Hidden-in-plain-sight: validating assortative selection processes inside consumer-to-consumer exchanges

Purpose Assortative selection exists as a theoretically and practically influential construct even though its potential effects remain hidden within the marketing discipline. This paper initially aims to introduce the explanatory and predictive power of assortative selection processes to marketing theory and practice. The second purpose was to conceptually develop and empirically refine an emergent assortative selection scale inside consumer-to-consumer (C2C) exchanges. The final purpose was to create a nomological framework through which the effects of assortative selection processes on three key marketing outcomes could be investigated, and the theoretical and managerial value of the newly validated construct might be justified. Design/methodology/approach A scale was developed that captures seven dimensions that purportedly comprise the assortative selection construct. Three studies were conducted to test three research propositions. Findings Study propositions were confirmed. Assortative selection was revealed to exist as a theoretically and empirically valid marketing construct. Assortative selection processes were also shown to influence three relevant, practical and desirable marketing outcomes inside C2C exchanges. Research limitations/implications Like most theoretical efforts, this research features some limitations. One shortfall derives from an absence of real-world examples. A second limitation is that only three marketing outcomes were tested inside the nomological framework, while no antecedents to assortative selection processes were integrated into the model. Other attractive managerial outcomes that may be inspired or negated as consumer-buyers evaluate consumer-sellers through assortative selection processes are absent. Potential antecedents to the onset of assortative selection processes inside C2C exchanges should also be integrated into future models. Practical implications Consumer-sellers marketing themselves and their products inside C2C exchanges presumably aspire, as near-default conditions, to establish new or build closer relationships with consumer-buyers. The insights generated through an analysis of consumer-buyers’ applications of assortative selection processes revealed opportunities for consumer-sellers to leverage assortative selection to secure relational gains inside C2C exchanges. Specifically, opportunities were revealed for consumers-sellers to position their malleable interpersonal values more successfully and, by extension, their products to actual or prospective consumer-buyers. Originality/value This paper introduces a novel concept to the marketing literature. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to theoretically and empirically validate the existence and practical utility that could accrue to consumer-sellers if they managed associative selection processes inside an expanding marketing domain, specifically C2C exchanges. This study is likewise the first to develop practical insights regarding how consumer-sellers might strategically respond to the effects that consumer-buyers’ assortative selection-based evaluations impose as they decide whether and from whom to purchase.