Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 1991-9
Factors Affecting Attitudes among Buying-Center Members toward Adoption of an Ecologically-Related Regulatory Alternative: A New Application of Organizational Theory to a Public Policy Issue
Little attention has been focused on the application of industrial marketing to macro-marketing theory, and only recently have academics become concerned with issues in ecology and business-government interface. Additionally, marketing theory and practice have centered on exchange between buyers and sellers in a consumer market; unfortunately the exchange paradigm has rarely been applied to the roles played by business and government as buyer and seller, respectively. This interdisciplinary study investigates industrial buying-center members’ attitudes toward the adoption of an ecologically-related government policy, currently known as the “Bubble.” The study explores the business-government interaction under economic incentive and political market domains. This article also point to one neglected area—the application of group dimension to the public policy issue in marketing. Guided by ecological marketing and diffusion theory, 42 firms involved in the Bubble policy project were surveyed. Findings suggest that benefit and uncertainty about the policy, as well as structure and climate of the buying-centers, were significant predictors of a firm's attitude toward adopting the policy.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BagozziRichard P. (1977), “Marketing at the Societal Level: Theoretical Issues and Problems,” in Macro-Marketing: Distributive Process from a Societal Perspective, SlterCharles C., ed. Boulder, Colo.: University of Colorado,6–51.
2.
ButlerChad (1984), “New Source Netting and Non-attainment Area Under the Clean Air Act,”Ecological Law Quarterly, 3, 343–372.
3.
CattellR. B. (1948), “Concepts and Methods in the Measurement of Group Syntality,”Psychological Review, 55, (January), 48–63.
4.
DeshpandeRohit, and WebsterFrederick E.Jr. (1989), “Organizational Culture and Marketing: Defining the Research Agenda,”Journal of Marketing, 53, (January), 3–15.
5.
DuncanRobert B. (1972), “Characteristics of Organizational Environments and Perceived Environmental Uncertainty,”Administrative Science Quarterly, 17, 313–327.
6.
DwyerF. Robert, SchurrPaul H., and OhSejo (1987), “Developing Buyer-Seller Relationships,”Journal of Marketing, 51(April), 11–27.
7.
FarleyJohn U., HowardJohn A., and Winston RingL. (1974), Consumer Behavior Theory and Application, Boston: Allyn & Bacon,11.
8.
FestingerLeon (1964), “Behavioral Support for Opinion Change,”Public Opinion Quarterly, 28, 404–417.
9.
FishbeinMartin (1963), “An Investigation of the Relationships between Beliefs about an Object and the Attitude toward that Object,”Human Relations, 16, 223–240.
10.
FliegelF.C., and KivlinJ.E. (1966), “Program Change And Organizational Properties,”American Journal of Sociology, 72(March), 313–327.
11.
FrazierGary L., SpekmanRobert E., and O'NealCharles E. (1988), “Just-In-Time Exchange Relationships in Industrial Markets,’Journal of Marketing, 52(October), 52–67.
12.
GatignonHubert, and RobertsonThomas S. (1989), “Technology Diffusion: An Empirical Test of Competitive Effects,”Journal of Marketing, 53(January), 35–49.
13.
GronhaugKjell, and BonomaThomas V. (1980), “Industrial- Organizational Buying: A Derived Demand Perspective,” in Theoretical Developments in Marketing, LambC., and DunneP., eds. Chicago: American Marketing Association,224–228.
14.
HageJerald, and AikenMichael (1970), Social Change In Complex Organizations, New York: Random House.
15.
HageJerald (1967), “Program Change And Organizational Properties: A Comparative Analysis,”American Journal of Sociology, 72, 503–519.
16.
HemphillJohn, and WestieCharles (1950), “The Measurement of Group Dimensions,”Journal of Psychology, 28(April), 325–342.
17.
HenionKarl E. (1980), “Values, Value Changes and Ecological Marketing,” in Macro-Marketing: Evolution of Thought, FiskGeorge, NasonRobert W., and WhitePhillip D., eds. Boulder, Colo.: University of Colorado,147–159.
18.
HughesDavid G. (1980), “Marketers’ Potential Contribution to Regulatory Reform,” unpublished Working Paper, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, (August 15), 1-27.
19.
“Industry Ready to Test EPA ‘Bubble,'”Industry Week, (February 4, 1980), 70–75.
20.
JaworskiBernard J. (1988), “Toward A Theory of Marketing Control: Environmental Context, Control Types, and Consequences,”Journal of Marketing, 52(July), 23–39.
21.
JohnstonWesley J., and BonomaThomas (1981), “The Buying Center: Structure and Interaction Patterns,”Journal of Marketing, 45(Summer), 143–156.
22.
KohliAjay (1989), “Determinants of Influence in Organizational Buying: A Contingency Approach,”Journal of Marketing, 53(July), 50–65.
23.
LawrenceP., and LorschJ. (1967), “Organization and Environment Managing Differentiating and Integration,”Boston, Mass.: Harvard University.
24.
LinNan, and ZaltmanGerald (1973), “Dimensions of Innovations,” in Change, New York: Wiley Interscience.
25.
“3M May Be the First to Get Under the Bubble,”Chemical Week, (September 3, 1980), 47.
26.
MannersG.E., and NasonH.K. (1979), Regulation and Innovation-Symbiote or Antithets?,Six Countries Program National Science Foundation Workshop, The Hague, 11–13.
27.
McCabeDonald L. (1987), “Buying Group Structure: Constriction at the Top,”Journal of Marketing, 51(October), 89–98.
28.
MochM. K., and MorseE. V. (1977), “Size, Centralization and Organizational Adoption of Innovations,”American Sociological Review, 42(October), 716–725.
29.
National Science Foundation (1979), “The Impact on Industrial Innovation of Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) Regulations,” Division of Policy Research and Analysis. Paper submitted to Honorable Jordan T. Baruch, Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce, (March).
30.
PayneRoy, and PughDerek (1976), “Organizational Structure and Climate,” in Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, DunnetteMarvin D., ed. Chicago: Rand McNally, College Publishing Company,1125–1173.
31.
RobinsonPatrick, FarrisCharles, and WindYoram (1967), Industrial Buying and Creative Marketing, Boston, Mass.: Allyn & Bacon, Inc.
32.
RogersEverette M., and Floyd ShoemakerF. (1971), Communication of Innovations: A Cross Cultural Approach, New York: The Free Press.
33.
RothwellRoy (1981), “The Impact of Regulation on Innovation: Some U.S. Data,”Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 17, 7–34.
34.
RonchettoJohn, MichaelR., HuttD., and ReingenPeter H. (1989), “Embedded Influence Patterns in Organizational Buying Systems,”Journal of Marketing, 53(October), 51–62.
35.
SchultzeCharles L. (1977), “The Public Use of Private Interest,”Regulation, (September-October), 10–13.
36.
ShawverDonald L., and NicklesWilliam G. (1979), “A Rationalization Macro-Marketing Concepts and Definitions,” in Macro-Marketing: New Steps on the Learning Curve, FiskGeorge, and NasonR., eds. Boulder, Colo.: University of Colorado,29–45.
37.
SpekmanRobert E. (1978), “A Macro-Sociological Examination of the Industrial Buying-Center: Promise or Problem?” in Research Frontiers in Marketing: Dialogues and Directions, JainSubhash C., ed. Chicago: American Marketing Association,111–115.
38.
WindYoram (1978), “Organizational Buying Behavior,” in Review of Marketing, ZaltmanGerald, and BonomaThomas V., eds. Chicago: American Marketing Association,67–76.
39.
YaoMargaret (1981), “Clean Air Fight, Plain Dust is the Key to Pollution ‘Bubble” at Armco Steel Workers,”The Wall Street Journal, (October 1), 1.
40.
ZaltmanGerald, DuncanRobert, and HolbekJohn (1973), Innovations and Organizations, New York: John Wiley & Sons Co.
