Choice of Supplier in Embedded Markets: Relationship and Marketing Program Effects

Abstract

Recent research has documented how exchanges between buyers and sellers are frequently embedded in social relationships. An unresolved question, however, is the extent to which such relationships protect incumbent suppliers from new competitors and their marketing programs. The authors develop a conceptual framework of how relationship and marketing variables influence choice of supplier and test the framework empirically in the context of business-to-business services. The results show that interpersonal relationships between buyers and suppliers serve as a switching barrier but are considerably less important than both firm-level switching costs and marketing variables. Moreover, unlike switching costs, interpersonal relationships do not play the frequently mentioned role of a buffer against price and product competition. Finally, the authors show that buyers and suppliers hold systematically different views of the determinants of switching.

Mixed interpretations of sales proposal signals

“…Consequently, these mixed interpretations of seller signals may lead to either sales proposal selection or rejection. This result is supported by the notion that the decision to reject a sales proposal is not necessarily the inverse of the decision to select a sales proposal (Morris, LaForge, and Allen 1994;Wathne, Biong, and Heide 2001) and that seller failure and performance are influenced by unique groupings of variables (Friend and Johnson 2014). Therefore, a post-hoc evaluation of actual buyer selection-rejection decisions presents additional research opportunities -to view the selection-rejection decision on separate continua, evaluate how some sales proposal signals can at times be interpreted in both a positive and negative light, and understand how this potential divergence manifests.…”

“…Research efforts focused on furthering the understanding of buyers' interpretation of sellers' relational efforts offer numerous benefits, such as helping obtain a holistic perspective on relational interactions within the buyer-seller domain. That said, extant research offers limited insight into the complex interpretations and rationalizations buyers make in order to arrive at seller selection-rejection decisions (Wathne, Biong, and Heide 2001).Much of the research in relationship marketing has explored relationship development and retention efforts © 2016 Pi Sigma Epsilon National Educational Foundation *Corresponding author. Email: johnsonjs@umkc.edu Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 2016 Vol.…”

“…3, 264-280, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08853134.2016 from the seller's perspective (Wathne, Biong, and Heide 2001). As a consequence, conceptual ambiguity exists because sellers' and buyers' perspectives regarding relationships do not seamlessly converge (Tähtinen and Halinen 2002;Tuli, Kohli, and Bharadwaj 2007;Wathne, Biong, and Heide 2001). Consequently, not all of sellers' seemingly well-intentioned relational activities may be viewed in a positive light by buyers.…”

“…Research efforts focused on furthering the understanding of buyers' interpretation of sellers' relational efforts offer numerous benefits, such as helping obtain a holistic perspective on relational interactions within the buyer-seller domain. That said, extant research offers limited insight into the complex interpretations and rationalizations buyers make in order to arrive at seller selection-rejection decisions (Wathne, Biong, and Heide 2001).…”

La rupture du contrôle par la confiance dans les relations client-fournisseur

“…Les sanctions sociales qui sont un rempart contre l'opportunisme peuvent aller de l'atteinte à la réputation jusqu'à l'exclusion de la communauté (Dyer et Chu, 2000). Cet argument reste valable tant que les partenaires sont sensibles à la sanction sociale, mais s'ils changent de réseau ou si l'intérêt économique à faire défaut devient trop important, l'étude de Wathne et al (2001) montre que le client n'hésite pas à changer de partenaire.…”