Judgmental heuristics in overseas vendor search and evaluation: A proposed model of importer buying behavior

Abstract

This paper identifies an implicit importer buying behavior model that is suggested by import decision studies and reviews contextual factors that distinguish international sourcing from its domestic counterpart. We then critique this implicit model and discuss its major shortcoming, namely, the failure to take into account the cognitive processes that influence vendor search and evaluation patterns. Drawing on the cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence literatures, this paper proposes an alternative model of importer buying behavior that explicitly accounts for the use of cognitive heuristics and presents a series of testable research propositions. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.

Citation

Liang, N. and Stump, R.L. (2001), "Judgmental heuristics in overseas vendor search and evaluation: A proposed model of importer buying behavior", Woodside, A.G. (Ed.) Getting Better at Sensemaking (Advances in Business Marketing and Purchasing, Vol. 9), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 325-352. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1069-0964(00)09011-6