Albert J. Della Bitta

Decision-making time in organizational buying behavior: An investigation of its antecedents

This study reports an empirical investigation focusing on the length of time firms take in making major purchase decisions (DMT) and examines antecedents such as buyclass, firm size, decision-making unit (DMU) size, information sources, and size of the consideration set. Data were provided by a national sample of organizations involved in the purchase of telecommunications systems. Findings suggest that firm size, buyclass, DMU size, information sources, and size of consideration set all significantly affect DMT. Antecedent relationships among the independent variables were also largely as expected. This study provides a starting point for a fertile area of research with important implications for organizational buyers and sellers as well as researchers.

Contextual influences on subjective price perceptions

Abstract This article explores the effect of contextual or situational influences on buyers price judgements. After reviewing relevant literature on contextual influences, the article reports on two experiments investigating the effects of use or purpose of a purchase and previous exposure to a set of prices on subsequent price judgements. In the first experiment, the hypothesis that the number of judgmental categories will vary with the length of price series was not confirmed. Subjects did not differ in their judgement of the lowest acceptable prices, but a higher latitude of acceptance occurred for the long price series—an assimilation effect. The second experiment confirmed the hypothesis that the intended use or purpose of the purchase affects how individuals evaluate prices for the product. The context of intended use offers an additional reason why higher prices can be attractive to some buyers. The two experiments were conducted on 104 male and 32 female undergraduate business majors. In the first experiment subjects sorted, arranged, and categorized a set of 50 prices for pants. Immediately following this task, the second experiment asked the subjects to rate the relative expensiveness of five experimenter-determined prices. In the first experiment prices either ranged from

Price‐end biases in financial products

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Consumer behavior: Some thoughts on Sheth’s evaluation of the discipline

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Impact of organizational size, number of sites, and line of business on telecommunications acquisition

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Research Directions in Macromarketing: A New England Perspective

50.00. In the second experiment, each split-half was given either five low prices or five high prices. Finally, each sample quarter was divided and asked to assume a different reason for buying the pants.

Researching the Value and Use of an Agency's Educational Publications.

Purpose – The paper seeks to show that marketing and psychology literature can shed light on why investors exhibit preferences for certain price ends. The perspective adopted is that the stock market is a marketplace in which investors, as consumers, buy and sell (i.e. exchange) financial products such as stocks.Design/methodology/approach – The paper analyzes trading data from the stock exchanges to empirically test propositions about investor behavior vis‐a‐vis certain price ends of interest derived from the marketing and psychology literature.Findings – Investors, as consumers, favor price‐ends of 0 and 5 more than price‐ends of 9, in that they trade more frequently and more aggressively at these price ends. Further, even price ends of 0 are favored more than odd price ends of 5.Practical implications – The results of the study shed light on how the cognitive bias of the consumer thwarts the otherwise efficient functioning of the financial market.Originality/value – The paper uses market‐level data to ...

Consumer Perceptions of Comparative Price Advertisements

A paper by Sheth in the Fall 1979 issue of this journal assessed the status of the consumer behavior discipline. Various recommendations on future directions were also presented with that evaluation. The purpose of this paper is to comment on a number of issues raised by Sheths review. Additional thoughts on the future of the discipline are also offered.

Consumer Behavior: Concepts and Applications

Abstract Technological developments in telecommunications are going to bring about as fundamental a change in the functioning of organizations in the future as computers have in the recent past. The study reported in this paper is part of a large-sample survey examining the acquisition and management of telecommunications technology by small and medium-sized organizations. The study examines variations in telecom purchasing patterns by an organizations number of sites, employee size, and its line of business. The impact of these predictor variables was assessed in terms of a number of dependent variables pertaining to the telecommunications characteristics of the organization, the process of acquiring telecommunications technology, and the outcome of this process. Findings indicate that size of the organization has a pervasive impact on almost all aspects of the telecom technology and its acquisition. Number of sites seems to have a clear impact on the cost, size, and complexity of the system acquired, a mixed impact on the purchase process, and only a marginal impact on the telecom characteristics of the organization. The impact of line of business is influenced by the specific line and the type of dependent variable.

Models for Pricing Decisions

A group of New England macromarketers met at the University of Rhode Island, Kingston, in July 1984 to explore research directions in macromarketing. At issue was the perceived need to accelerate empirical and applied work in macromarketing and to augment the intellectual base for the field. This article reports on the research directions that evolved from the Kingston meeting and subsequent interactions.