Rethinking customer-perceived value in business markets from an organizational perspective

Abstract

Customer-perceived value is a key concept in inter-organizational relationships. As markets and business practices have evolved, there is growing need for an updated value conceptualization that acknowledges contemporary developments and reflects the state-of-the-art of research on business markets and inter-organizational relationships. The authors identify gaps in established conceptualizations of customer-perceived value in business markets. Then, drawing on the behavioral theory of the firm and theory of goal-directed behavior, they adapt and combine different value perspectives that suggest nine foundational premises (FPs), underlying how business customers perceive value. This assessment results in a typology of value concepts that differentiates between (1) individual and collective value, (2) expected and experienced value, and (3) transactional and relational value perceptions. Against this backdrop, this article offers a rich set of questions to guide continued research on value in business markets in general as well as on the complex interplay of the various value concepts.

Keywords:

• Inter-organizational relationships
• value
• value in use
• value in exchange
• relationship value

Notes

1 We use the terms “B2B” and “IO” interchangeably to highlight the exchange occurring between two organizations/firms—a buying and a selling firm.

2 We use the terms customers and buyers interchangeably throughout the manuscript.