The adoption of conscientiousness in business to business relationships

Abstract

For years, conscientiousness has been studied at the individual level as one of the Big 5 personality traits. A new wave of researchers are now exploring conscientiousness at the firm or brand level as firms move beyond CSR and embed a comprehensive stakeholder perspective into their organizations and brand identities. Moving beyond profit goals, conscientious organizations consider the impacts of their actions on customers, society, the environment, shareholders, and employees. Importantly, conscientious organizations also anticipate the impact of their activities on their business-to-business (B2B) partners as well. Moreover, the actions of a firm's B2B partners influence the firm's ability to achieve its own responsible management goals. While nascent research explores the development of conscientiousness at the organizational level, very little research to date has applied conscientiousness in the B2B context or examined the impact of a firm's conscientiousness on its channel partners. Using contagion theory, specifically normative pressures, as a lens, this research develops a propositional framework for how conscientiousness can permeate through B2B relationships, thus facilitating conscientious adoption between businesses. While this research is exploratory, it thoughtfully initiates a discussion about B2B relationships in the development and adoption of conscientiousness throughout organizations and the supply chain.