The future of buyer–seller interactions: a conceptual framework and research agenda

Abstract

The revolution in information availability and the advances in novel interaction technologies have ushered in two major shifts that call into question the traditional assumptions of buyer–seller interactions. First, buyer–seller information asymmetry has greatly decreased in many interactions. Second, face-to-face communication is no longer the main format of buyer–seller interactions. In this article, the authors review empirical research on how these shifts have changed buyer–seller negotiations, an important type of buyer–seller interactions. Several insights arise from this review. First, the shifts have caused fundamental changes in buyers’ and sellers’ roles, power, and aspirations and information processing. Second, the shifts and these fundamental changes together cause major changes in buyer–seller interactional processes and outcomes, including (1) change in buyers’ attitude and behavior, (2) change in sellers’ effectiveness in interacting with buyers, and (3) change in buyer–seller interactional processes. Based on these insights, the authors develop a research agenda to guide the reexamination of existing theories and the development of new theories of buyer–seller interactions.

Trust in blockchain-enabled exchanges: Future directions in blockchain marketing

“…The existing literature on blockchains mostly implicitly refers to the characteristics of the technology that impact trust development in exchange relationships. Further, as Ahearne et al (2021) showed, technology-facilitated buyer-seller interactions are another important area on the future research agenda, and this includes blockchain-enabled exchanges. Thus, there is more than enough momentum to address the characteristics of blockchain exchanges from the perspective of the established literature of trust in B2B relationships to understand how marketers can successfully adopt blockchain in their businesses.…”

“…Thus, the rich contributions stemming both from the calculative perspective (Williamson, 1993) and the relational perspective (e.g., Moorman et al, 1993) on trust are mostly about the history of people trusting people or organizations at different levels (e.g., Fang et al, 2008). However, as Ahearne et al (2021) recently showed, buyer-seller interactions facilitated by technology are fundamentally transforming the landscape of exchange relationships. Therefore, revolutionary technologies such as blockchain will presumably also change exchange relationships and, accordingly, also the development of trust, which is a key component in business relationships.…”

“…In the current research, we conducted a qualitative study with semi-structured interviews with 18 informants who had at least three years of project experience with blockchain technology. Our research first adds to the established literature on technology-focused research in buyer-seller relationships (Ahearne et al, 2021), second, to the literature of trust in business relationships (Fang et al, 2008;Huang & Wilkinson, 2013;Kroeger, 2012), and third, to the social exchange theory (Lioukas & Reuer, 2015). We hope that our research encourages marketing academics to develop the fundamentals of these established literatures in light of novel technologies and related transformations, and we hope that practitioners learn and adjust their decisions in regard to technology adoption and their use in blockchain marketing practice.…”

The role of communication style in adaptation to interorganizational project disruptions

“…Future studies about communication content and the linguistic assessment of communication could focus on oral communication-for example, through direct observation and video recordings (Ahearne et al, 2022;Choudhury et al, 2019). Researchers might observe project meetings to learn about the influence of oral communication on how project parties reach, or not, a consensus about adaptation.…”

“…Communication is touted as the "glue" that holds parties together in interorganizational projects (Mohr & Nevin, 1990, p. 36) by facilitating the transmission of persuasive information (Ahearne et al, 2022;Paulraj et al, 2008). The importance of communication is also mentioned as part of relational contracting (Heide & John, 1992;Zhou et al, 2014), but the role of communication in adaptation to disruptions in interorganizational projects is little-studied in that literature.…”