Outcome Case Study 5: Theory-building research

The following propositions have been built in this study: P2: Services associated with a low level of perceived risk have a pattern of interaction in which only representatives of the internal customers are always involved. P1a: In ongoing interaction associated with consumption services, representatives of the internal customers are always involved. P1b: In ongoing interaction associated with instrumental services with a moderate to high level of perceived risk, people representing the primary processes of the buying company are always involved, as well as representatives of internal customers. P1c: In ongoing interaction associated with component services with a high level of perceived risk, representatives of external customers often the marketing discipline are always involved. All four propositions represent a sufficient condition. These results have been presented in a round-table meeting with representatives from KPN and UWV. We regard the feedback obtained during the round-table meeting to support our idea that the propo- sitions we developed are relevant. The nature of the relationship between the type of representatives involved and success needs to be specified and tested in future research projects.

9.3 Methodological reflection on Case Study 5

9.3.1 Justification of a theory-building case study

Case Study 5 starts implicitly with a proposition with an empty space at the position of the dependent concept. This proposition has a form Figure 9.3, similar to Figure 8.3. Type of service What kind of representative ??? ??? Independent Dependent Figure 9.3 Proposition with unknown dependent concept At the beginning of this study it was known which kind of dependent concept was sought, namely the variation in the composition of the teams of representatives of the buying company that interact with rep- resentatives of the supplying company. It was, however, not known what the relevant concept was by which this variation could be charac- terized, nor was there a proposition available which linked the varia- tion of the values of this as yet unknown concept to different types of services that were bought. No information is given about whether any “exploration” as meant in Chapter 3 was attempted. The results of the round-table meeting with company representatives, mentioned in 9.2.8, suggest that an exploration could have been quite successful. These company repre- sentatives might have been able to generate versions of the proposi- tions that have been built in this study. Because the type of service that is bought by a company cannot be experimentally manipulated, it is clear that an experiment was not feasible.

9.3.2 Candidate cases

Our advice is to find a candidate case for theory-building research in small populations in the theoretical domain. The proposition that had to be built in this study then still a proposition with an empty space concerned the domain of communications between buyers and sellers of business services after the purchase of such a service. Because the authors of this study had built contacts with a large network of pur- chasing managers in the Netherlands, they were able to identify a number of Dutch companies that had been buying services, and they knew that they might be able to collect data on interaction patterns regarding these purchases by getting access through these purchasing managers. Within this set of Dutch companies, the search for candidate cases was limited to large companies with professional purchasing organiza- tions that are service companies themselves. This choice of large com- panies with professional purchasing organizations made sense indeed, if the aim of the study was not just to find relations between type of service and type of interaction in the broad spectrum of all instances of a purchase of a service, but rather was more specifically aimed at find- ing such relations in companies with much experience in purchasing services.