Paper info

Towards effective reference marketing programs

Andre Morgado

The paper was published at the 35th IMP-conference in Paris, France in 2019.

The available literature on buying behaviour does not clarify the factors affecting the ability of reference marketing to deliver its benefits. The purpose of this research is to study organizational buying behaviour and relationship formation in interactions between customers and suppliers of capital equipment and the factors affecting the ability of reference marketing to deliver its value outcomes. This work combines a critical realist approach to ontology with a qualitative research method consisting of in-depth interviews with purchasing managers from the energy industry. The findings of the study confirm that customer references play a critical role in organizational purchasing. The paper ends by presenting five useful recommendations for superior reference marketing practice.