Purpose – Emotions in business-to-business (B2B) interactions are relatively unexplored when compared with business-to customer (B2C) industry wherein sufficient evidence implicating the role of emotions in decision-making is available. This study aims to explore the role of emotions in B2B decision-making, and a customer experience model is suggested for the B2B industry. Design/methodology/approach – The qualitative research methodology using structured and semistructured interviews along with a repertory grid technique was followed during the study. Purposive sampling was done to identify respondents who were involved in the vendor choice process either as a buyer or a seller in their respective organizations. Findings – Exploratory research conducted during this study supports the presence of five dimensions of customer experience – sensory, emotional, relational, behavioural and intellectual – in a B2B context. The study further indicates that the experiential value for B2B decision-making is derived from functional, symbolic, emotional and cost values which are assessed by the buyer during their interaction with the product or the service ecosystem and has an impact on the purchase intentions of an industrial buyer. Originality/value – This paper identifies the role of specific customer experience dimensions in a B2B environment and proposes the role and mechanism of emotional factors affecting the decision-making process in B2B exchange.

Introduction

Research in marketing, particularly business-to-business (B2B), generally exhibits assumptions that consumer choices, including repeat purchases, relationship continuity and partnering, are guided mostly by cognitive elements such as perceived quality and price (Zeithaml, 1988), perceived risk (Taylor, 1974; Peter and Ryan, 1976), quality (Zeithaml et al., 1996), trust (defined as beliefs) and commitment (Morgan and Hunt, 1994), or by criteria such as economic costs and technical specifications mainly. The aforementioned research does not directly indicate the role played by affective processes in consumer decisions. Traditional decision theories in B2B were driven by rational choice processes described in economics and statistics which primarily stressed on profits being the main criteria driving a B2B choice decision (Cyert et al., 1956). Cyert et al. (1956), in their narrative on “observation of a business decision”, suggest that search and information-gathering processes in B2B decision constitutes major portion of the decision-making process and results in the selection of a satisfactory alternative, leading to a specific (technical/economic) goal achievement that satisfies a number of auxiliary conditions. Levitt (1965) explored perceived risk as the driving force in organizational buying behavior (OBB). Cardozo and Cagley (1971), through a controlled experiment, found that industrial buyers have a preference for types of bidders, and bids are influenced by the amount and type of risk. Ammer (1972) explored reciprocal buying agreements between organizations. The available literature on early decision models indicate that cognitive factors are highly studied in OBB. Early research has also brought out certain non-task factors along with the task-related factors (Webster and Wind, 1972), as well as individual psychology, power play and interpersonal conflict resolution (Sheth, 1973), in organizational decisions. Tosi (1966) and Weigand (1968) explored interpersonal interaction in organizational buying, and Wind (1970) explored source loyalty. These issues are more persona-based and psychologically inclined, and these also indicate interpersonal situation-based factors affecting B2B decisions. These studies indicate the significant role of factors that are distinctly different from highly cognitive processes and technical/economic factors, such as personal characteristics, psyche and affective factors and social and interpersonal dynamics. However, these factors exhibit far less research when compared with studies based on the paradigm of B2B as a rational, cognitive process.