EXPLORING BIDDER HETEROGENEITY IN MULTICHANNEL SEQUENTIAL B2B AUCTIONS

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Lu, Yixin; Gupta, Alok; Ketter, Wolfgang; van Heck, Eric
• 署名单位: George Washington University; University of Minnesota System; University of Minnesota Twin Cities; Erasmus University Rotterdam; Erasmus University Rotterdam - Excl Erasmus MC
• 刊物名称: MIS QUARTERLY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0276-7783
• DOI: 10.25300/MISQ/2016/40.3.06
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 645-662
• 关键词: internet auctions; bidding behavior; Online auctions; FRAMEWORK; MARKETS; search; DESIGN

摘要

The proliferation of online auctions has attracted significant research interest in understanding real-life bidding behavior. However, most of the empirical work has focused on business-to-consumer (B2C) auctions. A natural question is whether the findings obtained from B2C auctions are applicable to business-to-business (B2B) auctions, which often involve much higher stakes. In this paper, we examine how professional bidders choose their bidding strategies in multichannel, sequential B2B auctions. Using an extensive data set from the world's largest B2B market for cut flowers, we find a stable taxonomy of bidding behavior and identify five distinctive bidding strategies. In addition, we demonstrate that bidders' choice of strategies is associated with their demand, budget constraint, and transaction cost. These findings challenge the conventional view that bidders' bidding strategies will converge as they gain experience. We also analyze the economic impacts of different strategies. Our results provide useful implications for practical design of B2B auctions.