INFORMATION CONTROL AND INFLUENCE IN EMERGENT BUYING CENTERS

The authors focus on emergent buying center networks in firms that rec ently have purchased an expensive, complex, technological product. The authors examine how a person's information control and influence vary within such networks. The purpose of this study is to assess the rela tive contribution of information control, individual attributes, and o rganization structure variables on influence. The authors find that fa ctors related to the person are the most important in explaining a buy ing center member's influence for this type of purchasing decision. Al though less important, the variables of information control, decentral ization, and formalization also affect influence.Overall, the authors find strong empirical support for their model.