How green product demands influence industrial buyer/seller relationships, knowledge, and marketing dynamic capabilities

Abstract

This research investigates the influence of “green” products on industrial buyers’ and sellers’ behaviors and marketing capabilities through the lenses of procurement managers and marketing managers. The work offers a parsimonious measure for “green product demands” and applies social network theory to better understand the interplay of relational embeddedness, knowledge redundancy, and vertical competitive activity with buyers’ green product demands and sellers’ overall marketing dynamic capabilities. The findings suggest that relational embeddedness and knowledge redundancy are full mediators of the effect of buyers’ green product demands on sellers’ marketing dynamic capabilities, and vertical competitive activity may moderate the direct effects of green product demands. Findings also illuminate similarities and differences between procurement managers’ and marketing managers’ views of these relationships in terms of valence and magnitude. This research builds on current literature concerning green marketing and green supply chain management, as well as provides managers with insights regarding industrial buyer/seller interactions in a dynamic green market environment.