The Marketing Book 5th Edition

(1b)

Information

sources

Salespeople

Exhibitions and

trade shows

Direct mail

Press releases

Journal

advertising

Professional

and technical

conferences

Trade news

Word-of-mouth

Others

(1c)

Active

search

(1d)

Perceptual

distortion

Specialized

education

Role

orientation

Life

style

(1a)

Background

of the

individuals

(1c)

Satisfaction

with

purchase

(1)

Expectations of

1 Purchasing Agents

2 Engineers

3 Users

4 Others

(2a)

Product-Specific

factors

(2)

Industrial

buying

process

Autonomous

decisions

Joint

decisions

(2b)

Company-Specific

factors

(4)

Situational

factors

Supplier or

brand choice

(3)

Conflict resolution

1 Problem solving

2 Persuasion

3 Bargaining

4 Politicking

Time

pressure

Perceived

risk

Type of

purchase

Organization

orientation

Organization

size

Degree of

centralization

154 The Marketing Book

overcome these problems. In an early attempt
to integrate various dimensions of consumer
buying behaviour, Howard and Sheth (1969)
developed a behavioural model based on
social, psychological, cultural and economic
variables.
Subsequently, Sheth (1973) proposed a
complex model specifically for industrial buyer
behaviour, which integrates a large number of
variables into one comprehensive model, which
is briefly described below.

The Sheth model

Sheth’s model of organizational buyer behav-
iour outlined in Figure 7.1 proposes four broad
categories of variables.

Psychological world of the decision

makers

The decision makers’ perception of the prod-

uct’s ability to satisfy both implicit and explicit

criteria, such as quality, delivery time, price,

reputation etc., will vary in accordance with the

individual’s role, education, lifestyle, past

experience and knowledge of the product and

supplier. This background, which constitutes a

sort of ‘black box’, leads to individual percep-

tual distortions which will influence each per-

son’s approach to the buying task.

Product and company variables

Product-specific factors include perceived risk,

type of purchase (new or re-buy situation) and

Figure 7.1 The Sheth model of organizational buying behaviour
Source: Sheth, 1973.