Information sources used to select different types of management consultancy services

Understanding how professional services are purchased is vital to the success of the firms that provide such services. Although recent research has provided some insights into how consumers purchase professional services, little is known about how organisations buy these services. Our study, using data collected from 253 Australian organisations, describes an important part of the organisational buying process, namely pre-purchase information search. More specifically, we examine the influence of a range of information sources on the choice of a management consultant in the following areas: strategic and economic planning; marketing; human resource management; information technology; production planning and logistics. The results show that information sources related to an organisation's internal network (ie, discussions inside the company, and past dealings with a consulting firm) were by far the most influential information sources in choosing a consultant. Further, the least influential sources were impersonal advertising (ie, advertising in the business press, corporate brochures and professional directories). Only minor differences in the influence of the information sources were found across the various types of consulting assignment.(The authors' names are in alphabetical order.)