The Role of Supervisor Feedback on Motivation Among Kenya Commercial Bank Sales Team

Abstract

Despite extensive research, our understanding of the supervisor feedback - salesperson motivation relationship remains unclear. For instance, positive supervisor feedback may encourage greater effort on the part of one salesperson, but for another, it may have little or no effect his/her desire to be more productive. Likewise, negative feedback may motivate a salesperson to take corrective action, and thereby improve performance. However, negative feedback may also trigger feelings of anger, guilt, or anxiety that may or may not motivate the salesperson. To address this issue, the researcher attempts to examine how salespeople respond to feedback, and how their responses, in turn, influence their motivation. The results of this study suggest that if a salesperson blames himself or herself following the performance feedback, then that salesperson will already be motivated to work harder and smarter in the future. This may be a signal to the manager that further encouragement and assistance should be provided. However, if a salesperson blames others for his or her poor performance, the salesperson may not be motivated to do more. To a sales manager, this would suggest the need to focus primarily on encouraging the salesperson to take personal responsibility rather than providing encouragement and assistance alone. This study used performance evaluation feedback as an event that triggers reactions leading to motivation. However, other important characteristics of the feedback were not considered. Also, personal characteristics variables act as influencers of how salespeople perceive feedback and emotions they experience thereafter.