What drives professional purchasers: The influence of emotions on organizational buying behaviour

A paradigm of organizational buying behaviour is that professional buyers pursue decisions based on rigorous cognitive analysis only. While consumer research suggests a strong influence of emotional aspects, literature on organizational buying predominantly emphasizes cognitive antecedents of purchasing decisions. However it is questionable, whether purchasing representatives really change their behaviour so radically during their business hours. This paper studies the nature of emotions in the course of professional purchase decisions. Subsequent to a literature review, the findings of an exploratory study are presented. Based on this, a conceptual model integrating emotional components into a decision model is proposed.