B2B growth and sales · Comparative empirical survey of salespeople and managers
Perceptions of sales force automation: Differences between sales force and management
Stephan F. Gohmann, Jian Guan, Robert M. Barker, David J. Faulds (2005). Perceptions of sales force automation: Differences between sales force and management. Industrial Marketing Management. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2004.09.014.
Plain-English take
Documents differences between sales-force and management perceptions of SFA; the title and publisher record explicitly identify the comparative empirical focus. For your marketing: Use as a mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your own deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
How much weight to give this
2.5/5 Evidence needs cautious interpretation
The 1–5 evidence-check score is a practical reading aid, not a formal peer review or a probability that a conclusion is true. It combines design strength (2 points), sample reporting (1), comparison/control clarity (1), and how much of the paper could be checked (1). Access affects how confidently this directory can assess a study, not the study's underlying quality. Blinding is reported separately because it is not relevant to every design.
Comparative empirical survey of salespeople and managers
Sales-force and management respondents evaluating sales-force automation
Judged from the publisher-described design and comparison; inspect the paper for complete analysis.
Publisher page and abstract were retrieved directly; full text was not assumed open.
Double-blind? Blinding was not established from the retrieved publisher record.
Research question
What the authors investigated
How do salespeople’s and managers’ perceptions of SFA differ?
Design
Comparative empirical survey of salespeople and managers
Sample and setting
Sales-force and management respondents evaluating sales-force automation
Reported result
What the study found
Documents differences between sales-force and management perceptions of SFA; the title and publisher record explicitly identify the comparative empirical focus.
This is a paraphrase of the source. Check the original paper for definitions, estimates, statistical uncertainty and analysis details.
Scope and transfer
Limitations to keep in view
Perception measures and cross-sectional respondents do not establish performance causality.
Possible founder application
Use as a mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your own deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Evidence access
Publisher record and abstract retrieved; consult the linked paper for full methods and tables.
Publisher DOI landing page identifies the exact title, authors, journal record and empirical-design sections/abstract: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2004.09.014 Direct publisher-page retrieval was recorded on 2026-10-09; this profile uses the publisher abstract/metadata and does not claim independent review of unavailable full text.
If only an abstract or metadata was available, the profile is limited to claims supported there. A paper's paywall does not change its evidentiary status, but it limits what we can substantiate from accessible text.