Page 166 - 33-2

How Entrepreneurial Marketing Facilitates Direct Sellers’ Entrepreneurial Process: A Dynamic Adjustment
Perspective

the comprehensiveness of the model.
Secondly, future studies may gain more generalizable findings through a comparison
of directs sellers in terms of their sales performance. Additionally, heterogeneity among
members of sales teams should also be considered to support our findings (Yin, 2009;

Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña, 2014). Furthermore, strong relationships can also
deteriorate over time for any number of reasons (Zhang, Watson, Palmatier, and Dant,
2016); most of our interviewees have engaged in entrepreneurial activities in the 5 years

prior, which may have resulted in a focus on positive relational development. Studies
should observe the entrepreneurial process for longer periods to explore the ebb and flow
of relationships in the direct selling business.

5. Originality/Contribution

This study makes three contributions to EM theory and the literature on direct
selling. First, this study uses EM as a theoretical lens to explore the growth of direct

sellers, whereas other studies have used EM as a lens to explore new ventures, small and
medium-sized enterprises, and corporations and how organizations innovate by utilizing
opportunities, managing risk, and leveraging resources. In other words, most studies on
direct selling have either focused on operational models at the firm level or the antecedents
of individuals’ sales performance; few, if any, have explored the entrepreneurial process

for direct sellers. Second, we examine dynamic changes and initiatives of direct sellers
by employing a qualitative process method and analyzing how direct sellers adjust their
marketing endowments and initiatives during each entrepreneurial stage to achieve their
goals. Thus, this study provides a comprehensive understanding of entrepreneurial growth

in the direct selling industry. Third, we draw on studies on Western direct sellers to
elucidate the same phenomenon in an Eastern cultural context, where relational networks
are especially valued. We thus answer the call of researchers (e.g., Bachmann, Ohlies, and
Flatten, 2021; Poon and Albaum, 2019) to examine how relationships develop in the direct

selling market in Non-Western cultures.

158