The Ties that Buy: The Role of Interfirm Social Contagion Across Customer Accounts

Abstract

This study investigates how purchase decisions may be influenced by ties linking customer account personnel and sales personnel. Two distinct forms of social contagion-cohesion and structural equivalence-are posited as mechanisms for triggering purchase similarity among customer accounts. We empirically test our hypotheses using field-collected sociometric data that captures social ties among customer accounts and sales personnel within a retail sales territory. The results support structural equivalence rather than cohesion as a key driver of brand choice similarity among retail firms. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for sales management practice and research.

Antecedents of supplier selection decisions in the public sector in Nigeria

“…The multi-dimensional relationships maintained by organizational actors translate into social capital which impacts on organizational processes and outcomes (Karahanna & Preston, 2013;Bowler et al, 2011;Luo, 2007). For example, in their study of the effect of relationship managers' social network ties on the sales performance of some North and South American companies, Gonzalez et al (2014) demonstrate how network overlaps (that is, the concurrence of multiple kinds of relations maintained by organizational actors) provide them with important and unique 'insider information' which influences organizational outcomes.…”

The influence of business and political ties on supplier selection decisions: the case of the Nigerian public sector

“…Most of the current discussions in the social ties literature on the conceptualisation and importance of interpersonal social ties in organisational processes and outcomes (for example, see Gonzalez et al, 2014;Kwon and Adler, 2014;Dong et al, 2013;Bowler et al, 2011;Lin, 2001) bear much on the work of Granovetter (1973). Granovetter (1973) in a seminal paper advanced a social theory on the spread of information and influence in social networks.…”

“…Organisations' (or their members') network of social ties could either be simple (defined by direct and reciprocating ties), complex (consisting of people who are more distantly related or engaged in asymmetric relationship), or multiplex relationships (where the members are related through multiple types of relationships-friendship with co-workers, socialites, public figures, religious groups, professional groups, government officials, etc. (Gonzalez et al, 2014;Bowler et al, 2011). In reality, most organisations engage in multiple 'boundary-spanning' relationships, which involve personal interactions with people and groups from various backgrounds and walks of life.…”

“…For example, it is not uncommon to find managers both in public and private sector organisations who are either appointed or refereed by politicians, or attended the same school or club with a supplier, or share the same faith or ethnicity with some influential members of the organisation's buying centre, or know someone who knows another person who is well-connected, etc. These different layers and levels of ties maintained by organisational actors sometimes lead to the development of "cliques" or closely knitted informal groups who share vital information and other resources (Bowler et al, 2011;Sun et al, 2011;Granovetter, 1983).…”

“…Formal network ties are usually 'official', that is, sanctioned and prescribed by organisations' 'rules of engagement'. Informal ties, in contrast, are characterised by 'boundary-spanning' connections and activities which researchers agree to have strategic importance to both individuals and organisations who possess them (Gonzalez et al, 2014;Kwon and Adler, 2014;Bowler et al, 2011;Carpenter and Westphal, 2001;Lin, 2001).…”