Selling firm credibility and buying firm engagement

Purpose: This study aims to empirically investigate how the credibility of industrial selling firms can influence industrial buying firms’ engagement through shaping their perceptions of risk reduction, value, service quality and dependence. Design/methodology/approach: Survey data from US industrial buying firms were collected to test the proposed conceptual model. Structural equation modeling and bootstrapping regression techniques were used for hypothesis testing. Findings: The results suggest that when buying firms perceive the positioning signals by the selling firms as consistent and clear, they report higher perceptions of the selling firms’ credibility. The findings support the mediating mechanisms by which the buying firms’ perception of the selling firms’ credibility can drive the buying firms’ engagement through perceived value, service quality and buyer dependence. Research limitations/implications: Since cross-sectional data were used, the results only present a snapshot of the interrelationships among constructs. Practical implications: This study offers managerial implications for industrial selling firms in managing their brands and customer engagement. For instance, selling organizations that are not amongst the leading firms in their industries will be able to compete more effectively by adopting a credibility signaling approach. Originality/value: This study extends the credibility signaling framework to the industrial purchasing context where buying firms have difficulties judging the selling firms’ product/service quality or value-in-use. Based on the social exchange theory, this study offers mechanisms by which industrial selling firms potentially promote buying firms’ engagement by shaping the organizational buyer perceptions of value, service quality and dependence.