Which buying decisions are made by individuals and not by groups?

Abstract

Much of the recent research pertaining to industrial purchasing has focused on the buying group rather than the individual purchasing agent as primarily responsible for vendor and product selection decisions. The present research was undertaken on the premise that in certain types of industrial purchase decisions (vendor selection in modified rebuy situations), the presence of certain mediating variables may indicate that the individual purchasing agent rather than a buying group may make the vendor selection decision. Based on data gathered from industrial buyers randomly selected from a national list and using the hypothetical scenario data-gathering technique, the major findings are that individual decisions seem to predominate in modified rebuy vendor selection decisions, that loyalty to existing suppliers seems to have an effect on the extent of individual decision making, and that the extent of joint and individual decision making appears to be related to the size of the firm.