Environmental values in industrial marketing relationships
Concern for the natural environment has become an issue that virtually all
companies have to address. Literature suggests that an environmentally oriented
marketing strategy, such as an environmental brand image, yields competitive
advantage for the supplier in the form of improved customer outcomes and
financial performance. At the same time, key barriers to environmental purchasing
are found to be related to higher perceived cost and lack of environmental interest
among purchasing professionals. In addition, research has repeatedly revealed a
gap between customers’ environmental values and attitudes and their
manifestation in purchasing behavior.
This dissertation contributes to the interface of environmentally oriented
business literature and theory of industrial marketing relationships. The aspects of
environmental concern and value-based approach are integrated in a framework
that explains the formation of customer-perceived value and loyalty – the key
outcomes of marketing efforts in existing relationships. Marketing communication
is inserted as the key supplier-initiated process that enables loyalty-oriented
development of the relationship.
This study adheres to positivist methodology and employs quantitative
methods. Empirical data was collected among customers of three Finnish industrial
companies and consists of customers’ responses to an online survey (n=121). The
research hypotheses were tested with partial least squares modeling (PLS). The
results show that environmental values of industrial customers consist of three
dimensions: awareness, competitive advantage and corporate stance. It is found
that more environmentally motivated customers perceived more overall value in
their supplier relationships. Overall value, in turn, is a significant driver of
customer loyalty.
Findings of this study therefore support the applicability of a value-based
conceptualization of customer motivations in order to understand supplier
evaluation and purchasing behavior in industrial marketing relationships. Of
managerial interest is the finding that customers considered device-mediated
marketing communication such as email and telephone more effective than face-to-
face interaction. This provides marketers with opportunities to more frequent yet
cost efficient communication that fosters customer loyalty.
...
Publisher
University of JyväskyläISBN
978-951-39-7229-5ISSN Search the Publication Forum
1457-1986Keywords
industrial marketing buyer-supplier relationship environmental values customer value loyalty marketing communication survey method PLS ympäristöarvot markkinointi asiakassuhde ympäristö luonnonympäristö kilpailukyky ostokäyttäytyminen kuluttajakäyttäytyminen kulutustottumukset kannattavuus tuotto asiakaslähtöisyys asiakkaat arvot asenteet periaatteet lojaalius motivaatio
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