Contract design in service triads: The role of buyer inputs

Abstract

In buyer-supplier-customer service triads, buyers contract with suppliers that deliver their services to the customer. Whereas in dyadic service exchange, customers provide certain inputs to the service production process, service triads typically also involve inputs from the buyer. We draw on survey data on 107 Dutch service triads to investigate to what extent the level of buyer inputs into the service process affects the extent to which outcome and process provisions have been arranged in detail. We also investigate the effect of buyer inputs on the specificity of rewards and of general provisions. We find that the level of buyer inputs has a positive and significant effect on specificity of outcome provisions. Buyer inputs do not significantly affect process provisions, rewards or general provisions