An empirical analysis of the industrial buying process for the purchase of temporary clerical help

The recent emphasis in describing buyer behavior has dealt almost exclusively with the consumer sector while its counterpart, industrial purchasing behavior, has received much less attention. Of those studies dealing with the industrial sector, most have centered around the purchase of industrial services. Marketing discussions pertaining to the service industries are limited, and those available are widely scattered through the literature.

This comparative paucity of published research and the fact that the dollar volume involved in industrial purchases far exceeds that of the consumer market, seem to suggest the need for descriptive studies leading to a better understanding of industrial buyer behavior. The present research study was designed to aid in this understanding. The specific industrial buying process chosen for analysis was the purchase of an industrial service - temporary clerical help.

The major purpose of this study was to investigate one segment of the industrial buying process - the buying center. The subordinate purposes were to gain a better understanding of the various roles played by positions which make up the buying center, and of the purchase process for temporary clerical help in an industrial setting.

The study identified and analyzed the organizational buying centers for the purchase of temporary clerical services and examined for differences among these buying centers based on firm size variables. Members within these buying centers were identified on a total organizational basis, not just within the purchasing department. This approach was felt to represent more accurately the actual purchasing process.

A mail survey of industrial firms which had previously used temporary clerical help was used to obtain data. A draft of the questionnaire was tested using the field interview technique and through a second pretest conducted by mail. A total of 262 usable responses were received.

The results of the analysis showed that respondents were able to identify members of their firms' buying centers for the purchase of temporary clerical help. Those positions seen as part of the buying center at one time or another include: personnel director, industrial relations manager, department heads, financial service manager, office manager, purchasing manager, president, plant manager, and secretaries. The data indicate that those individuals most involved were the personnel director and the department head. The personnel director was recorded as being the decider, buyer, and gatekeeper most often, while the department head was most often listed as being the influencer and user. This indicates that the decision making process for the buying of temporary clerical help is more an administrative function than a function of the purchasing department.

The results of the investigation to determine differences in the characteristics of each buying center showed that there was a relationship between firm size (i.e., annual dollar volume of sales and the number of people it employed), and the identification of the decider, influencer, user, and gatekeeper. This same relationship was not found to be as strong in the identification of the buyer.

The findings also indicated that the personnel director was most often the key buying influence, while the department head was an influencing factor, to some degree. A relationship was found between the identification of the key buying influence and the user firm's annual dollar volume of sales, and the number of people it employed.

In the analysis of procedures used by firms in buying temporary clerical help, it was found that the decision to buy temporary clerical help was clearly an informal process. While most firms were not likely to have formal policies dealing with the subject of buying temporary clerical help, they were likely to have some budget allocation for this purpose and to have made advanced plans for its purchase.