Are Drivers of Customer Satisfaction Different for Buyers/Users from Different Functional Areas?

Purpose – The aim of this study is to identify the drivers that influence customer satisfaction in a business-to-business context. Design/methodology/approach – A survey-based field study was conducted in which 1,068 business customers of a manufacturer of hydraulic and pneumatic equipment participated. Buyers/users reported their perceptions about and satisfaction with a supplier's product-related services. Findings – Three drivers of customer satisfaction, reliability, product-related information, and commercial aspects, were identified. The importance of the last two drivers differed depending on the buyer's/user's primary functional area. For respondents from purchasing and management, commercial aspects were found to be more important than product-related information. For participants from engineering, maintenance, and production, product-related information was found to be more important than commercial aspects. The reliability driver emerged as the most important regardless of the functional association of respondents. Originality/value – The study results elucidate the differences between drivers of customer satisfaction for the buyers/users from different functional areas of an organization