Imprinting, honeymooning, or maturing: Testing three theories of how interfirm social bonding impacts suppliers’ allocations of resources to business customers
In business markets, does strength of social bonds that a supplier perceives with a specific customer influence the supplier’s allocations of resources relative to other customers? If social bonding does uniquely impact supplier allocation of resources to customers, does the impact vary by relations...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Elsevier
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/38590 |
| _version_ | 1848755361717157888 |
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| author | Woodside, Arch Baxter, R. |
| author_facet | Woodside, Arch Baxter, R. |
| author_sort | Woodside, Arch |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | In business markets, does strength of social bonds that a supplier perceives with a specific customer influence the supplier’s allocations of resources relative to other customers? If social bonding does uniquely impact supplier allocation of resources to customers, does the impact vary by relationship duration? Relationship marketing and Homans’ framework for social behavior are the theoretical bases for the study, which uses survey data to examine three alternative models that indicate how suppliers’ perceptions of social bonds with customers influence the suppliers’ allocations of resources over time. Analysis of data from sales and marketing managers confirms that two of these models, the imprinting theory and the maturity theory, are relevant. The findings indicate that relationship managers need to take into account the clear effect that creation of strong social bonds in buyer–seller relationships, as distinct from financial bonds, has on the way in which suppliers allocate resources to those relationships and how relationship duration affects the way in which they do so. The study strengthens the argument, on a strong theoretical base, to adopt a collaborative, as opposed to a transactional, approach to buyer–seller relationships. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:55:05Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-38590 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:55:05Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-385902018-05-14T01:22:46Z Imprinting, honeymooning, or maturing: Testing three theories of how interfirm social bonding impacts suppliers’ allocations of resources to business customers Woodside, Arch Baxter, R. Resource allocation Relationship Social bond Financial bond In business markets, does strength of social bonds that a supplier perceives with a specific customer influence the supplier’s allocations of resources relative to other customers? If social bonding does uniquely impact supplier allocation of resources to customers, does the impact vary by relationship duration? Relationship marketing and Homans’ framework for social behavior are the theoretical bases for the study, which uses survey data to examine three alternative models that indicate how suppliers’ perceptions of social bonds with customers influence the suppliers’ allocations of resources over time. Analysis of data from sales and marketing managers confirms that two of these models, the imprinting theory and the maturity theory, are relevant. The findings indicate that relationship managers need to take into account the clear effect that creation of strong social bonds in buyer–seller relationships, as distinct from financial bonds, has on the way in which suppliers allocate resources to those relationships and how relationship duration affects the way in which they do so. The study strengthens the argument, on a strong theoretical base, to adopt a collaborative, as opposed to a transactional, approach to buyer–seller relationships. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/38590 10.1016/j.ausmj.2015.04.004 Elsevier fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Resource allocation Relationship Social bond Financial bond Woodside, Arch Baxter, R. Imprinting, honeymooning, or maturing: Testing three theories of how interfirm social bonding impacts suppliers’ allocations of resources to business customers |
| title | Imprinting, honeymooning, or maturing: Testing three theories of how interfirm social bonding impacts suppliers’ allocations of resources to business customers |
| title_full | Imprinting, honeymooning, or maturing: Testing three theories of how interfirm social bonding impacts suppliers’ allocations of resources to business customers |
| title_fullStr | Imprinting, honeymooning, or maturing: Testing three theories of how interfirm social bonding impacts suppliers’ allocations of resources to business customers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Imprinting, honeymooning, or maturing: Testing three theories of how interfirm social bonding impacts suppliers’ allocations of resources to business customers |
| title_short | Imprinting, honeymooning, or maturing: Testing three theories of how interfirm social bonding impacts suppliers’ allocations of resources to business customers |
| title_sort | imprinting, honeymooning, or maturing: testing three theories of how interfirm social bonding impacts suppliers’ allocations of resources to business customers |
| topic | Resource allocation Relationship Social bond Financial bond |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/38590 |