Antecedents and outcomes of customer adaptiveness in B2B solution selling: insights from the trade show industry

Kramer, Victoria; Krafft, Manfred; Worm, Stefan; Bharadwaj, Sundar G.

Abstract

Business-to-business suppliers employ customer solutions to differentiate from competitors and foster relationships. Prior research has largely focused on supplier capabilities, leaving customers’ role in enabling successful outcomes underexplored. Drawing on Transaction Cost Economics, we develop an updated measure of customer adaptiveness and assess its effects on key customer outcomes using primary data from the trade show industry and covariance-based structural equation modeling. Results show that customer adaptiveness positively influences willingness to invest and purchase intentions, but not satisfaction. Preference ambiguity moderates the relationships between trust, reference usage, and customer adaptiveness by strengthening the former while weakening the latter. Market turbulence further conditions these effects, enhancing the positive impact of customer adaptiveness on satisfaction and purchase intentions, while its influence on willingness to invest remains stable. Overall, this study advances our understanding of customers’ role in solution selling and underscores the importance of aligning strategies with customer characteristics and market conditions.