Past, present, and future of sales control systems: A multi-method bibliometric analysis

Sales control systems are one of the most important research topics in the sales literature. Research on sales control systems has grown significantly in the past two decades. This study analyzed 248 articles on sales control systems using qualitative and quantitative bibliometric methods, such as performance analysis, co-citation analysis, and co-word analysis. In particular, performance analysis identifies influential articles, authors, and theories in the sales control literature. Co-citation analysis depicts the thematic evolution in the sales control literature across two periods (i.e., 1980–2012 and 2013–2024). Co-word analysis reveals the most popular keywords, which represent mainstream research themes. Moreover, social network analysis was performed to show the disconnections among the keywords, thereby identifying eight topics for future research opportunities in the sales control literature. This study crystalizes the current state of knowledge about the sales control systems, deepens our understanding of the evolution of the sales control literature, and uncovers important gaps for future research inquiries. • Transaction cost theory is mainly used in the 1980–2012 period, while job demands-resource theory is only applied in the 2013–2024 period. • Co-citation analysis identified six major findings in the sales control systems literature in the 2013–2024 period. • The impact of sales controls in industrial services is a new research area in the 2013–2024 period. • Co-word analysis shows more attention to salespeople's well-being, industrial services, and informal controls in the 2013–2024 period. • Social network analysis generates eight future research directions.