How buyers frame problems: Revisited

Abstract

Abstract This article investigates the following propositions: a useful approach for building an organizational‐buying–behavior taxonomy might begin with classifying how buyers frame purchasing problems followed by how such frames affect subsequent perceptions and actions in the decision process. Unlike previous taxonomies of buying situations, direct questioning of organizational buyers is used to learn: (1) whether or not they identify different categories of buying problems; (2) if they do, what dimensions they use when framing buying problems; and (3) how do such frames influence their choices of value‐added service alternatives offered by suppliers. To test the propositions empirically, supplier choices are modeled with the use of buying‐decision exercises. A key result of this study is that the buyers’ framing of problems affects their preferences for vendor designs of value‐added customer services. Most likely, the framing of buying problems by organizational buyers is layered and more complex than related taxonomies found in the marketing literature. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.