Self-justification for opportunistic purchasing behavior in strategic supplier relationships

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to get a deeper understanding of one of the antecedents of opportunistic behavior in strategic supplier relationships at the individual level of analysis. The authors specifically focus on self-justification, which could be seen as a mechanism that relaxes the moral scruples of purchasing professionals and, hence, facilitates actual opportunistic behavior. Design/methodology/approach The critical incident technique was deployed to interview purchasing professionals in the Netherlands about their personal opportunistic behavior in strategic supplier relationships. This resulted in rich autobiographical accounts of 29 critical incidents of opportunistic behavior. The data were analyzed through the lens of the self-justification theory. Findings The study identified a set of self-justification strategies underlying opportunistic purchasing behavior in strategic supplier relationships. Opportunistic professionals tended to deploy six strategies: acknowledgement, denial, rationalization, attributional egotism, sense of entitlement and ego aggrandizement. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to Dutch industrial purchasers and was exploratory by nature. Future research could extend the perspective to other sectors, cultures and professional roles. Practical implications The study draws attention to radically new interventions at the individual level of analysis. To understand and minimize opportunistic behavior in strategic supplier relationships, organizations should acknowledge and address the important issue of self-justifications of purchasing professionals. Originality/value In contrast to the existing literature at the firm level of analysis, this study sheds new light on the antecedents of buyer opportunism from an alternative theoretical perspective at the individual level of analysis. The authors do not draw on the narrow perspective of personality psychology, but rather focus on the role of self-justification as an antecedent of buyer opportunism in strategic supplier relationships.

Psychological factors and consumer behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Companies and markets can acknowledge this process and use it to develop new marketing strategies to meet consumers’ actual needs, feelings, and motivation to purchase during the COVID-19 emergency[ 12 ]. On the one hand, satisfying these needs could support and favor well-being and the positive sense of self, which are essentially sought by the consumer developing such self-justification strategies[ 17 ]. On the other hand, focusing on strategies that consider these psychological self-justifications could be a winning marketing strategy for increasing sales, contributing to the economic recovery after the COVID-19 outbreak[ 13 ].…”

“…On the other hand, consumers could take advantage of this new market’s preparedness to respond to their actual needs and feelings. As a result, in case of future emergency, factors such as anxiety and a perceived shortage of essential goods could be reduced [ 16 ], whereas well-being and the positive sense of self of the consumers could be supported [ 17 ]. Furthermore, the novelty of the present study lies in two main aspects.…”

“…Self-justification refers to the cognitive reappraisal process by which people try to reduce the cognitive dissonance stemming from a contradiction between beliefs, values, and behaviors. People often try to justify their decisions to avoid the feeling of being wrong to maintain a positive sense of self [ 17 ]. In consumer behavior research, it is widely acknowledged that consumers enhance positive arguments that support their choices and downplay counterarguments that put their behavior in question [ 47 ].…”

Fairness of the NPD partnership’s financial distribution pie

“…Most often, the rivalry between buyers and suppliers is induced by win-lose differentials in sharing the partnership’s pie, whereas there is agreement about the partnership’s overall goal of carrying out the mutual NPD endeavor together. Gelderman et al (2019) recently discussed this phenomenon of unethical exchange behavior as self-justification strategy of opportunistic purchasing professionals. Managerial practice thereby suffers, when the unfairness of the NPD partnership’s financial pie distribution cannibalizes the mutual endeavor’s potential of generating value.…”

The role of trust, expectation, and deception when buying organic animal products

“…Additionally, consumers search for and concentrate on positive aspects to justify their buying decisions and to gain a positive feeling. This effect is particularly apparent in the case of higher-priced products ( Gelderman et al., 2018 ), such as organic products. Organic meat is on average two to three times more expensive than conventional meat in Germany ( Schaack et al., 2018 ), and the price is mentioned as the main barrier for buying organic meat ( Padel and Foster, 2005 ).…”