Organizational Buying Theories: A Bridge to Relationships Theory

Abstract

Organizational buying is an area that may have seen interest decline as researchers shift their attention to define and understand the nature of business relationships. In fact, many researchers (e.g., Wilson, Elizabeth J.: Theory Transitions in Organizational Buying Behavior Research. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing 11, 7–19 (1996)) have called for research that focuses on the dyad, rather than the buyer. Others have claimed that the traditional organizational buying theories are too transactional in nature to explain business relationships. Unfortunately, we may have left a rich stream of research behind that could offer insight and provoke interesting research in relationships by losing sight of the individual. This article builds bridges from the classic approaches to organizational buying behavior to relationships research and discusses some of the barriers and potential solutions to problems in organizational buying research that may inhibit the use of these approaches. The classic approaches examined are role theory, the BUYGRID analytic framework, reward/measurement theory, and organizational buyer behavior choice theory.