Influence patterns in organizational buying behavior: An organizational network perspectiv

Emerging perspectives of organizational buying behavior emphasize the importance of examining the complex communication and work-flow patterns that encircle the purchasing process. In turn, theorists suggest that organizational buying is characterized by a continual information and resource flow that connects the purchasing function to other parts of the organization as inputs are transformed into outputs.;Consistent with this perspective, this study conceptualized organizational buying activities as a distinct subsystem of the firm. The organizational buying system includes organizational actors drawn from diverse functional areas and representing different levels in the organizational hierarchy who participate in one or more of the purchasing-related flows. The members of this buying system are connected by a work-flow and communication network that reflects both prescribed (formal) and emergent (informal) properties. This conceptualization suggests that by understanding the structural position that organizational actors assume in the buying system, important insights into organizational buying behavior and embedded patterns of influence can be secured.;Based on this conceptualization, this research examined the work-flow and communication networks operative during ongoing buying activities in an electronics firm. By centering on recurring patterns of behavior, this research represents a departure from past organizational buying studies, which explored the influence patterns surrounding a particular purchasing decision. Thus, the present study traced the buying-related work-flow and communication network in a medium-sized firm. Network identification began by interviewing all members of the purchasing department. Purchasing managers were asked to list individuals throughout the firm with whom they interacted on buying-related issues. In total, 171 individuals were identified as participants in purchasing-related processes.;Several hypotheses were advanced that explored the relationships between structural position and influence at the individual level of analysis. Network analysis was used to develop measures of the relative position of employees within the purchasing work-flow and communication system. These measures included centrality, distance from the organizational boundary, distance from the dominant reference group, hierarchical position, and departmental membership. The influence of individuals was assessed in terms of self, supervisor, and co-worker ratings, and co-worker nominations. Using regression analysis, strong support was found for the relationship between organizational network variables and co-worker influence ratings and nominations. Generally, the hypotheses relating emergent and prescribed network variables to both self and supervisory perceptions of influence were not supported.