Michael Ahearne

Professor - SEI Executive Director & Marketing Ph.D. Coordinator

Michael Ahearne

Bio

Michael Ahearne is Professor of Marketing and Executive Director of the Sales Excellence Institute. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Houston, he was a professor at the University of Connecticut and Pennsylvania State University. He has a Ph.D. and M.S. in Marketing with a minor in Decision Sciences from Indiana University. He has an M.B.A. and a B.S. in Mathematics with honors from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Mike’s research has primarily focused on two areas: 1) the performance of sales organizations and 2) building brand identity and corporate image. He has published in the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Management Science, Journal of Applied Psychology, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, as well as several other journals. Mike is a co-author on one of the leading professional selling textbooks, Selling Today: Creating Customer Value, which been translated into numerous languages and is currently used to teach professional selling in over 30 countries. His research has been profiled in Business 2.0, Business Investors Daily, and INC Magazine and many other news outlets.

He has substantial experience conducting marketing research in the health care and pharmaceutical industry. Before entering academia he worked for Eli Lilly and Company and PCS Healthcare. He currently works as a consultant for a number of companies in the sales technology and pharmaceutical industries.

Research Interests

  • Salesperson Performance
  • Customer Relationship Management
  • Branding
  • Organizational Identity

Publications

  • Ahearne, Michael, Son Lam, John Mathieu and Willy Bolander (2010), “Why are Some Salespeople Better at Adapting to Organizational Change,” forthcoming at Journal of Marketing.
  • Ahearne, Michael, Adam Rapp, Douglas Hughes and Rupinder Jindal (2010), “Managing Salesforce Product Perceptions and Control Systems in the Success of New Product Introductions,” forthcoming at Journal of Marketing Research.
  • Ahearne, Michael (2010), "The Role of Technology at the Interface between Salespeople and Consumers," forthcoming as the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management. (Special Issue on Technology and Business-to-Consumer Selling)
  • Ahearne, Michael, Scott MacKenzie, Philip Podsakoff, John Mathieu and Son Lam (2010), “The Role of Consensus in Sales Team Performance,” forthcoming at Journal of Marketing Research.
  • Ahearne, Michael and Prabakar Kothandaraman (2009), "Impact of Outsourcing on Business-to-Business Marketing: An Agenda for Inquiry," Industrial Marketing Management, 84(4), 276-278. (Special Issue on the impact of outsourcing on B2B marketing)
  • Wieseke, Jan, Michael Ahearne, Son K. Lam and Rolf van Dick (2009), "The Role of Leaders in Internal Marketing: A Multilevel Examination through the Lens of Social Identity Theory," Journal of Marketing, 73(2), 123-146.
  • Lim, Noah, Michael Ahearne and Sung Ham (2009), “Designing Sales Contests: Does the Prize Structure Matter?” Journal of Marketing Research, 46(3), 325-345.
  • Ahearne, Michael, Eli Jones, Adam Rapp, and John Mathieu (2008), “High Touch through High Tech: The Impact of Salesperson Technology Usage on Customer Satisfaction and Sales Performance,” Management Science, 54(4), 671-685.
  • Ahearne, Michael, Douglas Hughes, and Niels Schillewaert (2007), “Why Sales Reps Should Welcome Information Technology: Measuring the Impact of CRM-based IT on Sales Effectiveness,” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 24(4), 336-349.
  • Ahearne, Michael, Ron Jelinek and Eli Jones (2007), “Examining the Effect of Salesperson Service Behavior on Customer Product Usage in a Competitive Context,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 35(4), 603-616.
  • Mathieu, John, Michael Ahearne, and Scott Taylor (2007) “A Longitudinal Cross-Level Model of Leader and Salesperson Influences on Sales Force Technology Use and Performance,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(2) 528-537.
  • Jelinek, Ronald and Michael Ahearne (2006), “The Enemy Within: Examining Salesperson Deviance and its Determinants,” Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 26(4), 277– 291.
  • Rapp, Adam, Michael Ahearne, John Mathieu, and Niels Schillewaert (2006), “The Impact of Knowledge and Empowerment on Salesperson Behaviors,” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 23(3), 257 – 266.
  • Jelinek, Ronald, Michael Ahearne, John Mathieu, and Niels Schillewaert (2006), “A Longitudinal Examination of Individual, Organizational and Contextual Factors on Technology Adoption and Job Performance,” Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 14 (1) 7-23 – Winner of best technology track paper at the 2003 Summer AMA
  • Jelinek, Ronald, Michael Ahearne (2006) “The ABC’s of ACB: Unveiling a Clear and Present Danger in the Sales Force,” Industrial Marketing Management, 35(4), 457-467.
  • Ahearne, Michael, Ron Jelinek, Adam Rapp (2005) “Determining When IT Use Does and Does Not Enhance Salesperson Efficiency and Effectiveness: The Critical Role of Training and Support,” Industrial Marketing Management, 34(4), 379-388. (Special Issue on Technology in Marketing)
  • Schillewaert, Niels, Michael Ahearne, Ruud T. Frambach and Rudy K. Moenaert (2005) “An Examination of Factors Influencing the Acceptance of Sales Automation Technology in the Salesforce,” Industrial Marketing Management, 34(4), 323-336. (Special Issue on Technology in Marketing)
  • Ahearne, Michael, Han Srinivasan, Luke Weinstein (2005) “The Impact of Technology on Sales Performance: Progressing from Technology Acceptance to Technology Usage and Consequence,” Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 24(4), 297-310. (Special Issue on CRM)
  • Ahearne, Michael, John Mathieu and Adam Rapp (2005) “To Empower or Not to Empower Your Sales Force? An Empirical Examination of the Influence of Empowering Leader Behaviors on Customer Satisfaction and Performance,” Journal of Applied Psychology 90 (5) 735-744.
  • Tanner, John, Michael Ahearne, Thomas Leigh, Charlotte Mason and William Moncrief (2005) “CRM in Sales-Intensive Organizations: A Review and Future Directions,” Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 25 (2), 169-180. (Special Issue on Future Directions in Sales and Sales Management)
  • Ahearne, Michael, C.B. Bhattacharya and Thomas Gruen (2005) “Antecedents and Consequences of Customer-Company Identification: Expanding the Role of Relationship Marketing,” Journal of Applied Psychology 90(3) 574-585.

Contact Info

Phone:
713-743-4155
Email:
mahearne@uh.edu
Room:
375D
Website:
No Web Site Currently

Education

Ph.D in Marketing
Indiana University

M.S. in Marketing
Indiana University

M.B.A. in Operations Management
Worcester Polytechnic Institute

B.S. in Mathematics
Worcester Polytechnic Institute