Net transaction value: Toward a unified theory of buyer decision-making

Buyer decision-making, a fundamental marketing activity, is studied from a variety of perspectives. This study proposes Net Transaction Value (NTV), a unified theory of buyer decision-making. NTV hypothesizes that a buyer makes an implicit and subjective calculation before making a purchase in a high involvement context. In making this calculation, the buyer deducts the costs anticipated from a transaction or transaction stream from its associated benefits. Benefits in the NTV equation reflect not only the product or service offering itself, but the monetary aspects of the transaction or purchase deal. Costs reflect the buyer's own self-imposed costs over and above price as well as those costs over and above price imposed by the seller on the buyer. This study uses the NTV model to develop and test the relationships between these benefit and cost variables and the buyer's perceptions of net transaction value. Results confirm that the buyer includes the benefits of the product or service offering itself and seller-imposed costs in the calculation of NTV. As a result, NTV provides a valuable tool for predicting and describing buyer decision-making.