Abstract:
ORIENTATION : Understanding the impact of resilience and perceived organisational support on employee engagement in a competitive sales environment. RESEARCH PURPOSE : The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between resilience, perceived organisational support and employee engagement among pharmaceutical sales
employees in a competitive sales environment; and to establish whether resilience and
perceived organisational support hold predictive value for employee engagement.
MOTIVATION FOR THE STUDY : Limited research has focused on the unique context of employee
engagement as a construct in professional sales. A broader understanding of resilience and
perceived organisational support can provide sales organisations with a lever to create an
environment where sales employees are more fully engaged.
RESEARCH DESIGN, APPROACH AND METHOD : A quantitative, exploratory, cross-sectional survey
approach was used. A sample of 125 sales representatives from a South African pharmaceutical
organisation participated in the research. The measuring instruments included the Utrecht
Work Engagement Scale (UWES), Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) and the Perceived Organisational
Support Scale (POS).
MAIN FINDINGS : Perceived organisational support, but not resilience impacted employee
engagement in a competitive sales environment.
PRACTICAL AND MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS : Sales organisations’ interventions to improve sales
employee engagement should focus on perceived organisational support.
CONTRIBUTION : The individual role of each construct provided insight into the sales context.
The relationship between the constructs offered a different lens through which the drivers of employee engagement in sales can be viewed. This study contributes towards sales literature
by including positive psychology and organisational support in a model of employee
engagement.
