Collaborative aspects of buying business services – a structural equation model

The focus of this research is to observe the purchaser integration within business service procurement and its impact on the collaboration with both internal customers and external service providers (suppliers). Therefore, different service types were examined in more detail occurring as a contingent factor. Based on structural equation modelling, partial least square analysis (PLS) is applied for this empirical study analyzing questionnaires from Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. In addition to service type specific differences, this research provides a better understanding of the purchaser integration and collaboration during the service procurement process. Furthermore, several implications were deduced to allow managerial support for purchasing professionals.