Payment behavior in the business-to-business (b2b) environment has changed remarkable in the last few years. Today cashless payments like checks and credit- or debit cards are becoming increasingly popular. Changing market conditions, legislation as well as new technologies and less costs for b2b companies are only some of the reasons for this enlargement. In general the type, amount and quantity of the bought product are affected per transaction, by the means of payment. In general a correlation between the means of payments like credit cards or check and unplanned purchases can be found when it comes to business-to-customer (b2c) transactions. While there are increasing studies focusing on consumer payment behaviour, this topic is neglected in the b2b environment. Target of this study was therefore to find out impact factors when choosing means of payment in the business-to-business environment. In order to examine the payment behaviour of gastronomes in Graz eight interviews have been carried out from February to April 2015. The empirical study showed that the majority of respondents clearly preferred to pay b2b transactions in cash. In addition, a correlation between means of payments and unplanned purchases in the b2b environment could not be objected. According to the respondents economic factors like the costs of payment are affecting the choice most when it comes to means of payments in the business-to-business environment. Further impacts, on decision making, have technologically and social factors while the amount and purpose have less impacts than expected. Convenience, flexibility and cultural factors are stated from the gastronomes in Graz as other factors. Furthermore, the impact of emotions and the fear of employee criminality are stated from the respondents as other impact factors. |