Origins and Genesis of the SRCC

The objective of the SRCC is straightforward:  to invite new sales research faculty (immediately after their doctoral program or in their first years as an Assistant Professor) to a supportive, non-judgmental, and collegial networking environment that will connect them with like-minded and like-career-stage sales researchers – as well as experience Sales Research Mentors – where all attendees share a common interest in developing and disseminating high quality sales research.

Christopher (Chris) R. Plouffe (The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, UTC), Michael A. Pimentel (University of Alabama at Birmingham, UAB), and Bryan Hochstein (The University of Alabama) took it upon ourselves to start this new consortium in 2020 and even held a “Trial Run” of the SRCC concept in November, 2021 that was generously hosted by the Collat College of Business at UAB.

The idea grew from a conversation during an online conference (during the lockdown due to COVID) where Michael and Bryan were discussing how difficult it is for new sales faculty to network with other sales faculty. Chris also lamented how at the start of his career, short of the author relationships that would emerge from one’s Dissertation Committee, it was difficult forming productive, meaningful research relationships at the start of one’s career. This becomes a particularly acute problem when juxtaposed against the firm “up or out” deadline associated with most “tenure (decision” clocks). Bryan, Chris, and Michael recognized a real need to create an event that focused singularly on research and on:  (i) fostering personal relationships between early career sales scholars (pre-Tenure), while (ii) helping attendees develop actual research projects with each other during and after the event. So, the three worked for much of 2021 on refining the format and conference concept that is now the SRCC.

The first attempt was a very successful “Trial Run” of the SRCC concept hosted at UAB (November 11-12, 2021). Learning from that experience and the rich feedback provided by these initial Trial Run consortium fellows (attendees), we then set to work creating the schedule and conference format for the first “official” (full) SRCC, being hosted in September 2022 at the Rollins College of Business (RCOB), University of Tennessee – Chattanooga (UTC). The objective of the SRCC is straightforward:  to invite new sales research faculty (immediately after their doctoral program or in their first years as an Assistant Professor) to a supportive, non-judgmental, and collegial networking environment that will connect them with like-minded and like-career-stage sales researchers – as well as experience Sales Research Mentors – where all attendees share a common interest in developing and disseminating high quality sales research.