Influence Strategies in Buying Centers

Research on influence strategies has typically been conducted in interorganizational settings. In a departure from this tradition, the authors focus on influence strategies used by managers in buying centers. They develop a three-dimensional framework for classifying six prominent influence strategies—threats, promises, recommendations, requests, legalistic pleas, and information exchange. Drawing on this framework, the authors argue that the use of a particular influence strategy by a manager is likely to be related to two classes of antecedents: source and target characteristics. Additionally, they draw on the framework to argue that the effectiveness of alternative influence strategies is likely to vary in predictable ways. The authors investigate the pervasiveness of each of the six influence strategies in a study of 187 purchasing decisions and compare the findings to those previously obtained in interorganizational settings. Findings pertaining to the study's hypotheses provide insights into the relative effectiveness of the six influence strategies and the conditions under which certain influence strategies are more likely to be used.