well as some demographics like work status. Findings suggest that educators might be able to help change the negative image of a sales career by re-evaluating their approaches in teaching sales related courses in addition to correcting the misperceptions of students regarding the sales career. As the academic community works to reposition the perceptions of sales careers among college students, it might also have a spillover effect on those already working in this profession. As a result of these types of changes, business professionals, especially in the growing service sector, might see an improvement in their abilitiy to recruit and retain more qualified sales people. Overall, the results of this study indicate that the sales profession might benefit from re-positioning.