CONFLICT HANDLING STYLES OF INDUSTRIAL BUYERS

Abstract

Purchasing is no longer simply a matter of buying. The trend now is towards reverse marketing, an aggressive approach in which purchasers develop relationships with suppliers to gain both short and long term supply objectives . The focus of this study is on a specific aspect of buyer-seller relationship - conflict management between buyer and seller. The manner in which a buyer handles conflicts with the salespeople will invariably affect his performance and relationship with the latter. Yet, few studies had given attention to conflict management between buyer and seller, they had merely had focused on the conflict handling styles of buyers, without examining what are the antecedents and outcome of their behaviour. This study seeks to fill this gap. Data was collected through a mail survey and a correlation analysis was used to examine the hypotheses. Antecedents of conflict handling styles discussed include organisational and buying task characteristics. Satisfaction with purchase and relationship with salespeople were the two aspects of outcome studied. Managerial implications for industrial marketing management and purchasing management were forwarded. It is hoped that this study will stimulate further research on buyer-seller relationship.