sociological perspectives of marketing

8/3/2019 Sociological Perspectives of marketing

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SociologicalPerspectivesof

Marketing


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When & How

(Emergence of relationship in

marketing)


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Marketing focuses on the exchange

process, making it relational, by definition Relationship marketing is a dominant

exmple of marketing practice(Dwyer, Schurr and Oh 1987; Morgan and Hunt 1994)

It emerged in the B2B arena because the number ofrelationships managed were smaller (e.g. B2B sales)

Is now dominant in the B2C arena via due to technology-ladenconcepts such as CRM and One-to-One Marketing

Marketing researchers and practitionersseek to understand relational behavior:o Between firms and customers/consumers (traditional)o Among customers/Among business partners (emerging work

in customer collaboration, customer/professional

communities/knowledge networks)


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The fundamental ground of this talk

Because marketing is relational, socialnetwork theory (SNT) helps to advance

marketing theory and practice.


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Social Network Theory(SNT)

Social network theory views socialrelationships in terms of nodes and ties

Nodes are the individual actors within thenetworks

Ties are the relationships between the actors.

A social network is a map of all of the relevant tiesbetween the nodes


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A Historical Perspective


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Marketers use basic SNT concepts, but

questions and methods differ.Points of Alignment: Networks are socially connected actors (more than 2) Resources (e.g. information) are transferred among actors in

a network

There is a flow of resources within the network

Points of Difference: SN theorist (and early marketing researchers) seek to

describe individual actors and their relations/patterns of

connections


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Application of SNT in Marketing

Social Network Theorists Between-ness

o The frequency with whichan actor is intermediary to

other nodes and controlsthe flow of resources

Degreeo The number of actors with

whom an individual has adirect connection

Marketing Applications Word of Mouth

o Actors: opinion leaders,gatekeepers, and followers Those who are likely to influence others Those who know and provide

information but have no influence Those who are likely to be influenced

via passive or active solicitation of infoo Profile of actors

Knowledgeable, involved, confident,

active

Diffusion of Innovations & Newproduct adoption


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Finally, marketers tend to take arelational perspective of networks

(exception: Hopkins, Henderson and Iacobucci 1995)

Relational Perspective focuses on the extent to which all actors are

interconnectedo Relations (strands):content, direction and and strengtho Ties:

Weak/Strong based on frequency of social contact, importance ofrelation

o Multiplexitythe number of relations in a tie


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How has SNT advancedrelationship marketing thought andpractice?


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The Most Popular SNT perspectivesused in Marketing

The Structural Perspective The Socio-Economic Perspective The Socio-Cognitive Perspective


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The Structural Perspective

The structure of relations drives

marketing outcomes


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Findings based on the Structural Perspective

Brand Similarity exists within social circleso even for privately consumed products(Reingen et

al 1984) Strong ties and Weak ties affect marketing

outcomeso Strong ties are more likely to be activate as a referral sourceso but consumers also actively seek information from weak ties in

situational conversation(Reingen and Kernan 1986; Brown andReingen 1987)

Individual influence in the buying systems in

a B2B context(Ronchetto, Hutt and Reingen 1989)


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The Socio-Economic Perspective

Utility maximization is enhancedby social ties


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Findings based on the Socio-EconomicPerspective

Social tie strength increases likelihood oftransactions between buyer and seller

(Frenzen and Davis 1990)o This effect is moderated by perceptions about

potential opportunism in WOM information exchanges(e.g. non-reciprocating behavior)

o (Frenzen and Nakamoto 1990) Weak ties are quite weak in B2B

o The more valuable the info, the less powerful is the

weak tie(Frenzen and Nakamoto 1990)

o Weak ties among horizontal partners are less

powerful than among vertical alliance partners.(Reindfleisch and Moorman 2001)


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The Socio-Cognitive Perspective

Cognition intervene the effects of

social relations.(Bansal and Voyer 2000, Gilly et al 1991, Houston et al. 2001, Wardand Reingen 1996)


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The Socio-Cognitive Perspective

(contd)

The socio-cognitive perspective inserts cognitioninto the structural perspective, to better explain

outcomes


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sociological perspectives of marketing

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