title: Sales Role Enrichment: Applying the Job Characteristics Model to New Zealand Salespeople

authors: Liddell, Christopher John

subjects: Job Characteristics Model

abstract: This study examined sales roles and salespeople in New Zealand through the lens of the Job Characteristics Model (JCM). Specifically, the direct relationships between role enrichment characteristics, psychological states, and job satisfaction were examined as well as the moderation effects of growth need strength (GNS), locus of control (LOC) and openness to experience (OTE) within these relationships. One hundred and ninety-nine salespeople completed an online survey which asked them to provide information about their role and personality. Respondents came from a number of industries, with real estate, fashion and electronics featuring most prominently. Following reliability analysis and factor analysis, correlation analyses were conducted to ascertain the direct relationships between role enrichment, critical psychological states and job satisfaction. Moderation analysis was conducted to provide information about the effects of GNS, LOC and OTE.

The results provided support for the all the hypothesised direct relationships in the JCM, with all relationships found to be significant and positive. The findings confirmed that role enrichment, critical psychological states, and job satisfaction are positively interrelated for New Zealand salespeople. The results also suggested that the JCM has a high level of applicability within a New Zealand sales context. The results were less supportive of the proposed moderation hypotheses, with moderation only observed in three of twenty-four analyses. LOC moderated the relationship between skill variety and experienced meaningfulness, as well as between feedback and knowledge of results. GNS moderated the relationship between experienced meaningfulness and job satisfaction. No moderation effects were observed for OTE.

The findings of this study indicate that role enrichment is an important consideration in designing sales roles from which New Zealand sales professionals can derive high levels of job satisfaction. Though causation cannot be inferred from the results of this study, there appeared to be reasonable support for the notion that enriched roles enhance the psychological states of salespeople, which in turn increases their job satisfaction. In particular, this appeared to be an appropriate consideration for individuals with high growth need strength levels and an internal LOC. Thus, it is suggested that employers of salespeople endeavour to provide enrichment to their salespeople, as well as seek to develop individuals with high GNS and internal LOC in roles where enrichment is introduced.
Longitudinal research into the JCM within a New Zealand sales context is recommended to provide confirmatory information regarding the direction of causality between role enrichment characteristics, critical psychological states and job satisfaction. Further investigation of specific sales role types is also recommended in order to provide data that is applicable to specific industries or role types. Further research into role enrichment dimensions may also be warranted in order to ascertain whether the distinctions between role dimensions outlined in the JCM are appropriate within a New Zealand sales context.

text: Sales Role Enrichment: Applying the Job Characteristics Model to New Zealand Salespeople This study examined sales roles and salespeople in New Zealand through the lens of the Job Characteristics Model (JCM). Specifically, the direct relationships between role enrichment characteristics, psychological states, and job satisfaction were examined as well as the moderation effects of growth need strength (GNS), locus of control (LOC) and openness to experience (OTE) within these relationships. One hundred and ninety-nine salespeople completed an online survey which asked them to provide information about their role and personality. Respondents came from a number of industries, with real estate, fashion and electronics featuring most prominently. Following reliability analysis and factor analysis, correlation analyses were conducted to ascertain the direct relationships between role enrichment, critical psychological states and job satisfaction. Moderation analysis was conducted to provide information about the effects of GNS, LOC and OTE.

The results provided support for the all the hypothesised direct relationships in the JCM, with all relationships found to be significant and positive. The findings confirmed that role enrichment, critical psychological states, and job satisfaction are positively interrelated for New Zealand salespeople. The results also suggested that the JCM has a high level of applicability within a New Zealand sales context. The results were less supportive of the proposed moderation hypotheses, with moderation only observed in three of twenty-four analyses. LOC moderated the relationship between skill variety and experienced meaningfulness, as well as between feedback and knowledge of results. GNS moderated the relationship between experienced meaningfulness and job satisfaction. No moderation effects were observed for OTE.

The findings of this study indicate that role enrichment is an important consideration in designing sales roles from which New Zealand sales professionals can derive high levels of job satisfaction. Though causation cannot be inferred from the results of this study, there appeared to be reasonable support for the notion that enriched roles enhance the psychological states of salespeople, which in turn increases their job satisfaction. In particular, this appeared to be an appropriate consideration for individuals with high growth need strength levels and an internal LOC. Thus, it is suggested that employers of salespeople endeavour to provide enrichment to their salespeople, as well as seek to develop individuals with high GNS and internal LOC in roles where enrichment is introduced.
Longitudinal research into the JCM within a New Zealand sales context is recommended to provide confirmatory information regarding the direction of causality between role enrichment characteristics, critical psychological states and job satisfaction. Further investigation of specific sales role types is also recommended in order to provide data that is applicable to specific industries or role types. Further research into role enrichment dimensions may also be warranted in order to ascertain whether the distinctions between role dimensions outlined in the JCM are appropriate within a New Zealand sales context.

year: 2013

title: Love me long time: safety and risk in heterocoupledom at adolescence.

authors: Parker, Lisa Maree

abstract: This thesis argues that heterocoupledom at adolescence discursively constitutes Girlfriends and Boyfriends as gendered subjects of safety and risk. The gendering of safety and risk operates to position Girlfriends as risk navigators who make pre-emptive and response-able moves. Safety and risk are regarded as disciplinary techniques that regulate Girlfriends’ performances in relation to defending or maintaining safety and managing risk. It is argued that this positioning as risk navigators only makes ‘sense’ when the subject of Girlfriend is figured as already unsafe and yet responsible for risk. Boyfriends are argued to be positioned as already safe and capable risk takers within heterocoupledom and this configuration means that young men’s engagements with safety and risk remain normalised and unproblematic.

Interviews with young women and focus groups with young women and men were conducted in the mid 1990's. i then read these texts from a feminist discursive position. This discursive approach to feminist psychology is described as it shifted politically and across disciplinary boundaries. Drawing from feminist readings of Foucauldian understandings of power and heterosexuality, i have examined the ways in which hegemonic discourses of heterocoupledom constitute Girlfriends as subjects who are expected to take responsibility for managing and navigating safety and risk. Throughout i ‘make strange’ the way risk warnings convey a taken for granted sensibility that young women should take precautions against harm, abuse and violence, and defend against their safety. The constitution of Girlfriend as already unsafe and Boyfriend as already safe is problematised.

The thesis is structured around a reading of the constitution of gendered heterocoupledom, romance, risk and adolescence, and problematises how heterocoupledom is entered into, the labours of love, and the young women’s responses to harm, abuse, and violence from Boyfriends. Among the many discourses discussed, a discourse of feminine sexuality as threatened and threatening is argued to position young women as already unsafe. A girl-power femininity is argued to have been recuperated to incite young women to become subject to the labours of navigating for safety. i also pay attention to the many subversions of the discourses of gender that young people make in their everyday heterocoupledom and how masculinity and femininity are remixed in a post-modern, globalised capitalist Western context where both recuperation and resistance are at work. The overall focus remains on the disciplinary workings and implications for Girlfriends of navigating a double danger where safety (as managing risk) depends on the re-invention and reification of the already unsafe subject - Girlfriend.

text: Love me long time: safety and risk in heterocoupledom at adolescence. This thesis argues that heterocoupledom at adolescence discursively constitutes Girlfriends and Boyfriends as gendered subjects of safety and risk. The gendering of safety and risk operates to position Girlfriends as risk navigators who make pre-emptive and response-able moves. Safety and risk are regarded as disciplinary techniques that regulate Girlfriends’ performances in relation to defending or maintaining safety and managing risk. It is argued that this positioning as risk navigators only makes ‘sense’ when the subject of Girlfriend is figured as already unsafe and yet responsible for risk. Boyfriends are argued to be positioned as already safe and capable risk takers within heterocoupledom and this configuration means that young men’s engagements with safety and risk remain normalised and unproblematic.

Interviews with young women and focus groups with young women and men were conducted in the mid 1990's. i then read these texts from a feminist discursive position. This discursive approach to feminist psychology is described as it shifted politically and across disciplinary boundaries. Drawing from feminist readings of Foucauldian understandings of power and heterosexuality, i have examined the ways in which hegemonic discourses of heterocoupledom constitute Girlfriends as subjects who are expected to take responsibility for managing and navigating safety and risk. Throughout i ‘make strange’ the way risk warnings convey a taken for granted sensibility that young women should take precautions against harm, abuse and violence, and defend against their safety. The constitution of Girlfriend as already unsafe and Boyfriend as already safe is problematised.

The thesis is structured around a reading of the constitution of gendered heterocoupledom, romance, risk and adolescence, and problematises how heterocoupledom is entered into, the labours of love, and the young women’s responses to harm, abuse, and violence from Boyfriends. Among the many discourses discussed, a discourse of feminine sexuality as threatened and threatening is argued to position young women as already unsafe. A girl-power femininity is argued to have been recuperated to incite young women to become subject to the labours of navigating for safety. i also pay attention to the many subversions of the discourses of gender that young people make in their everyday heterocoupledom and how masculinity and femininity are remixed in a post-modern, globalised capitalist Western context where both recuperation and resistance are at work. The overall focus remains on the disciplinary workings and implications for Girlfriends of navigating a double danger where safety (as managing risk) depends on the re-invention and reification of the already unsafe subject - Girlfriend.

year: 2002

title: Tito Waiata-Tito Pūoro: extending the Kīngitanga music tradition.

authors: Rollo, Te Manaaroha Pirihira

subjects: Kīngitanga

abstract: Since 1858, music has always been an integral part of the Kīngitanga movement in New Zealand. As this music tradition evolves with the introduction of new musical idioms, genres and digital technology, so too do the practices of composing new works. 

The objective of this research was to construct a model for combining waiata, taonga pūoro and New Zealand electroacoustic music, in order to create new works that enhance the Kīngitanga music tradition.  Developing a model for composing and integrating these idioms within a Māori context presented problems, as traditional Māori music conflict with contemporary Western forms. 

To generate a framework and practical model for composing hybrid music, an examination of selected New Zealand works was first carried out through: a) the collection of 50 traditional and contemporary waiata relating to the Kīngitanga b) the collection of 10 New Zealand taonga pūoro works and c) a collection of 10 New Zealand electroacoustic music. An analysis of the music and compositional processes of each idiom implementing the ‘de-construct in order to re-construct’ approach to understand how they work musically and compositionally was accomplished. 

To demonstrate the outcome of my models, six original compositions were presented exploring different aspects of musical composition. These models focused on sound architecture and explored a) communicative relationships between composer, performer, and audience b) Holistic Co-hear-ence, implementing the horizontal and vertical layering model, and c) technical approaches using digital technology. To comply with Māori principles of composition and performance, each model and new work demonstrated Kaupapa Māori , Wairua  and Te Mana - Te Ihi - Te Wehi - Te Tapu . 

The findings and original contributions of this research provide a model that combines two musical traditions and three music idioms, and in turn, may guide contemporary composers in creating new works that extend the Kīngitanga music tradition.

text: Tito Waiata-Tito Pūoro: extending the Kīngitanga music tradition. Since 1858, music has always been an integral part of the Kīngitanga movement in New Zealand. As this music tradition evolves with the introduction of new musical idioms, genres and digital technology, so too do the practices of composing new works. 

The objective of this research was to construct a model for combining waiata, taonga pūoro and New Zealand electroacoustic music, in order to create new works that enhance the Kīngitanga music tradition.  Developing a model for composing and integrating these idioms within a Māori context presented problems, as traditional Māori music conflict with contemporary Western forms. 

To generate a framework and practical model for composing hybrid music, an examination of selected New Zealand works was first carried out through: a) the collection of 50 traditional and contemporary waiata relating to the Kīngitanga b) the collection of 10 New Zealand taonga pūoro works and c) a collection of 10 New Zealand electroacoustic music. An analysis of the music and compositional processes of each idiom implementing the ‘de-construct in order to re-construct’ approach to understand how they work musically and compositionally was accomplished. 

To demonstrate the outcome of my models, six original compositions were presented exploring different aspects of musical composition. These models focused on sound architecture and explored a) communicative relationships between composer, performer, and audience b) Holistic Co-hear-ence, implementing the horizontal and vertical layering model, and c) technical approaches using digital technology. To comply with Māori principles of composition and performance, each model and new work demonstrated Kaupapa Māori , Wairua  and Te Mana - Te Ihi - Te Wehi - Te Tapu . 

The findings and original contributions of this research provide a model that combines two musical traditions and three music idioms, and in turn, may guide contemporary composers in creating new works that extend the Kīngitanga music tradition.

year: 2014