Assessing industrial buyers' perceptions of quality and their effects on satisfaction

https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-8501(95)00027-8Get rights and content

Abstract

Identifying and measuring the dimensions of perceived quality and their influence on customer satisfaction are important aspects of a firm's quality management efforts. In this study, we develop and test a framework for assessing the perceptions held by industrial buyers from different functional areas (e.g., engineering, purchasing) and the link between those perceptions and customer satisfaction. A procedure for identifying the dimensions of quality and using them to target the industrial marketer's quality improvements is discussed, and the results of testing this methodology are presented. The results suggest that a potentially unique set of quality factors can be used to assess each vendor and that these factors vary across functional area.

References (21)

  • A Williams et al.

    Industrial Buyer Complaining Behavior

    Industrial Marketing Management

    (1980)
  • W.Steven Perkins

    Measuring Customer Satisfaction

    Industrial Marketing Management

    (1993)
  • E Naumann et al.

    The Purchase of Components: Functional Areas of Influence

    Industrial Marketing Management

    (1984)
  • S.Anne Moore et al.

    Improving Service Quality in an Industrial Setting

    Industrial Marketing Management

    (1994)
  • E Anderson et al.

    Customer Satisfaction, Market Share and Profitability: Findings From Sweden

    Journal of Marketing

    (1994)
  • Claes Fornell

    A National Customer Satisfaction Barometer: The Swedish Experience

    Journal of Marketing

    (1992)
  • Claes Fornell et al.

    Customer Satisfaction: The Key to Customer Retention

    Mobius

    (1990)
  • William J Qualls

    Industrial Buyer Satisfaction: Linking Customer Perceptions of Quality to Repeat Purchase Behavior

    (1993)
  • D Lambert et al.

    The Industrial Buyer and the Postchoice Evaluation Process

    Journal of Marketing Research

    (1977)
  • I.F Trawick et al.

    A Model of Industrial Satisfaction/Complaining Behavior

    Industrial Marketing Management

    (1981)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (48)

  • Green procurement for a circular economy: What influences purchasing of products with recycled material and recovered content by public sector organisations?

    2022, Journal of Cleaner Production
    Citation Excerpt :

    Several members of each the respective LGO were interviewed, to ensure that a diversity of buying centre roles were considered, as opposed to other similar studies (Walker et al., 2009). This qualitative research method overcomes any potential limitations from using surveying, such as the attainment of limited information or only interviewing a single type of decision-maker within a buying centre, which may not provide the collective perspective to help understand diverse and broader organisational issues (Qualls and Rosa, 1995), that affect green procurement. In selecting LGOs for this study, a few different factors were considered including the current engagement with green procurement initiatives and the location of LGO (as in metro, suburban, regional) and diversity among those factors were aimed to be covered through selection, i.e., councils that were in urban/suburban and regional locations, as well as that were actively engaged in green procurement and those that were not.

  • Functional, emotional, and social benefits of new B2B services

    2016, Industrial Marketing Management
    Citation Excerpt :

    The literature indicates that three types of benefits should be taken into account: functional benefits, emotional benefits and social benefits. Of these three types, functional benefits have traditionally received the most attention, particularly in B2B contexts, e.g. factors such as speed, efficiency, and cost (Qualls & Rosa, 1995). Emotional benefits, which pertain to emotion, and social benefits, which correspond to self-identity or self-image, remain largely overlooked in examinations of B2B service innovation.

  • When 3+3 does not equal 5+1-New insights into the measurement of industrial customer satisfaction

    2012, Industrial Marketing Management
    Citation Excerpt :

    In this context, the respondents are often identified by means of role concepts (Webster & Wind, 1972) as in the studies of, for example, Schellhase et al. (2000) and Homburg and Rudolph (2001). Other studies (e.g., Chakraborty et al., 2007; Qualls & Rosa, 1995) characterize buying centers in terms of their functional groups (Bonoma & Johnston, 1978). Although these studies suggest that the multiple-informant-based approach yields superior response data (Hill, 1982; Hogarth, 1978; Seidler, 1974; van Bruggen, Lilien, & Kacker, 2002), it is questionable whether this approach is always valid.

  • Brand equity in the professional service context: Analyzing the impact of employee role behavior and customer-employee rapport

    2011, Industrial Marketing Management
    Citation Excerpt :

    Perceived quality is defined by Aaker (1996) as “the customer's perception of the overall quality or superiority of a product or service with respect to its intended purpose, relative to alternatives” (Aaker, 1991, p. 85). In our conceptualization of perceived quality, we follow the traditional view of quality in B2B setting, where quality also incorporates the reliability and consistency of the product's superiority (Qualls & Rosa, 1995; Ulaga & Chacour, 2001). Perceived quality is important in the B2B context, because from the customers' perspective it is often used as a basis for customers' perception of product or service value, whereas from the companies' perspective it can serve as a basis for developing long-term relationships with customers (Michell et al., 2001; Ulaga & Chacour, 2001).

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text