SALES RESEARCH – SEF GRANTS,
PAPERS & CFPS
Research Grant History
Since 2011, $5,000 research grants have been awarded annually by SEF. Links to Executive Summaries and published papers from grant recipients appear below. Efforts have been made to ensure accuracy. If you discover a non-working link or other issue, please contact SEF.
SEF has awarded two $5,000 research grants since 2011. Our research grant program was started when Neil Rackham, well-known author of SPIN Selling and visionary, partnered with SEF to provide grants. Neil believed that “the time has come for new approaches to customer interaction.Today, SEF continues research grant funding to educators and doctoral candidates to support their efforts.
2025 SEF Research Grant Call for Proposals - COMING SOON!
SEF RESEARCH GRANT PROGRAM
Our Research Grant Recipients
2023 Grant Recipients
Dr. Valerie Good, Ph.D., from Grand Valley State University, Dr. Amy Greiner Fehl, Ph.D., from Georgia Gwinnett College, and Stephanie Bear Mangus, Ph.D., from Baylor University, for their proposal titled, “Exploring the Impact of Salesperson Loneliness.”
Robert M. Peterson, Ph.D., from Northern Illinois University, for his proposal titled, “When Artificial Intelligence and Natural Intelligence Collide in Sales: Skills Needed and Skill Reshaping.”
2022 Grant Recipients
Molly Ahearne, Doctoral Student of Marketing from the University of Georgia for her paper titled, “Enhancing the Effectiveness of Sales Performance Rankings on Dashboards.” Her advisor is John Hulland.
Dr. Bryan Hochstein, from the University of Alabama, Dr. George Deitz, from the University of Memphis, Tim Butler, from Southeastern Louisiana University, and Tongxi (Stephanie) Wang, Ph.D. candidate from the University of Alabama, for their paper titled, “Should I Stay or Should I Go? Factors that Drive Salesperson Turnover and Retention in the Era of the Great Resignation.”
2021 Grant Recipients
Scott Friend, Peter Nguyen and Christopher Blocker for their paper titled, “Assessing Customer Defection and Sales Win-Back Strategies via Machine Learning.”
Bruno Lussier, Nathaniel Hartmann and Nawar Chaker for their paper titled, “Understanding and Mitigating the Undesirable Consequences of B2B Salespeople Working from Home on Burnout and Sales Performance.”
Grant Recipients Research Papers
2022
Dr. Bryan Hochstein, Dr. George Deitz, Dr. Timothy D. Butler, Nicole Boylan, & Tongxi Wang: “Should I Stay or Should I Go? Factors that Drive Salesperson Turnover and Retention in the Era of the Great Resignation.” Read the Executive Summary
2021
Bruno Lussier, Lisa Beeler, Willy Bolander and Nathaniel N. Hartmann: Additional paper titled, “Alleviating the Negative Effects of Salesperson Depression on Performance During a Crisis: Examining the Role of Job Resources” Read the Executive Summary
Bruno Lussier, Nathaniel N. Hartmann, Nawar N. Chaker and Deva Rangarajan: “Lone Wolf Tendency and Ethical Behaviors in Sales: Examining the roles of perceived supervisor support and salesperson self-efficacy” Read the Executive Summary
2020
Allison (Crick) Smith, Ricky Fergurson and David Fleming: “A Conceptural View of the Dynamics of Global Sales Leadership: An Examination through Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions” Read the Executive Summary
2019
Alec Pappas, Maria Rouziou, Bruno Lussier, Willy Bolander, and Christopher R. Plouffe: “Not All Networks Are Created Equal: The Effects of Network Centralities on Salesperson Performance and Turnover-A Longitudinal Analysis” Read the Executive Summary
2018
Ryan Mullins: “Uncovering the Impact of Sales Force Capabilities on Firm Performance” Read the Executive Summary
Scott B. Friend, Jeff S. Johnson and Kumar Rakesh Ranjan: “Fail Fast, Sell Well” Read the Executive Summary-Part One
Scott B. Friend, Jeff S. Johnson and Kumar Rakesh Ranjan: “Fail Fast Strategy in Sales Force Management” Read the Executive Summary-Part Two
2015
Dr. V. Kumar: “Why Do Salespeople Quit? An Empirical Examination of Own and Peer Effects on Salesperson Turnover Behavior”
AMA Journal of Marketing Research
Blake Runnalls: “The Impact of Social Networks on Sales Training Transfer and Performance” Read the Summary Report.
2014
Raghuram Bommaraju: “Self-Selected Sales Incentives: Evidence of Their Effectiveness, Persistence, Durability and Underlying Mechanisms”
Executive Summary | AMA Journal of Marketing
Raj Agnihotri: “Salesperson Ambidexterity and Customer Satisfaction: Examining the role of customer demandingness, adaptive selling, and role conflict.” Read the Executive Summary
2013
Drs. Nick Panagopoulos and Adam Rapp: “Adaptive Sales Capabilities and Sales Performance” Read the summary report.
Craig C. Chapman, Jeffrey Patrick Boichuk, Thomas J. Steenburgh, Michael Ahearne: “Real Earnings Management in Sales”
Journal of Accounting Research
2012
Mark P. Leach and Annie H. Liu: “It ain’t over ’til it’s over: Evaluating Reacquisition Opportunities in Business-to-Business Markets”
Industrial Marketing Management
2011
Zachary R. Hall, Michael Ahearne, & Harish Sujan: “The Importance of Starting Right: The Influence of Accurate Intuition on Performance in Salesperson–Customer Interactions.”
AMA Journal link
POSTED – CALL FOR PAPERS
2024 SEF Research Grant Call for Proposals
Submission Deadline July 31, 2024
The Sales Education Foundation (SEF) supports the funding of high-quality research that addresses topics of importance to sales practitioners and researchers alike. Selected proposals recognize sales-specific research with the potential for application by sales executives, sales managers, and/or the salesforce.
Conferences and journals offer researchers the opportunity to submit papers for consideration. Check out our new Sales Research Journals page and see current open calls below:
Journal of Selling – Special Issue Call for Papers – “Artificial Intelligence in Sales: A New Framework to Transform Sales Professionals” – Submission deadline – September 1, 2024 More Information
The Importance of Sales Research into Business Issues
Sales specific research is needed to bridge the gap between academia and industry. Sales managers need easy access to published research where they can find best practices and solid methodology for dealing with their daily challenges.
Our commitment to Sales research is supported in part by the SEF Research Grant Program. SEF also posts calls for papers from conferences.
Please direct your questions to SalesFoundation@PSE.org, to learn more or inquire about our next opportunity.
Elevating the Sales Profession Through University Education
