Market-oriented work-role innovation behaviors of retail salespeople: A model and research propositions

An organizational climate that supports market-based organizational learning is a unique basis of competitive advantage because of the need for strategies that anticipate a dynamic market and changing customer expectations. As Slater and Narver (1995, p. 66) argued, "An organization provides superior value to customers when its culture and climate foster behaviors that lead to improvements in effectiveness or efficiency, which, in turn, provide additional benefits or lower prices for customers." The innovative and change-oriented behaviors of individual sales associates are a fundamental ingredient of market-driven organizational learning and innovation for retail firms and an essential link between strategic planning and effective strategy implementation because sales associates work on the boundary of the firm (cf. Noble and Mokwa 1999; Slater and Narver 1995). As such, organizational learning and competitive advantage in retail firms rely on the motivation of retail sales associates to identify and implement organizationally functional changes that add value to customers with respect to work methods, policies, and procedures within the context of their jobs, stores, or organizations-called work-role innovation citizenship behaviors.