In statistics, a moderator is a variable that influences the strength of a relationship between two other variables.
Returning to the example discussed in our summary of mediators, buying group size was a mediator that sat between Vendor Count (the number of vendors being evaluated) and Buying Cycle Length. As Vendor Count increased, buying group sizes also increased. The increase in buying group size caused buying cycles to increase.
However, a moderator may also be present.
For example, let’s say a buyer’s industry moderated the effect that buying team size had on the length of the buying cycle. It might be that those in Manufacturing tend to add even more people to the buying team when a vendor is added to their evaluation list, thus extending the time spent in a buying process even more than an industry that was inclined to add fewer people. In a case such as this, Industry would be a moderator since it impacts the extent to which buying team size impacts buying cycle length.
