Scaling and Measurement: Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity Reconsidered

C. David ShepherdC. David Shepherd received his Ph.D. in Marketing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He has over five years experience in sales and sales management with the Burroughs Corporation. Dr. Shepherd has published in the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, The International Journal of Manpower, the proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science and the American Psychological Association. His primary area of interest is sales force management, with a particular focus on expertise and ethics in personal selling.

Leslie M. FineLeslie M. Fine received her Ph.D. in Marketing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She is currently an assistant professor at The Ohio State University. Dr. Fine was a former account executive for AT&T, and has experience in advertising sales and direct mail marketing. She has previously published in Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Journal of Consumer Psychology, and the proceedings of the American Marketing Association and the American Psychological Association. Her research interests are in the cognitive processes associated with the development of buyer-seller relationships, and sales force management.

Abstract

Over the last two decades considerable research effort has focused on the relationship between role stress (role conflict and role ambiguity) and salesperson job performance and satisfaction. Many researchers in selling and sales management have used role stress scales developed by Rizzo, House and Lirtzman (RHL) in 1970. Researchers who wish to use the RHL scales must contend with criticisms about the scales ‘validity and reliability, and with a history of changes to the scales’ response format and item content. This paper reviews the criticisms of the scales, the use of the scales in the sales literature, and offers guidelines for researchers for the most effective use of the RHL scales.

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