IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joamsc/v47y2019i5d10.1007_s11747-019-00672-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When it pays to have a friend on the inside: contingent effects of buyer advocacy on B2B suppliers

Author

Listed:
  • Justin M. Lawrence

    (Oklahoma State University)

  • Andrew T. Crecelius

    (Iowa State University)

  • Lisa K. Scheer

    (University of Missouri)

  • Son K. Lam

    (University of Georgia)

Abstract

As organizational buying systems grow more complex and sophisticated, suppliers increasingly rely on buyer advocacy: an individual buyer’s efforts to influence his/her colleagues such that the supplier’s standing is improved. Drawing from cognitive response theory, the authors hypothesize an inverted U-shaped relationship between a buyer’s advocacy for a supplier and the customer’s purchases from that supplier. They theorize that this effect is moderated by the advocate’s industry experience and customer–supplier relationship characteristics. An analysis of multisource data from a B2B service provider (Study 1) supports the predicted inverted U-shaped relationship, while a unique dataset from a large industrial supplier (Study 2) provides broad support for the hypothesized moderators. Finally, a randomized experiment (Study 3) replicates key findings and corroborates the theorized cognitive response mechanisms. Findings contribute to the limited literature on buyer advocacy within the organizational buying domain and offer practical implications for suppliers and buyers.

Suggested Citation

  • Justin M. Lawrence & Andrew T. Crecelius & Lisa K. Scheer & Son K. Lam, 2019. "When it pays to have a friend on the inside: contingent effects of buyer advocacy on B2B suppliers," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(5), pages 837-857, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joamsc:v:47:y:2019:i:5:d:10.1007_s11747-019-00672-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s11747-019-00672-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11747-019-00672-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11747-019-00672-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wu, Zhaohui & Steward, Michelle D. & Hartley, Janet L., 2010. "Wearing many hats: Supply managers' behavioral complexity and its impact on supplier relationships," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(8), pages 817-823, August.
    2. John Hulland & Hans Baumgartner & Keith Marion Smith, 2018. "Marketing survey research best practices: evidence and recommendations from a review of JAMS articles," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 92-108, January.
    3. Richard F. J. Haans & Constant Pieters & Zi-Lin He, 2016. "Thinking about U: Theorizing and testing U- and inverted U-shaped relationships in strategy research," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(7), pages 1177-1195, July.
    4. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    5. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    6. Greenwald, Anthony G & Leavitt, Clark, 1984. "Audience Involvement in Advertising: Four Levels," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 11(1), pages 581-592, June.
    7. Xinshu Zhao & John G. Lynch & Qimei Chen, 2010. "Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and Truths about Mediation Analysis," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(2), pages 197-206, August.
    8. Liu, Fang & Sercu, Piet & Vandebroek, Martina, 2015. "Orthogonalized regressors and spurious precision, with an application to currency exposures," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 245-263.
    9. Rajdeep Grewal & Gary Lilien & Sundar Bharadwaj & Pranav Jindal & Ujwal Kayande & Robert Lusch & Murali Mantrala & Robert Palmatier & Aric Rindfleisch & Lisa Scheer & Robert Spekman & Shrihari Sridhar, 2015. "Business-to-Business Buying: Challenges and Opportunities," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 2(3), pages 193-208, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Johnson, Jeff S., 2023. "How business-to-business salespeople deal with buying center dissenters," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 590-608.
    2. Colleen E. McClure & Justin M. Lawrence & Todd J. Arnold & Lisa K. Scheer, 2023. "The opportunities and costs of highly involved organizational buyers," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 480-501, March.
    3. D. Eric Boyd & F. Javier Sese & Sebastian Tillmanns, 2023. "The design of B2B customer references: A signaling theory perspective," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 658-674, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shukla, Dhirendra Mani & Mital, Amita & Qureshi, Israr & Wang, Taiyuan, 2020. "Valuation effects of alliance portfolio expansion speed and strength: Evidence from high-tech firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 370-383.
    2. S. Arunachalam & Sridhar N. Ramaswami & Pol Herrmann & Doug Walker, 2018. "Innovation pathway to profitability: the role of entrepreneurial orientation and marketing capabilities," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 744-766, July.
    3. Paul W. Miller & Barry R. Chiswick, 2002. "Immigrant earnings: Language skills, linguistic concentrations and the business cycle," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 15(1), pages 31-57.
    4. Son K. Lam & Thomas E. DeCarlo & Ashish Sharma, 2019. "Salesperson ambidexterity in customer engagement: do customer base characteristics matter?," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 659-680, July.
    5. Minguez, Ana & Javier Sese, F., 2022. "Why do you want a relationship, anyway? Consent to receive marketing communications and donors’ willingness to engage with nonprofits," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 356-367.
    6. Stolowy, Hervé & Jeanjean, Thomas & Erkens, Michael, 2011. "The economic consequences of increasing the international visibility of financial reports," HEC Research Papers Series 957, HEC Paris.
    7. Ye, Silin & Zhou, Jing & Jiang, Yunwen & Liu, Xiaming, 2023. "Managers as the bridge: How cultural friction influences the integration of cross-border mergers and acquisitions," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(4).
    8. Dominik M. Wielgos & Christian Homburg & Christina Kuehnl, 2021. "Digital business capability: its impact on firm and customer performance," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 762-789, July.
    9. G. Rejikumar & Aswathy Asokan-Ajitha & Sofi Dinesh & Ajay Jose, 2022. "The role of cognitive complexity and risk aversion in online herd behavior," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 585-621, June.
    10. Renneboog, L.D.R. & Szilagyi, P.G., 2009. "Shareholder Activism through the Proxy Process," Other publications TiSEM cc25d736-2965-4511-b100-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    11. Robert D. J. Anderson, 2008. "US Consumer Inflation Expectations: Evidence Regarding Learning, Accuracy and Demographics," Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series 99, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    12. Zhang, Yeqing & Zhang, Xueyong, 2020. "Patent growth and the long-run performance of VC-backed IPOs," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 33-47.
    13. P.W. Miller & S. Rummery, 1989. "Gender Wage Discrimination in Australia: A reassessment," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 89-21, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    14. Marcus Asplund, 2000. "What Fraction of a Capital Investment is Sunk Costs?," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 287-304, September.
    15. Peter Cziraki & Luc Renneboog & Peter G. Szilagyi, 2010. "Shareholder Activism through Proxy Proposals: The European Perspective," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 16(5), pages 738-777, November.
    16. Ciccotello, Conrad S & Hornyak, Martin J & Piwowar, Michael S, 2004. "Research and Development Alliances: Evidence from a Federal Contracts Repository," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 47(1), pages 123-166, April.
    17. Amalesh Sharma & V. Kumar & Jun Yan & Sourav Bikash Borah & Anirban Adhikary, 2019. "Understanding the structural characteristics of a firm’s whole buyer–supplier network and its impact on international business performance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(3), pages 365-392, April.
    18. Christensen, Björn, 2002. "Reservation wages, offered wages, and unemployment duration: new empirical evidence," Kiel Working Papers 1095, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    19. Ongena, Steven & Popov, Alexander & Udell, Gregory F., 2013. "“When the cat's away the mice will play”: Does regulation at home affect bank risk-taking abroad?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(3), pages 727-750.
    20. Guilhem Bascle, 2008. "Controlling for endogeneity with instrumental variables in strategic management research," Post-Print hal-00576795, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joamsc:v:47:y:2019:i:5:d:10.1007_s11747-019-00672-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.