Satış Personeline Yönelik Performans Değerlendirme Ölçeğinin Geliştirilmesi ve Psikometrik Özelliklerinin İncelenmesi

Introduction Performance evaluation is an essential aspect of personnel practices. It is used in decision making to determine the position of employees in the organization, on promotion and relegation in rank, termination of employment, salary arrangements, and training programs (Glueck, 1982). The main purpose of performance evaluation is to determine the contribution of an individual in achieving the organizational objectives of the human resources department (Aktan, 1999). Data collected from performance evaluations is extremely important for the manager, the employees and the firm's overall efficiency. The success of performance evaluation studies and the methods of evaluation used greatly depend on reliability and validity. From an examination of relevant literature and a series of interviews with employees in the sector, it is clear that effective performance evaluation of sales personnel is greatly needed. The aim of this study is to develop a performance evaluation scale for sales personnel working in locations which market non-food goods and determine its psychometric qualities. In addition to the main objective, the types of studies to be carried out to evaluate the performance of the sales personnel have also been investigated. Method Three data collection tools were used in this study: 1) İnformation Form- Survey: The survey was developed for the study. It was used to collect information about current applications related to the performance evaluation and required data for the scale. 2) Job Analysis Form: It was used to collect the information needed to analyze sales personnel work and to define the job description. The form used in the job analysis was developed with the help of a study by Ergin (2002) and the forms which Hacettepe University, Department of Psychology research assistants used in a study of job analysis. The form consists of 16 items. 3) Performance Evaluation Scale: This 33 item scale was developed specifically for this study in order to evaluate the performance of sales personnel under three separate dimensions. To develop the scale, a survey was initially administered in 35 shops to 61 sales personnel and managers. This survey aimed to collect information about the current applications which used to evaluate the performance of the sales personnel and about which dimensions the performance of the sales personnel is to be measured. In addition, job descriptions were determined according to the job analysis of sales personnel. The graphic rating scale, one of the techniques based on common performance criteria, was used as a model to develop the new scale. The graphic rating scale has been preferred because it allows for evaluation of the individual in various dimensions and makes interpersonal comparisons. By utilizing an in-depth literature review, the initial survey, and job analysis, a new Performance Evaluation Scale was developed with 3 separate dimensions and comprising a total of 33 items. The 3 dimensions contained in the performance evaluation scale include: "Task-Specific Knowledge and Skills", "Personal Characteristics", and "Communication Skills". Each of the items was defined in order to clarify what they mean so they can be understood and evaluated in the same way by everyone. Items were assessed on a Likert-type scale of 5 points, including: “very poor”, “poor”, “average”, “good”, and “very good”. In order to determine content validity and face validity, the scale was investigated by a team of experts comprising 11 academics, 9 store managers, and a human resources manager. The final evaluations were thoroughly analyzed and some of the items, titles, and descriptions were corrected. The application of the performance evaluation scale was realized on 200 sales personnel working in 6 shops belonging to 4 different firms. This test was later repeated on 53 sales personnel after a rest period of two months to ensure test-retest reliability. Data was collected and analyzed using SPSS software. Based on an item analysis of the scale, the means and standard deviations of each item were calculated and the item-total correlations were analyzed. Because of a low number of item-total correlations which were limiting reliability, the problematic items were removed from the scale. To measure the validity of the scale, it was tested for content validity and construct validity. Experts were consulted to determine the content validity, and a factor analysis was used to examine the construct validity by statistically revealing the number of dimensions the scale tested. To determine the reliability of the scale, the test-retest method was used and the internal consistency of the scale was calculated using the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient. Following the factor analysis study to determine the scale’s construct validity, the items were categorized into two factors (rather than three) and the dimensions were renamed as “Sale-oriented knowledge, skills, and personal specifications” and “Properties of the adaptation to the workplace”. Result and Discussion Because the performance evaluation scale was designed in three sub-dimensions, Varimax rotation was applied to find items that have a high correlation with the different factors. In this study, in order to determine which variables belong to which factors, the criteria .40 was used. None of the items were eliminated because none of them had a correlation of less than .40 in the factor loading. In the case of items having a high factor loading on two factors, the difference must be at least .10 in order to be taken into consideration. An item showing a high correlation with more than one factor is named as a “complex item”. The increase in the number of the complex items might be an indication that they deviate from the simplicity of the structure (Thurstone, 1947). Two items, named “Reliability” and “Ability to create empathy”, proved to show high correlations in two factors and were removed from the scale. After removal of the two items, factor analysis was applied again to the 31 item scale. Accordingly, the factor load values of 18 items, located in the first factor, varied between .48-.78; the factor load values of 13 items, located in the second factor, varied between .46-.74. The first factor accounts for 28.9% of the total variance and the second factor accounts for 22.90%. Together, the two factors accounted for 50.99% of the total variance. The common variance of the items in the two factors ranged from .37 to .63. Reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s Alpha) of the complete scale was .96. The reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s Alpha) of the first factor, named as “Sale-oriented knowledge, skills and personal specifications” was .94, and the reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s Alpha) of the second factor, named as “Properties of the adaptation to the workplace” was .91. As a result of the test-retest application, Pearson moment correlation coefficient was found to be .89. According to the results of the test-retest for the sub-dimensions, the reliability coefficient of the first factor, named as “Sale-oriented knowledge, skills and personal specifications”, was .89 and the reliability coefficient of the second factor, named as “Properties of the adaptation to the workplace”, was .80. According to these findings, the performance evaluation scale can be considered a valid and reliable instrument which can be used to measure and evaluate the performance of sales personnel.