Embedded Supplier Consideration in Informational Service Markets

This study addresses an important yet understudied aspect of exchange in informational service markets, namely the consideration of a service provider. Sourcing from the growing embeddedness literature in both economic sociology and marketing, the authors aim to contribute to the literature by (1) examining the role of preexisting social ties as selection criterion (social embedding), (2) introducing informational embedding as a more instrumental way to embed exchange in interpersonal interaction, (3) studying how different dimensions of the service offering moderate the influence of social and informational embedding, and (4) in an exploratory fashion, examining how the importance of partner selection criteria varies between consideration and choice. A conjoint experiment supplemented with a between-subjects design in the context of selecting a market research agency sheds new light on the embeddedness of partner selection in informational service markets. Extensive qualitative research was conducted to ensure the realism of the experimental setting and to strengthen the interpretation of results. The theoretical discourse and empirical test lead to a number of managerial insights that may help firms overcome the hurdle of getting on the shortlist.