The study examines the potential of conjoint analysis to provide and apply quantitative data to situations previously limited to non-quantitative analysis within the selection process. Chapter I presents a brief introduction to the sales force selection process. A discussion of the importance of effective selection to the organization as well as an explanation of the objectives, methodology, research questions, and limitations complete the chapter. Chapter II provides a detailed description of the contemporary sales force selection process. The chapter explains the objective and subjective activities and techniques utilized by management in selection decisions. Chapter III describes the steps involved in conjoint analysis and the specific conjoint measurement technique employed in the study. The questionnaire employed and the source of data are described in Chapter IV. An analysis of the results of the research completes the chapter. Chapter V presents the summary, conclusions, and recommendations of the study.

The study investigated the predictive validity of the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) as a tool for sales selection. Two analyses were conducted. Study 1 consisted of 20 male home improvement representatives. The average net and gross closing ratios for a six month period were used as the criteria. The results indicted that none of the CPI scales differentiated between poor and good performers when correlated with the secondary criterion of gross closing ratios. These findings were contrary to a previous concurrent validity study. Study 2 investigated month to month retention/separation for 61 home improvement representatives, to determine if the CPI differentiated between short and long term success. Phi coefficients showed no statistical significance between retention/separation and the CPI profile score over time.