The effects of organizational structure and job characteristics on export sales managers’ job satisfaction and organizational commitment Evangelia Katsikea a, *, Marios Theodosiou b,1 , Nick Perdikis c,2 , John Kehagias d,3 a Department of Marketing and Communication, Athens University of Economics and Business, 76 Patission Street, 10434 Athens, Greece b Department of Public and Business Administration, School of Economics and Management, University of Cyprus, Kallipoleos 75, P.O. Box 20537, CY-1678 Nicosia, Cyprus c School of Management and Business, Cledwyn Building, Penglais Campus, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth SY23 3DD, United Kingdom d Hellenic Open University, Riga Fereou 169 & Tsamadou, 26222 Patra, Greece 1. Introduction Most organizations employ a variety of control mechanisms to direct and influence the attitudes and behaviors of employees, and ensure that work efforts are channeled towards activities that facilitate the achievement of organizational objectives (Agarwal & Ramaswami, 1993; Jaworski, 1988; Jaworski, Stathakopoulos, & Krishnan, 1993). The design and implementation of an effective control system is particularly important in the case of sales organizations. First, the role of salespeople as revenue generators is critical to an organization’s success. Second, for many firms the sales force accounts for the largest portion of marketing personnel and the marketing budget (Cravens, Ingram, LaForge, & Young, 1993). Third, given the relative independence that most salespeo- ple enjoy, an effective control system is necessary to align their attitudes and behaviors with the organization’s objectives. Finally, sales managers are responsible for supervising, evaluating, directing, and controlling the activities of field salespeople (Anderson & Oliver, 1987). Therefore, control is an important sales management activity. Despite the numerous studies investigating the dimensions, the antecedents and the consequences of sales management control, there are still some notable gaps in the literature. First, Jaworski (1988) recognizes that organizational structure is an important control mechanism present in organizations. Surprisingly, few empirical studies attempted to examine the influence of organiza- tional structure on salespeople’s behavior. Most existing studies focus their attention on control types which are under the direct authority of field sales managers (e.g., Anderson & Oliver, 1987; Challagalla & Shervani, 1996). The structure of a sales organization determines the nature of the relationship between salespeople and their supervisors and has important implications for the control approach that sales managers can adopt in order to encourage desired behaviors and outcomes. Thus, the influence of organiza- tional structure on salespeople’s behavior is an issue that warrants more research attention. Second, most existing studies examine the direct influence of sales management control on important work outcomes like job satisfaction and sales performance (e.g., Jaworski et al., 1993; Oliver & Anderson, 1994). The findings of these studies are contradictory and inconclusive (Challagalla & Shervani, 1996). The relationship between sales management control and various work outcomes is perhaps more complicated than some studies suggest. One approach to reconcile such conflicting findings is to examine the role of other relevant constructs and investigate an expanded chain-of-effects. Drawing upon the job-modification framework (Oldham & Hackman, 1981) this study attempts to expand the literature by investigating interrelationships between Journal of World Business 46 (2011) 221–233 ARTICLE INFO Article history: Available online 8 December 2010 Keywords: Organizational structure Job characteristics Export sales manager Work outcomes ABSTRACT This study draws on the job-modification framework and the job characteristics model to investigate the relationship between organizational structure, job characteristics, and work outcomes in export sales organizations. The study offers a conceptual framework and an empirical test using data collected from 160 UK exporters. The results indicate that formalization and centralization have a positive impact on job feedback. Moreover, centralization relates negatively to job autonomy and job variety. Higher levels of job autonomy, job variety and job feedback enhance the job satisfaction of export sales managers. In turn, export sales managers’ job satisfaction relates positively to organizational commitment. Managerial implications are presented and future research avenues are identified. ß 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +30 2108203417; fax: +30 2108203417. E-mail addresses: ekt@aueb.gr (E. Katsikea), mariosth@ucy.ac.cy (M. Theodosiou), nip@aber.ac.uk (N. Perdikis), jkehagias@eap.gr (J. Kehagias). 1 Tel.: +357 22892465; fax: +357 22892460. 2 Tel.: +44 (0) 1970 622517; fax: +44 (0) 1970 622409. 3 Tel.: +30 2610367444. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of World Business journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jwb 1090-9516/$ – see front matter ß 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jwb.2010.11.003