Share:


Drivers and consequences of business-reference-content (BRC): the role of narrative transportation in B2B communication

Abstract

COVID-19 is bringing changes in B2B sales and marketing strategies. Digital interaction with potential customers has become more critical. Business-reference content (BRC) is the most shared content, mainly using narrative format, available to potential customers through digital touchpoints. Reducing perceived purchasing risk has been recognized as the primary benefit of using BRC, but empirical research on this has been insufficient. Therefore, this research investigated the underlying mechanisms of BRC and related processes that lower risk perception based on narrative transportation theory. For empirical analysis, a serial-parallel mediating model was established in which BRC type (narrative versus non-narrative) influences purchase intention through the mediation of narrative transportation and perceived purchase risks – functional risk and financial risk. In this experimental study, an online survey was conducted in which 233 purchasing managers in Korean companies participated. The analysis confirmed that the BRC type had a significant effect on the level of receivers’ narrative transportation. In addition, serial-parallel mediating effects through narrative transportation (primary mediator) and perceived functional risk and perceived financial risk (secondary mediators) were all significant. This research provides meaningful implications in that it broadens the theoretical understanding of BRC by presenting the integrated BRC effect model. Also, it clarifies the importance of narrative BRC in B2B marketing practices.

Keyword : B2B content marketing, business-reference content, B2B digital-marketing, narrative content, narrative transportation, B2B purchase risk

How to Cite
Jung, C. M. (2021). Drivers and consequences of business-reference-content (BRC): the role of narrative transportation in B2B communication. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 22(5), 1323–1341. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2021.15527
Published in Issue
Sep 29, 2021
Abstract Views
1511
PDF Downloads
1296
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Anaza, N. A., Kemp, E., Briggs, E., & Borders, A. L. (2020). Tell me a story: The role of narrative transportation and the C-suite in B2B advertising. Industrial Marketing Management, 89, 605–618. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2019.02.002

Anderson, J. C., Narus, J. A., & Van Rossum, W. (2006). Customer value propositions in business markets. Harvard Business Review, 84(3), 90. https://hbr.org/2006/03/customer-value-propositions-in-business-markets

Bagozzi, R. P., Yi, Y., & Nassen, K. D. (1998). Representation of measurement error in marketing variables: Review of approaches and extension to three-facet designs. Journal of Econometrics, 89(1–2), 393–421. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-4076(98)00068-2

Bagozzi, R. P., Yi, Y., & Phillips, L. W. (1991). Assessing construct validity in organizational research. Administrative Science Quarterly, 36(3), 421–458. https://doi.org/10.2307/2393203

Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Prentice-Hall, Inc. https://www.worldcat.org/title/social-foundations-of-thought-and-action-a-social-cognitivetheory/oclc/12080269

Banerjee, S. C., & Greene, K. (2012). Role of transportation in the persuasion process: Cognitive and affective responses to antidrug narratives. Journal of Health Communication, 17(5), 564–581. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2011.635779

Behling, O., & Law, K. S. (2000). Translating questionnaires and other research instruments: Problems and solutions (Vol. 133). Sage Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412986373

Bonnin, G., & Alfonso, M. R. (2019). The narrative strategies of B2B technology brands. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 34(7), 1448–1458. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-03-2019-0112

Brown, B. P., Bellenger, D. N., & Johnston, W. J. (2007). The implications of business-to-business and consumer market differences for B2B branding strategy. Journal of Business Market Management, 1, 209–230. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12087-007-0011-x

Brown, B. P., Zablah, A. R., Bellenger, D. N., & Johnston, W. J. (2011). When do B2B brands influence the decision making of organizational buyers? An examination of the relationship between purchase risk and brand sensitivity. International Journal of Marketing Research, 28(3), 194–204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2011.03.004

Cacioppo, J. T., & Petty, R. E. (1984). The Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 19(1), 123–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60214-2

Chaiken, S. (1980). Heuristic versus systematic information processing and the use of source versus message cues in persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(5), 752–766. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.39.5.752

Deighton, J., Romer, D., & McQueen, J. (1989). Using drama to persuade. Journal of Consumer Research, 16(3), 335–343. https://doi.org/10.1086/209219

Escalas, J. E., Moore, M. C., & Britton, J. E. (2004). Fishing for feeling? Hooking viewers helps! Journal of Consumer Psychology, 14(1–2), 105–114.

Featherman, M. S., & Pavlou, P. A. (2003). Predicting e-services adoption: A perceived risk facets perspective. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 59(4), 451–474. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1071-5819(03)00111-3

Feng, Y. (2018). Facilitator or inhibitor? The use of 360-degree videos for immersive brand storytelling. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 18(1), 28–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/15252019.2018.1446199

Fitzgerald, K., & Green, M. C. (2017). Narrative persuasion: Effects of transporting stories on attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. In F. Hakemulder, M. M. Kuijpers, Ed S. Tan, K. Bálint, & M. M. Doicaru (Eds.), Narrative absorption (pp. 49–67). John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/lal.27.04fit

Gilliam, D. A., & Flaherty, K. E. (2015). Storytelling by the sales force and its effect on buyer–seller exchange. Industrial Marketing Management, 46, 132–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.01.013

Green, M. C., & Brock, T. C. (2000). The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(5), 701–721. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.79.5.701

Green, M. C., & Fitzgerald, K. (2017). Transportation theory applied to health and risk messaging. In Oxford research encyclopedia of communication. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.261

Green, M. C., & Sestir, M. (2017). International encyclopedia of media effects. Wiley.

Grewal, D., Gotlieb, J., & Marmorstein, H. (1994). The moderating effects of message framing and source credibility on the price-perceived risk relationship. Journal of Consumer Research, 21(1), 145–153. https://doi.org/10.1086/209388

Ha, H.-Y. (2002). The effects of consumer risk perception on pre-purchase information in online auctions: Brand, word-of-mouth, and customized information. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2002.tb00160.x

Hair, J. F., Risher, J. J., Sarstedt, M., & Ringle, C. M. (2019). When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM. European Business Review, 31(1), 2–24. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-11-2018-0203

Harrison, L., Gavin, R., Plotkin, C. L., & Stanley, J. (2020, July). How B2B sales have changed during COVID-19. McKinsey Quarterly. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/how-b2b-sales-have-changed-during-covid-19

Hayes, A. F. (2018). Partial, conditional, and moderated moderated mediation: Quantification, inference, and interpretation. Communication Monographs, 85(1), 4–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2017.1352100

Horton, R. L. (1976). The structure of perceived risk: Some further progress. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 4, 694–706. https://doi.org/10.1177/009207037600400303

Igartua, J. J., & Rodríguez-Contreras, L. (2020). Narrative voice matters! Improving smoking prevention with testimonial messages through identification and cognitive processes. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(19), 7281. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17197281

Işçi, Ü., & Kitapçi, H. (2020). Responses of Turkish consumers to product risk information in the context of negative eWOM. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 21(6), 1593–1609. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2020.13383

Jaakkola, E., & Aarikka-Stenroos, L. (2019). Customer referencing as business actor engagement behavior – Creating value in and beyond triadic settings. Industrial Marketing Management, 80(1), 27–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2018.06.014

Jalkala, A., & Salminen, R. T. (2009). Communicating customer references on industrial companies’ Web sites. Industrial Marketing Management, 38(7), 825–837. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2008.04.009

Jalkala, A., & Salminen, R. T. (2010). Practices and functions of customer reference marketing – Leveraging customer references as marketing assets. Industrial Marketing Management, 39(6), 975–985. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2010.06.017

Kang, J. A., Hong, S., & Hubbard, G. T. (2020). The role of storytelling in advertising: Consumer emotion, narrative engagement level, and word‐of‐mouth intention. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 19(1), 47–56. https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.1793

Kardes, F. R., Herr, P. M., & Schwarz, N. (2019). Handbook of research methods in consumer psychology (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351137713

Kelley, K. (2007). Methods for the behavioral, educational, and social sciences: An R package. Behavior Research Methods, 39(4), 979–984. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03192993

Kim, E., Ratneshwar, S., & Thorson, E. (2017). Why narrative Ads work: An integrated process explanation. Journal of Advertising, 46(2), 283–296. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2016.1268984

Krakow, M. M., Yale, R. N., Jensen, J. D., Carcioppolo, N., & Ratcliff, C. L. (2018). Comparing mediational pathways for narrative-and argument-based messages: Believability, counterarguing, and emotional reaction. Human Communication Research, 44(3), 299–321. https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqy002

Kumar, V., Petersen, J. A., & Leone, R. P. (2013). Defining, measuring, and managing business reference value. Journal of Marketing, 77(1), 68–86. https://doi.org/10.1509/jm.11.0424

Lakens, D. (2013). Calculating and reporting effect sizes to facilitate cumulative science: A practical primer for t-tests and ANOVAs. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 863. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00863

Lamberton, C., & Stephen, A. T. (2016). A thematic exploration of digital, social media, and mobile marketing: Research evolution from 2000 to 2015 and an agenda for future inquiry. Journal of Marketing, 80(6), 146–172. https://doi.org/10.1509/jm.15.0415

Lee, H. G., Jung, C. M., & Kim, Y. C. (2017). An exploratory study on the effects of B2B marketing content strategy on the intention to accept product. Proceedings of Korea Distribution Association, Korea. http://www.dbpia.co.kr/journal/articleDetail?nodeId=NODE07230016

Leiner, D. J. (2016). Our research’s breadth lives on convenience samples A case study of the online respondent pool “SoSci Panel”. SCM Studies in Communication and Media, 5(4), 367–396.
https://doi.org/10.5771/2192-4007-2016-4-367

Lien, N. H., & Chen, Y. L. (2013). Narrative ads: The effect of argument strength and story format. Journal of Business Research, 66(4), 516–522. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.12.016

Lippel, K., & Quinlan, M. (2011). Regulation of psychosocial risk factors at work: An international overview. Safety Science, 49(4), 543–546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2010.09.015

Mar, R. A. (2018). Stories and the promotion of social cognition. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27(4), 257–262. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721417749654

Mitchell, V. W. (1992). Understanding consumers’ behaviour: Can perceived risk theory help? Management Decision, 30(3). https://doi.org/10.1108/00251749210013050

Morgado, A. V. (2020). How to profit from reference marketing in B2B market. The European Business Review. https://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/how-to-profit-from-reference-marketing-in-b2b-markets/

Mumper, M. L., & Gerrig, R. J. (2017). Leisure reading and social cognition: A meta-analysis. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 11(1), 109–120. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000089

Nyadzayo, M. W., Casidy, R., & Thaichon, P. (2020). B2B purchase engagement: Examining the key drivers and outcomes in professional services. Industrial Marketing Management, 85, 197–208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2019.11.007

Paluch, S., & Wunderlich, V. N. (2016). Contrasting risk perceptions of technology-based service innovations in inter-organizational settings. Journal of Business Research, 69(7), 2424–2431. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.01.012

Peter, J. P., & Ryan, M. J. (1976). An investigation of perceived risk at the brand level. Journal of Marketing Research, 13(2), 184–188. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224377601300210

Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2012). Sources of method bias in social science research and recommendations on how to control it. Annual Review of Psychology, 63, 539–569.
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100452

Raymond, J. L., & Medina, J. F. (2018). Computational principles of supervised learning in the cerebellum. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 41, 233–253. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-neuro-080317-061948

Ruokolainen, J., & Aarikka-Stenroos, L. (2016). Rhetoric in customer referencing: Fortifying sales arguments in two start-up companies. Industrial Marketing Management, 54, 188–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.08.002

Salminen, R., & Möller, K. (2006). Role of references in business marketing – Towards a normative theory of referencing. Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, 13(1), 1–51. https://doi.org/10.1300/J033v13n01_01

Schweitzer, F., & Van den Hende, E. A. (2017). Drivers and consequences of narrative transportation: Understanding the role of stories and domain‐specific skills in improving radically new products. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 34(1), 101–118. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12329

Seo, Y., Li, X., Choi, Y. K., & Yoon, S. (2018). Narrative transportation and paratextual features of social media in viral advertising. Journal of Marketing, 47(1), 83–95. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2017.1405752

Sharma, P. (2020). Why are industrial firms high or low brand sensitive? An empirical investigation.
Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 28(1), 56–78. https://doi.org/10.1080/10696679.2019.1662314

Sharma, P., Sengupta, R. N., & Lichtenthal, J. D. (2020). Facets of business-to-business brand equity:
Mixed-methods approach. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 37(7), 754–769. https://doi.org/10.1108/MIP-10-2018-0437

Su, P. J., Lu, H. P., & Lin, P. H. (2018). How the microfilm marketing strategy stimulates consumers’ purchase intention. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 46(6), 953–968. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.6943

Teng, L., Laroche, M., & Zhu, H. (2007). The effects of multiple‐ads and multiple‐brands on consumer attitude and purchase behavior. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 24(1), 27–35. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760710720966

Terho, H., & Jalkala, A. (2017). Customer reference marketing: Conceptualization, measurement and link to selling performance. Industrial Marketing Management, 64, 175–186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2017.01.005

Tojib, D. R., & Sugianto, L. F. (2006). Content validity of instruments in IS research. Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application (JITTA), 8(3), 5. https://aisel.aisnet.org/jitta/vol8/iss3/5

Van Laer, T., de Ruyter, K., Visconti, L. M., & Wetzels, M. (2014). The extended transportation-imagery model: A meta-analysis of the antecedents and consequences of consumers’ narrative transportation. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(5), 797–817. https://doi.org/10.1086/673383

Van Laer, T., Feiereisen, S., & Visconti, L. M. (2019). Storytelling in the digital era: A meta-analysis of relevant moderators of the narrative transportation effect. Journal of Business Research, 96(1), 135–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.10.053