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Joining hands for the greater good: examining social innovation launch strategies in B2B settings

Joining hands for the greater good: examining social innovation launch strategies in B2B settings
Joining hands for the greater good: examining social innovation launch strategies in B2B settings

The practice of forming brand alliances is common among companies in business-to-business (B2B) settings that seek to launch social innovations. Research evidence on the efficacy of such practice is, however, scarce. Based on the perspective of organizational buyers, we examine how social innovations should be launched by companies in B2B settings, whether through alliances with nonprofits or for-profits, or via independent ventures, across two experimental studies. Underpinned by the stereotype content model, we find that alliance launch strategies with nonprofits or for-profits result in greater purchase intentions, along with perceptions of warmth and competence, when compared to independent ventures. Further, we demonstrate that communicating societal benefits accruing from a social innovation favors an alliance launch strategy over an independent venture. Alliance strategies show comparable advantage to independent ventures when both societal and company-focused benefits are communicated. Our research advances knowledge on organizational buyers' evaluations of alliances and social innovations, the psychological mechanism underlying organizational buyers' evaluations of social innovations launch strategies, and in communication management. Our findings provide insights for companies seeking to launch social innovations, and guidelines on partner selection.

Brand alliances, Competence, Experiment, B2B, Purchase intentions, Social innovations, Warmth
0019-8501
487-498
Crisafulli, Benedetta
c2ffc9d5-6e13-4d5e-8402-c62586f1a0d3
Dimitriu, Radu
a5c0be86-d504-49ec-82e9-690ec55f097e
Singh, Jaywant
db6316ed-e404-4c5a-873c-6e97c94fe531
Crisafulli, Benedetta
c2ffc9d5-6e13-4d5e-8402-c62586f1a0d3
Dimitriu, Radu
a5c0be86-d504-49ec-82e9-690ec55f097e
Singh, Jaywant
db6316ed-e404-4c5a-873c-6e97c94fe531

Crisafulli, Benedetta, Dimitriu, Radu and Singh, Jaywant (2020) Joining hands for the greater good: examining social innovation launch strategies in B2B settings. Industrial Marketing Management, 89, 487-498. (doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2019.11.012).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The practice of forming brand alliances is common among companies in business-to-business (B2B) settings that seek to launch social innovations. Research evidence on the efficacy of such practice is, however, scarce. Based on the perspective of organizational buyers, we examine how social innovations should be launched by companies in B2B settings, whether through alliances with nonprofits or for-profits, or via independent ventures, across two experimental studies. Underpinned by the stereotype content model, we find that alliance launch strategies with nonprofits or for-profits result in greater purchase intentions, along with perceptions of warmth and competence, when compared to independent ventures. Further, we demonstrate that communicating societal benefits accruing from a social innovation favors an alliance launch strategy over an independent venture. Alliance strategies show comparable advantage to independent ventures when both societal and company-focused benefits are communicated. Our research advances knowledge on organizational buyers' evaluations of alliances and social innovations, the psychological mechanism underlying organizational buyers' evaluations of social innovations launch strategies, and in communication management. Our findings provide insights for companies seeking to launch social innovations, and guidelines on partner selection.

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Accepted/In Press date: 9 November 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 1 January 2020
Published date: 15 August 2020
Keywords: Brand alliances, Competence, Experiment, B2B, Purchase intentions, Social innovations, Warmth

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 435987
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/435987
ISSN: 0019-8501
PURE UUID: a8468603-2196-4450-8b81-4d2a517eb36e
ORCID for Jaywant Singh: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0766-0162

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 26 Nov 2019 17:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 05:05

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Contributors

Author: Benedetta Crisafulli
Author: Radu Dimitriu
Author: Jaywant Singh ORCID iD

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