Effects of sales presentation topic on cognitive responses in industrial buying groups

This article presents results of an experiment which tested the effects of sales messages on cognitive responses in industrial buying groups. Results suggest that matching sales presentations to buyers’ job responsibilities leads not only to higher levels of message involvement and attention, but also to increases in arousal and greater extremity in buyers’ evaluations of the sales presentation, the salesperson, and the represented vendor. Implications of these results for practitioners and researchers are discussed.     

Risky shift: An empirical investigation and implications for industrial buying behavior and marketing management

This study attempts to determine whether the nature of the industrial buying process has an effect on the riskiness of its decisions. Research has shown that group discussion of alternatives has a tendency to shift initial risk preferences of individuals and groups. This social phenomenon, known as “risky shift,” has important implications for marketers since many decisions involve group consensus or social influence if decisions are made by a single individual. It was posited that the influence of others, mainfested by group discussion, will change the risk preference in both individual and group consensus decisions. An industrial supplier selection decision was presented to 92 marketing students in which five alternative sources of supply were described in reference to various performance criteria. The data clearly reflected statistically significant changes in risk preferences as a result of group discussion in both the individual before-individual after and individual before-group after type decision.     

Measuring coalitions in the industrial buying center

Currently, little is understood about the behavioral dynamics which take place in the industrial buying process. Coalition formation has been emphasized as a frequent behavioral strategy on the part of buying center members. The absence of much theoretical or empirical work in the area of coalition formation within the buying center may be due to significant measurement problems. This article presents one approach for addressing these problems. Specifically, by using a sociometric method for data collection, group structure and coalitions are identified through the use of multidimensional scaling. To demonstrate applicability in a group context, multidimensional scaling is briefly reviewed. Results of an experimental application of this approach to a vendor choice decision are described.     

A note on the predictive validity of the CETSCALE

Consumers’ perceptions of the morality of buying foreign products, or consumer ethnocentric tendencies, are becoming an increasingly important issue for marketers in the global environment. The predictive validity of Shimp and Sharma’s (1987) CETSCALE was tested in a nationwide mail survey. The scale is shown to be a much stronger predictor of import buying behavior than are demographic variables. The ability of the scale to predict purchase behavior does not, however, appear to be consistent across the two products tested.     

The role of relationship quality in the stratification of vendors as perceived by customers

Companies implement preferred supplier programs to reduce their vendor relationships to a reasonable few. Consequently, vendors who do not effectively manage their customer-based relationships are strong candidates for deletion from a customer’s list of long-term suppliers. The emergence of preferred supplier programs suggests that businesses are beginning to formally recognize and reward differences between their qualified vendors. Vendor stratification is proposed as a framework for understanding the evolution of preferred vendor programs. With the growing interest in relationship marketing, a study was conducted to empirically examine the extent to which businesses use relationship quality perceptions to differentiate their qualified vendors. The findings support the notion that relationship quality is a higher-order construct that can be used as a basis for developing vendor stratification systems. The article concludes with a discussion of the managerial and research implications of the study findings. Michael J. Dorsch (Ph.D., University of Arkansas) is an associate professor of marketing at Clemson University. His research has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Business Research, and theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, among others. His research interests include issues concerning relationship marketing and marketing research methods. Scott R. Swanson (Ph.D., University of Kentucky) is an assistant professor of marketing at East Carolina University. He previously spent 9 years as a purchasing executive and his research interets include issues related to services marketing, atmospherics, and marketing ethics. His research has been published in theJournal of Business to Business Marketing, theInternational Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, AMA Educators’ Proceedings, andRetailing: Theories and Practices for Today and Tomorrow. Scott W. Kelley (D.B.A., University of Kentucky) is an associate professor of marketing. His research has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Retailing, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Advertising, and theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, among others. His research interests include issues concerning services marketing and marketing ethics.     

Effects of accountability on symbolic information search and information analysis by organizational buyers

Most studies of the organizational buying process assume that buyers acquire and use information “prosocially”—to make better decisions and promote their company’s welfare. The authors propose, however, that demands to account for their behavior causes organizational buyers to also gather and use information for political purposes—to protect their own self-interest. The authors present the results of an empirical study that investigates the extent to which four types of accountability—informal, official, process, and decision accountability—result in political (or symbolic) information search and prosocial information analysis by organizational buyers. Study findings suggest that buyers accountable to superiors and those accountable to subordinates or peers engage in more symbolic information search. Buyers accountable for their decision-making process analyze information more extensively. Surprisingly, buyers accountable for decision outcomes neither search for symbolic information nor analyze information more extensively. She received her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research interests include industrial buying behavior, business-to-business relationships, and international marketing. She has published articles in theJournal of International Marketing and theJournal of Macromarketing, as well as various conference proceedings. He received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University. His research interests are in the marketing strategy and public policy areas. His work has been published inJournal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Journal of Advertising Research, and several other journals.     

The moderating effects of insupplier/outsupplier status on organizational buyer attitudes

A conceptual model of the relationships among buyers’ perceptions of and attitudes toward elements of a vendor company’s marketing mix is developed and tested, and the moderating effects of insupplier/outsupplier status are assessed. Attitude centrality and self-perception theories predict that buyer perceptions of and attitudes toward the company, the salesperson, and the product will be more closely interlinked for insuppliers than for outsuppliers. Theory regarding category-based affect and attitude accessibility predicts that buyers will use extrinsic cues to a greater extent when making judgments about outsupplier as compared with insupplier salespeople. The results indicated significant moderating effects of insupplier/outsupplier status and generally validated predictions made on the basis of attitude theory. Perceived company reputation was more strongly related to salesperson and product attitudes for insuppliers than for outsuppliers. Extrinsic cues were used to a greater extent by buyers evaluating outsuppliers. Implications of the findings for management and a more complete understanding of organizational buying are discussed. His research interests include attitudinal influences on consumer and organizational buying behavior, sales force motivation, and job attitudes. His research has been published in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, andJournal of Advertising Research, as well asJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science.     

New dimensions in unhidden persuasion

Two potent promotional forces have been operating in the marketing environment. One utilizes direct persuasion techniques. The other attempts to obtain a positive consumer response through hidden persuasion. Today’s shoppers, however, are better educated and are less influenced by hidden persuasion methods. Studies indicate that impulse buying has increased and that consumers want to make their “own” buying decisions. Point-of-purchase advertising is one method of meeting today’s environmental needs. Space is limited and the advertiser must be forthright and precise in his persuasive techniques. In spite of the many constraints imposed on point-of-purchase advertising it has proven to be a powerful persuader, because it is the only medium that can employ the full range of perceptual devices which are so vital to the communication process. Lever Brothers Company, Inc.     

An assessment of the reliability and validity of husband and wife self-report purchase decision making measures

An assessment was made of the reliability and validity of self-report measures of three separate constructs hypothesized to operate in husband and wife decision making for durable goods purchases. In addition to the traditional construct of Influence, Importance, and Participation in the decision were also examined through the use of constant sum scaled responses for both husbands and wives. Following Davis’ (1976) admonition to focus on the decision process, the present study conceptualized the purchase decision as consisting of three stages with multiple subdecisions in each stage. The results of a multitrait-multimethod matrix analysis support the use of a constant sum scaling approach to measuring the three constructs. The findings also indicate the existence of two dimensions within the purchase decision process for the durable goods of automobiles and family room furniture. These dimensions were labeled resource allocation and variant selection decisions. The findings also suggest that importance is a global construct in decision making while influence and participation are more purchase situation specific.     

The measurement of the relative influence of husband and wife upon a purchase decision

There is some empirical evidence which indicates that current measures of the relative influence of husband and wife upon a purchase decision may not be completely valid. In this paper, a new measure of relative influence is presented. Extent of influence is determined primarily by the extent that one member of the dyad's brand preferences are influenced by the other member or by comparing the brand purchased to the brand preferences of one or both members of the dyad. This measure should be an improvement over current measures because respondents do not need to define the term “influence” with the measure, and because it assumes that an individual may not be able to determine whether an attempt to influence a decision is successful and/or assess whether he or she influences a decision without attempting to do so.     

Offshore outsourcing of customer relationship management: conceptual model and propositions

Customer relationship management (CRM) refers to a firm’s activities for establishing and maintaining relationships with its customers. Outsourcing refers to a firm’s contracting with another firm to perform activities that were erstwhile performed within the firm. The emergence of a low cost, high speed, global communication network and information processing network has enabled an increasing number of firms based in more industrialized market economies to outsource specific elements of their CRM to offshore vendors located in countries with significantly lower labor costs. Building on scholarly insights from multiple literature streams, we present a conceptual model delineating the antecedents and consequences of CRM offshore outsourcing intensity. We also provide a literature overview of the determinants of location choice decision for offshore outsourcing, an issue that is closely linked to the offshore outsourcing decision. The growing trend toward offshore outsourcing of CRM serves to highlight a number of issues that merit careful managerial consideration. In this context, we highlight supply-side versus demand-side effects of CRM offshore outsourcing, the economics of CRM offshore outsourcing versus CRM automation, CRM offshore outsourcing versus CRM offshoring, and the evolution of hierarchical CRM organizations toward market based CRM business systems, and other issues.     

Heterogeneity in sales districts: Beyond individual-level predictors of satisfaction and performance

This article examines the influence of heterogeneity within a sales unit on the unit’s satisfaction and performance.Sales unit refers to a set of salespersons working out of the same office and for the same supervisor, andheterogenity refers to salespersons’ dispersion or variance on key dimensions. Specifically, drawing on theories in social psychology, the authors study the influence of sales unit heterogeneity in terms of (1) demographic characteristics (e.g., gender dispersion), (2) skills and rewards (e.g., reward dispersion), and (3) goal orientations (e.g., learning orientation dispersion) on a sales unit’s performance and job satisfaction levels. The hypotheses developed are tested using data from a study involving 476 salespeople belonging to 105 sales units in a large organization. The authors find that the focal heterogeneity variables account for nearly 25 percent of the total variance explained by the full set of independent variables included in the model. R. Venkatesh is an assistant professor of business administration at the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business. His articles on product bundling, cobranding and sales force management have appeared or are forthcoming in theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, andMarketing Science. Goutam Challagalla is an associate marketing professor at Georgia Tech. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Texas at Austin, where he won the Outstanding Dissertation Award. He has published articles on sales management and marketing theory in marketing and psychology journals. Ajay K. Kohli is Isaac Stiles Hopkins professor of marketing at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. During 2000–2001, he is on leave from Emory and working at the Monitor Company. He has published in several journals on market orientation, sales management, and organizational buying behavior.     

Bundle evaluation in different market segments: The effects of discount framing and buyers’ preference heterogeneity

Heterogeneity of buyers’ preferences has played a significant role in the earlier economic analyses of bundling and continues to be important in the recent investigations initiated by marketing and consumer researchers. Guided by a decision-framing conceptualization, this study suggests that in a market characterized by heterogeneous preferences for items included in a bundle offer, buyers’ bundle evaluations may vary significantly depending on which item is featured as the price leader (i.e., the discounted item). When two unequally preferred items were evaluated for purchase as a set, bundle evaluation was more enhanced when the price leader was also the more preferred item. Thus, under such preference conditions, bundle evaluation may be quite sensitive to the choice of the price leader. Besides highlighting the importance of incorporating psychological considerations in bundling research, the results of this study also raise questions about the validity of a key assumption made in the extant analyses of bundling strategies. Specifically, perceived savings on one item may not always transfer readily to other items included in a bundle offer. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His research interests include price perception, pricing strategy, price bundling, and decision making. His research has been published in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, andReview of Marketing. He is a member of the editorial advisory board ofPricing Strategy & Practice.     

Microcomputer based methods for dyadic interaction research in marketing

Microcomputer based methodologies offer new dimensions to the study of dyadic interaction in marketing. This article explores the role of the microcomputer as a dyadic interaction research tool in the contexts of buyer-seller negotiation and buyer-seller communication processes. The authors conclude that microcomputer applications represent a promising new direction in the study of dyadic behavior. Moreover, the microcomputer’s potential for improved experimental control and measurement is relatively untapped.     

A longitudinal study of the impact of market structure,firm structure,strategy, and market orientation culture on dimensions of small-firm performance

The purpose of this article is to determine market orientation’s relative impact on small-business performance, compared to other influences, in an integrated model using longitudinal data. Contrary to expectations based on the management literature, the results indicate weak causal relationships between market environment, small-firm structure, and small-firm strategy. The results further indicate weak influences of these variables, but strong and consistent influences of market orientation, on various measures of small-firm performance. Contrary to expectations based on business policy literature, relative product quality and new product success were not significant influences on profitability, perhaps due to the significant influence of market orientation on these variables. In addition, although increases in growth/share had a significant short-term influence on increases in profitability, high levels of previous years’ firm growth/share had a negative influence on current profitability. The previous year’s level of firm coordinating systems and market competitive intensity has a significant impact on the level of small-firm market orientation.     

Extending the concept of shopping: An investigation of browsing activity

In many previous studies of consumer behavior, shopping has been equated with buying. This research examines the concept of browsing—the examination of a retailer’s merchandise without a current intent to buy. Results indicate that for the product classes of clothing and personal computers, browsing is related to perceptions of relevant dimensions of the retail environment. In addition, heavy browsers are more involved with the product, are more knowledgeable, and are more likely to be opinion leaders than are other consumers. Suggestions for future research are also noted.     

On choosing the appropriate measure of association when analyzing rating scale data

This paper reviewed the current state of the literature on the appropriateness of various correlation measures when data are ordinal. Emphasis was on the use of these measures as input to multivariate analysis. Based on the review, four correlation indexes were further studied via a simulation design. The simulation results indicated that the polychoric correlation outperformed product-moment, Spearman’s rho and Kendall’s tau-b measures on the basis of bias and squared error criteria. The present study suggests that the chapter investigating pairwise correlations may be closed and attention may now be directed towards non-normal data and actual multivariate analysis with correlation matrices.     

Selling strategies: The effects of suggesting a decision structure to novice and expert buyers

This research investigates the impact of selling strategies on selling effectiveness. The authors compare two selling strategies: (1) an agenda strategy, in which a salesperson attempts to influence the structure of the buyer’s decision by suggesting constraints that eliminate competitive products from consideration, and (2) a more typical selling strategy that summarizes the target product’s benefits. The results show that when sellers use an agenda selling strategy, target products receive higher evaluations and have higher probabilities of being considered and chosen. Buyer expertise moderates this effect, with the agenda strategy in most cases having more impact on novice buyers than on expert buyers. These findings demonstrate the importance of selling strategy to selling effectiveness, suggest the potential benefit for sellers of using selling strategies that attempt to influence the structure of the buyer’s decision, and provide support for the contingent nature of selling effectiveness. Judy A. Wagner (Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) is currently an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Texas at Arlington. Her primary research interests are personal selling strategies, sales management, and buyer decision making. Her research has been published inAdvances in Consumer Research and the proceedings of the American Marketing Association and is forthcoming in theJournal of Business Research. Noreen M. Klein (Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University) is currently an associate professor of marketing at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Her research interests include consumer decision making and the behavioral aspects of pricing, and her research has been published in theJournal of Consumer Research andOrganizational Behavior and Human Decision Making. Janet E. Keith (Ph.D., Arizona State University) is currently an associate professor of marketing at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Her research interests lie in behavioral issues in channels of distribution and in sales and sales management. Her studies have been published in journals such as theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, andJournal of Marketing Channels.     

Is purchasing management to buying as marketing is to selling?

This article examines the hypothesis that marketing concepts and techniques can be as useful to purchasing managers performing the buying function in the 1970s and 1980s as they were to advertisers and sales managers engaged in marketing in the 1950s and 1960s. Relevant concepts are briefly reviewed, and results of a survey of purchasing managers are reported. The data suggest the potential—but not actual—value of marketing-oriented thinking for purchasing managers.