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PurposePersonnel, particularly frontline employees, represent the face of retailers and help promote the brand, enhancing customer loyalty and satisfaction through positive interactions. This research examines retailing versus non-retailing marketing positions to uncover factors that can increase job satisfaction in retail: work environment factors, job characteristics and psychological factors. These factors allow for a holistic view of today’s competitive market that addresses human motivation theory and reveals important insights for attracting and retaining retail talent who can provide compelling, positive experiences for customers.Design/methodology/approachSurvey research provided the means to collect data and compare retailing versus non-retailing marketing positions. A paid online panel of 2,334 marketing and retail professionals yielded 659 completed surveys. To capture workplace experience of retailers and other marketing professionals, the study measured work environment factors (compensation, customers, recognition received, supervisor support and co-workers), job characteristics (performance feedback, power and control, work variety, autonomy and altruistic opportunity) and psychological factors (job stress, work overload, role conflict and job burnout).FindingsThe findings suggest that job characteristics, psychological outcomes, organizational factors, family support and altruistic opportunity affect retail employee satisfaction. These findings offer actionable responses for retailers in their quest to attract and retain retail employees in today’s competitive job market and, in turn, enrich the customer experience journey.Research limitations/implicationsCompetition for the best marketing people to work in retail and avoiding negative interactions between retail employees and customers can be expected to increase brand competitiveness. This research was based on survey responses of individuals in marketing positions suggesting individuals that care about their marketing careers. This research has implications for marketing leadership with regard to critical issues of today’s retail personnel. There is an opportunity to make a difference. Without highly satisfied employees, retail will continue to face challenges in finding and keeping individuals who enhance the customer journey and promote desirable brand experiences. Research consistently shows that when job characteristics, satisfiers and stress are negative aspects of the job, people shift to other jobs that provide more personal career fulfillment (Leider et al., 2016; Stamolampros et al., 2019). Even carefully executed digital marketing, strategic data analytics, aesthetics and promotions cannot drive customers to become raving fans of a retail brand without satisfied employees. Retail personnel are critical as they represent the brand and have a significant impact on the customer experience. With limited resources available to retail management, a priority could be in recruiting and training managers to attract and retain the best retail workers and improve the customer experience. Creating positive customer connections is critical in retail.Practical implicationsPractically, this research provides insight into specific areas that need strategic management action to make retail more appealing.Originality/valueThe study provides an overview and comparison of the key aspects of job satisfaction in retail marketing positions compared with non-retail marketing positions.

Previous research and meta-analyses suggest that the influence of organizational variables on boundary role stress processes is weak and marginal. Using the emerging work in organizational practices and configurations, the authors reexamine this relationship by addressing three critical gaps: (1) conceptualizing organizational environment as a multidimensional practices construct, (2) operationalizing the organizational environment as configurations or combinations of practices dimensions, and (3) testing for direct and moderating hypotheses. The results reveal that organizational practices matter significantly in boundary role stress processes. The findings show that procedural environments are dysfunctional because they engender higher levels of role stressors, reduce performance, and negatively affect the psychological well-being of boundary spanners. In contrast, the achievement and affective-oriented environments involve distinct trade-offs, because none is clearly superior. The authors discuss the theoretical implications for further research and provide recommendations for managerial practice.

For people to be the bridge to competitiveness, they must be hired and trained not simply for the work their hands can do, but also for their ability to think and learn and make a difference. Building a learning workforce requires that managers cultivate a great working environment and a culture of empowerment. To understand how to manage people so that they become the catalyst to competitive success, a multi‐method research study was undertaken that combined both secondary and primary research techniques. The findings revealed that the characteristics of a great working environment include the following: compensation that communicates that people truly are valued, exceptional facilities, a facilitative company culture, good relations between management and employees, a flexible work place, a family‐friendly culture, and investments in employee competencies. Similarly, a culture of empowerment is built on a foundation of affirmation, belonging, and competence. Unfortunately, few companies understand that antecedents of effective people management and even fewer are willing to make the sustained investments required to harness the learning and passion of the workforce. Tremendous opportunities exist to leverage the human resource for competitive advantage.

The resource allocation task of top management has received significant attention from researchers and practitioners alike. Managers are advised to increase allocation efficiency-assign the right resources to the most promising opportunities. Much less attention has been given to the task of resource leverage (Hamel and Prahalad, 1994). Entrepreneurs quickly discover that they cannot match the resources of larger competitors. Because they must do more with less, they seek to leverage their own resources and the resources of others. We use the term \"leveraging leverage \" to identify entrepreneurial practices that leverage the resources of others.

Ideation is the creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas (Johnson, 2005). In this paper, we develop an ideation process for entrepreneurs, with a focus on problems customers are trying to solve. This research evolves from the relevant marketing literature, from field interviews, and from observations. We present a four-step ideation process. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Role ambiguity is often thought to be a pervasive aspect of boundary spanning and sales positions in marketing. Surprisingly, few studies have examined how various types or dimensions of role ambiguity impact the salespersons' psychological (e.g., job satisfaction, tension and commitment) and behavioral (e.g., performance and turnover) outcomes. Because proper intervention begins with an accurate assessment, the purpose of this paper is to measure the various types of role ambiguities experienced by industrial salespeople and to examine their relative effects on psychological and behavioral job outcomes. Specifically, we demonstrate how multidimensional role ambiguity can pinpoint specific dimensions of ambiguity that are dysfunctional to the salesperson and organization. The results underscore the managerial and theoretical insights obtained from utilizing a multidimensional view of role ambiguity as part of a broader survey for examining the dysfunctional effects of role ambiguity dimensions in sales organizations.

Recognizing market opportunities and then developing responsive marketing strategies and tactics are critical for any enterprise. Entrepreneurs, in particular, continually search for and seek to develop opportunities in the marketplace. We present a framework for opportunity recognition and marketing strategy development, designed to integrate marketing theory and practice. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Marketing boundary spanners-especially customer service representatives-are notably susceptible to burnout. The authors define the burnout construct and develop hypotheses to examine if burnout acts as a partial mediator between role stressors and key behavioral and psychological job outcomes. Responses from 377 customer service representatives reveal that burnout levels are high relative to other burnout-prone occupations (e.g., police, nursing) and that burnout has consistent, significant, and dysfunctional effects on their behavioral and psychological outcomes. Moreover, burnout mediates the negative effects of role stressors on job outcomes, whereas the positive effects of role stressors are unmediated.