AN EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF STUDENT ROLE-PLAYING IN SALES TRAINING Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 17, 1990 207 AN EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF STUDENT ROLE-PLAYING IN SALES TRAINING Charles E. Pettijohn, Southwest Missouri State University Linda S. Pettijohn, Southwest Missouri State University R. Stephen Parker, Southwest Missouri State University Melissa S. Burnett, Southwest Missouri State University ABSTRACT The following study investigated the effectiveness of role- playing as a learning device in Personal Selling classes. A comparison of students’ two role-playing efforts revealed somewhat mixed results. Although the teacher failed to recognize significant improvement in student performance, student peers and two outside marketing professors noted more effective sales presentations in the second round. Consequently, the evidence suggests that role-playing enhances the students’ learning experience. INTRODUCTION Education and training in various professions and vocations have used role-playing as a method of improving student’s knowledge, and performance. One area of business that has made heavy use of role-playing as an educational technique is selling. While research has noted the popularity and success of this technique among company sales training programs, little information is known regarding its effectiveness in a classroom setting. The purpose of this study is to provide such information. METHODOLOGY In order to assess the effectiveness of role-playing in a classroom situation, a comparison of student’s role-playing performances were assessed. The study was performed in the summer of 1989 in a personal selling class with fifteen students. Each student was required to select a product to sell in a role-playing exercise. Following the professors’ approval of the product, another student was randomly selected to perform the role of the buyer. Prior to the role-playing encounter, the professor created a list of ‘suggested objections’ for the buyer of each selected product. Sellers were forewarned that all objections would relate to price, quality, time requirements, need, and source issues. Each student was assigned two class-times during which he/she would engage in the two role-playing exercises. To help ensure that any changes in the students’ performances would be attributable to their role-playing experience, the product sold by the student’s were the same in both presentations. Both first and second session role- playing exercises were videotaped. Video-taping served three purposes: (1) it allowed the students to view and learn from their own presentations, (2) it provided the evaluators with a method for reviewing parts of the presentations, and (3) it provided a method for disguising first-time and second-time presenters for the outside evaluators. Evaluations of role-playing performances were made by three separate evaluators, the professor, student peers, and two marketing professors. The utilization of outside evaluators’ vas believed to be important due to the potential reviewer bias that might have resulted from knowledge of whether it was the student’s first or second role-playing experience. RESULTS To determine whether role-playing exercises improved students’ sales effectiveness, mean scores between the students’ first and second role-playing exercises were compared. The results of the role-playing scores for both presentations are provided in Table 1. As shown in Table 1, the professor’s evaluation of student role-playing efforts were slightly higher for the second presentation. However, it should be noted that these scores were not significant at the .05 lever (x1 = 68.2, x2 = 68.5). Student evaluations indicated a significant perceived improvement in their peers’ second presentations. Mean scores by student raters increased from 67.9 to 69.6 (p .002). As a final measure of the effectiveness of role-playing exercises in personal sales classes, the evaluations of two independent marketing professors were analyzed. Mean scores improved significantly from 52.3 to 56.3 (p .05). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS This study assessed the effectiveness of role-playing exercises in the classroom by comparing first and second sales performance scores. The result’s were somewhat mixed, as the professor of the class found no significant differences in performances. However, both student and outside marketing professor evaluators noted significant improvement in sales performance as a result of additional rote-playing experience. While further research is needed, it may be stated that role-playing activities are beneficial to the student, and consequently, should be given consideration in allocation of class ‘earning tools. Table of Contents Volume 17, 1990 The Impact of Decision Support Systems on the Effectiveness of Small Group Decisions - Revisited The Relationship Between Financial Performance and Other Measures of Learning on a Simulation Exercise Use and Effectiveness of an Analogy-Based Expert System Suggestions for Computerized Business Authors Dealing with Power: An Experiential Exercise Using Movie and Personal Diary Analysis Techniques A Model for Developing Student Skills and Assessing Outcomes Through Outdoor Training Computer-Aided Exercises Versus Workbook Exercises as Learning Facilitator in the Principles of Marketing Course An Exposition of Guilford's Si Model as a Means of Diagnosing and Generating Pedagogical Strategies in Collegiate Business Education Formal Planning and Simulation Team Performance: A Cross Sectional Approach Cases: Real Organizations in Real Time in the Classroom An Empirical Investigation of the Internal Validity of Marketing Simulation Game An Empirical Evaluation of the Pedagogical Value of Playing a Simulation Game in a Principles of Marketing Course Factors Affecting Effective Teaching of Strategic Planning: Some Preliminary Evidence An Experiential Exercise for Learning About the Relationship Between Organizational Form & the Project Management Process Accounting Communication Skills can be Taught in the Auditing Course Modeling Cost Functions in Computerized Business Simulation: An Application of Duality Theory and Sheppard's Lemma A Life Cycle Analysis of Decision Making for a Strategic Management Team What's the Problem? A Dynamic Model for Teaching Problem Solving Skills Experientially International Currency Fluctuations: Money$im, A Simulation Superstores: A Specialized Retailing Simulation Within a Specialized Marketing Curriculum Factors Affecting Student Perceptions of Learning in a Business Policy Game VC + EL = VL The Name Game: An Experiential Exercise in Intergroup Relations The Effects of Experiential Accounting Work Experience on Student Performance in Intermediate Accounting Courses The Results of Using the Experiential Activity Group Performance Evaluation in a Business Policy Setting Using a Legal Database to Describe the Legal Environment of Marketing (and Business) Matching Environmental Uncertainty and Organizational Configuration An Instructional Computer Simulation of Tampering in QC Executive Evaluation of Student Learning in the Looking Glass Simulation Group Personality Composition and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance An Expert System for Selecting Analytical Techniques for Analyzing Marketing Research Data Effects of Cognitive Styles on Responses in an In-Basket Simulation A Psychometric Analysis of Kolb's Revised Learning Style-Inventory Selecting and Developing Experiential Exercises Using Movies Application of a Real-World Strategic Management Model in the Classroom Demand Equations which Include Product Attributes Consumption as the Objective in Computer-Scored Total Enterprise Simulations The Effects of Decision Format and Evaluation on Simulation Performance, Decision Time, and Team Cohesion The Effects of Computer Related Assignments on Student Performance in Business Administration The Money Game: A Dynamic Simulation Including Random Shocks for Money and Banking Courses Methods for Evaluating Performance on Business Simulations: A Survey The Effects of Synergogy on the Policy Course: Significant Improvements in Student Learning and Teacher Evaluation Conditions and Outcomes of Trust in a Two-Person Bargaining Exercise Bankgame Enhancing Computer Business Simulation with the Use of VGA Graphics An Experiential Approach to Entrepreneurship An Advanced Simulation Method (ASM) for Multiple Objective Problems The Influence of Experiential learning Techniques on Student Recognition of Non-Primary Learning Styles Negotiating Mergers and Acquisitions: A Cocktail Napkin Approach Identification of Unintended Effects in Experiential Laboratory Exercises An Experimental Comparison of Paper and Pencil and Computer Aided Decision Support Tools Porting a Simulation from the IBM World to the Macintosh World A Transaction Cost Analysis of Experiential Learning The Development of Experiential Exercises for Courses in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management The Assessment Center as and Experiential Classroom Exercise Pricing Strategy Algorithms for Playing Business Simulations Organizational Structures for International Operations: An Experiential Activity Simulation Emphasis in the Business School Capstone Course An Integrated Approach to Computerizing the Business Curriculum Cross-Cultural Business Negotiations Exercise Organizational Socialization and Gender Differences in Students at Work Understanding Student Work Experience: A Content-Analytic Approach Introducing Executive MBA Programs with Management Games An Analysis of Improvement in Business Decision Outcome with Sequential Use of Two Simulation Games Teaching Business Policy Utilizing Mass Lecture and Individual Case Labs Potholes Along the Road to Evaluating Learning Outcomes: The Case of Outdoor Management Training Experiential Learning for Interior Design Students: Using CADD, Lotus 1-2-3, and Wordperfect Cognitive Learning Using a Computer-Based, Qualitative Interactive Business Simulation Sex Discrimination: Does the Woman get the Job or Does the Best Man Win? A Search for Visual Aids to Support Experiential Learning Through the 1990's An Experimental Analysis fo the Effectiveness of Student Role-Playing in Sales Training How to Have Students Learn from their Term Projects Self-Evaluation Exercise (SEE): An Assessment of Class Contribution A Study of the Influence of Team Formation on Attitudes and Performance in Management Games A Hardware Based CIM Simulation Laboratory Model Test Substance Abuse in Organizations Micro Computer Training Models Teaching Forecasting, Cash Budgeting and Inventory Model Building Using SBTools A Comparison of the Effects of Experiential Learning Activities and Traditional Lecture Classes An Adjunct Writing Instruction Assistant, The Computer; With an Illustration Classroom Software for ABC Analysis Utilizing Information Processing Technology to Enhance the Business Policy Simulation Experience Progressive Cases Realistic Job Previews Vs. Traditional Job Previews: Experiencing the Differences and Understanding the Consequences Investment Analysis Using the Pragmatic Multiplier Approach A Computer Simulation Interface for Competitive and Firm Analysis Self-Assessment of Ethical Decision Making Predispositions Preparing Managers for Overseas Assignments An Inquiry into Japanese Marketing: Workshop on Teaching Japanese Marketing The Performance Appraisal Feedback Interview: A Role Play for Human Resources Management Teaching Counselor Selling techniques Using Experiential Techniques to Teach International Topics International Management Simulation Gaming: Current Status and Future Developments A Realism Comparison of Simulation Technologies/Methodologies A Time-Efficient Game to Illustrate Concepts Taught in Management Courses and Management Development Programs Teaching the Management of Technology The Concept of Face and the Applicability of Experiential Exercises in an Oriental Culture's