M. Chandrashekaran et al., MODELING INDIVIDUAL PREFERENCE EVOLUTION AND CHOICE IN A DYNAMIC GROUP SETTING, Journal of marketing research, 33(2), 1996, pp. 211-223
Organizational buying and strategic marketing decisions often emerge f
rom a messy process of belief accommodation and compromise. In a longi
tudinal field study, the authors investigate how the beliefs and prefe
rences of individual actors in a collective decision developed and cha
nged. This provides a rare opportunity to relate beliefs and social in
fluence to articulated preferences, as well as to evaluate the basic a
ssumptions that underlie persuasive arguments theory, a prominent theo
ry of group polarization. Econometric models are employed to test prop
osed relationships between group processes and outcomes. A model incor
porating both cognitive and social process variables accurately predic
ts 95% of the actors' top choices. The authors provide new insights fo
r understanding the dynamics underlying group polarization and explori
ng group processes in marketing.