Getting one's own way: An investigation of influence attempts by marketers on nonmarketing members of the firm Daniel J. Goebel a, ⁎ ,1 , Greg W. Marshall b,2 , William B. Locander c,3 a Department of Marketing, Illinois State University, Campus Box 5590, Normal, IL 61790-5590, United States b Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College, 1000 Holt Avenue- 2722, Winter Park, FL 32789-4499, United States c Davis Leadership Center, Jacksonville University, 2800 University Blvd. North, DCOB 152, Jacksonville, FL 32211, United States Received 7 October 2005; accepted 2 February 2006 Abstract This study examines the relationship between a marketer's use of various attempts to influence a nonmarketing coworker and the coworker's perception of marketing as a credible source of high-quality communications. Research on this topic is important because both the distribution of market intelligence to other firm members and the organization's response to that intelligence depend on marketing's interactions with members of other organizational functions. Results provide general support for the effect of organizational environment and interfunctional dynamics antecedents on marketing's use of various influence strategies and on the outcomes of using those strategies. Implications and future research opportunities are discussed. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Influence strategies; Influence strategy antecedents; Communication quality; Source credibility; Multiple regression 1. Introduction The authors of an early article investigating the different strategies one may use to influence others in the workplace stated, “everyone is influencing everyone else in organiza- tions” (Kipnis et al., 1980, p.451). In one approach, a marketer might contact a co-worker and state in a rather stern manner, “I need your competitive analysis data today by 2:00 or my reports won't get done before the weekend.” Alternatively, the marketer might come to a work area and engage a co-worker in a conversation about his/her family and nonchalantly men- tion that competitor information is needed by 2:00 pm or the marketer will have to work this weekend and miss his/her kids' soccer games. In yet another approach, the marketer may have a member of upper management contact the co-worker to remind him/her that others are waiting on the competitor information. Each of these approaches represents an influence attempt — specifically, assertiveness, ingratiation, and upper management appeal strategies, all designed to get one's own way. Other influence strategies used between co-workers include coalition building, bargaining, and reasoning (Kipnis et al., 1980). In- fluence strategies are defined as the way in which people at work sway their colleagues and superiors to obtain personal benefits or to satisfy organizational goals (Kipnis et al., 1980). The six influence strategies illustrated above are defined as follows (Kipnis et al., 1984): 1. Assertiveness — the use of a direct and forceful approach with another person. 2. Upper management appeal — the gaining of support from those in higher levels of the organizational hierarchy to back up requests. 3. Reason — the use of facts and data to support the development of a logical argument. 4. Coalition building — the mobilization of other people in the organization. Journal of Business Research 59 (2006) 829 – 837 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 309 438 7077; fax: +1 309 438 5510. E-mail addresses: djgoebe@ilstu.edu (D.J. Goebel), gmarshall@rollins.edu (G.W. Marshall), wlocand@ju.edu (W.B. Locander). 1 The authors would like to thank Barry Babin, Associate Editor, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article. 2 Tel.: +1 407 691 1150; fax: +1 407 691 1151. 3 Tel.: +1 904 256 7672. 0148-2963/$ - see front matter © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2006.02.002