Despite the value given to individuals on Organizational Buying Behavior, there’s been an implicit distinction in the buying behavior literature between individual buying and organizational buying. Individuals have always organized themselves and collaborated with peers to achieve their goals in the marketplace and word-of-mouth (WOM) is seen as a powerful mechanism to support it. The purpose of the study is to address the lack of research focused on the use of WOM by individuals engaged in organizational decision making and particularly the process of information collection through WOM communication by an organizational buying center facing a “new task” purchase situation, to support the decision process. In order to answer the purpose an analysis of three cases was undertaken, using data collected through questionnaires and interviews. The main results show that WOM is highly present in B2B environment and it’s highly valuated by deciders when facing a new task type of purchase. Also, those WOM sources selected by buyers have a crucial role in shaping the acquisition process and in influencing its outcome. Finally, implication for B2B marketers and researchers are discussed.
Author: Gonçalves, Rui; Vaquer, John C.
Source: Luleå University of Technology
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