Decisions Under the Illusion of Objectivity: Digital Embeddedness and B2B Purchasing

Abstract

Research suggests that increased reliance on digital sources (e.g., blogs, social media, online forums) exhibited by the emerging millennial workforce may affect procurement decisions. These arguments contend with studies which indicate that organizational buyers rely on decision shortcuts (e.g., brand, loyalty, and peer opinions) to mitigate risk or to simplify purchase decisions. One can argue that buyers gain more information from digital sources, which may attenuate the role of these shortcuts. At the same time, digital sources may be used to strengthen prior beliefs, which can increase bias toward decision proxies. This study draws from information processing theory to understand the role of digital sources of information in decision‐making, in the context of business purchasing. Based on the Accessibility‐Diagnosticity framework, we introduce a Digital Embeddedness construct to conceptualize the extent to which information from digital sources is integral to an individual’s decision‐making. Analysis of survey responses from 196 purchasing managers suggests that more digitally embedded buyers are more willing to adopt innovations, yet interestingly, focus more on vendors from strong brands and peer opinions. We also find that while more digitally embedded buyers feel more cognitively attached to their existing vendors, this attachment does not translate into purchase loyalty. We discuss implications for buyer‐supplier relations and B2B marketing. By elucidating individual‐level differences in the use of digital sources, this research also has implications for future work that examines the interpretation of digital information to inform business decisions.