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The paper aims to explain how agency theory can be used to inform our understanding of the dynamics surrounding supply chain behaviours and relationships.

A structured review of the literature using a three‐stage refinement process is used. The articles were sourced through online databases and keyword classifications, such as “agency theory”, “principal‐agent relationships” and “supply chain management”. The search initially identified over 86 articles. After further screening these were reduced to 19 for final assessment and comparison.

Despite agency theory's prevailing descriptive and predictive qualities there is scarcity in its application to the SCM discipline. The authors posit that agency theory provides valuable insights for relationship engineering within supply chains where social, political, legal and behavioural dynamics dominate.

It is a critical task for managers to understand and mitigate abnormal behaviours across the supply chain. Agency theory serves this need by providing them with a useful tool to respond to transaction cost dilemmas through contractual and non‐contractual remedies.

This is one of the first studies that examines the current state of agency theory application in the SCM literature and suggests potential avenues for future research.

This paper aims to determine the dimensions of service quality of advertising agencies and their effects on relationship quality between an advertising agency and their clients through the social and economic exchange.

The intention was to target firms which use the services of an advertising or marketing solutions agency; hence, participants were recruited from a business database service providing details for key decision makers in Australia and New Zealand. An online survey was used in this study.

Creative competence, project management processes and project outcome influenced relationship quality through value and interpersonal relationships. However, only creativity had a significant direct relationship with relationship quality.

Although creativity plays a major role in relationship development, agencies must have efficient and effective project management processes in place to ensure successful project completion within timeline and budget to be able to maintain ongoing relationships with their clients.

The research draws upon literature from three key disciplines, service quality, relationship marketing and project management, to address the gaps in the current literature related to customer relationship management in the B2B client–agency context.

This paper will discuss the concept of account management in the area of advertising agency‐client relationships. The main theoretical issues regarding agency‐client relationships are discussed by means of a review of the literature to identify an account‐management lifecycle for agency‐client relationships. Three main stages were identified: agency evaluation/selection; relationship development and maintenance; and agency review/termination. Discussing the literature will also provide a greater understanding of agency‐client relationships and identify possible areas for further research.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the contextual factors that influence the impact of account manager turnover on the client–agency relationship, an under-researched area of relationship management literature.

A case study approach and one-to-one interviews are used to conduct the exploratory study, analysing client–agency relationships within the UK design industry. A conceptual framework covering individual and organisational characteristics is used to examine the contextual factors impacting account manager turnover.

The findings identify both organisational and individual contextual factors that influence the outcome of turnover. Categorized into three core contexts (client-specific knowledge, multiple relationship ties and turnover process management), factors such as agency structure and culture, agency knowledge management policies and client experience were all found to impact on account manager turnover.

This small, qualitative, exploratory study suggests the need for further research to investigate the transferability of the findings to a broader range of organisational types and industries and to highlight additional contextual factors that influence the impact of turnover.

Account manager turnover does not necessarily mean the end of the client–service firm relationship. Agencies can create contexts that mitigate the potential negative effects. Small firms appear to have advantages inherent in their size, but larger firms can take steps to emulate some of the conditions found in micro firms.

This paper adds to the limited number of studies into account manager turnover, making a theoretical and practical contribution, enabling marketing managers to take steps to ensure staff turnover does not result in client switching.

The specific objectives of this research were to gain an understanding of the causes of advertiser account switches in New Zealand and Singapore and compare these results with Michell’s USA and UK studies. The main finding of this study is the reasons for broken agency‐client relationships are complex and very varied. However, Michell’s five general reasons for account switches: poor agency performance; changes in agency policies; changes in client policies; changes in agency management; and changes in client management, appear to explain most failed agency‐client relationships (although few respondents had all of the above problems at once). This report has been useful in highlighting the differences in New Zealand and Singapore agency‐client relationships.

Contemporary supply chain relationships inherently rely on delegation of work between organizations and, thus, are subject to agency problems for which a wide range of governance mechanisms exist. This review of agency theory (AT), across four distinct fields, explains the connection between governance mechanisms and supply chain relationship types.

The study uses a systematic literature review (SLR) of articles using AT in a supply chain context from the operations and supply chain management, general management, marketing, and economics fields.

The authors categorize the governance mechanisms identified to create a typology of agency relationships in supply chains.

The developed typology provides parsimonious theory on different forms of supply chain agency relationships and takes a step towards a “supply chain-oriented agency theory” explaining and predicting relationship types and governance in supply chains. Furthermore, a future research agenda calls for more accurate measuring of agency costs, to examine residual gains alongside residual losses, to take a dual-sided perspective of agency relations and to adopt AT to examine more complex supply networks.

The review provides a menu of governance mechanisms and describes situations under which these mechanisms could be deployed to guide managers when developing their supply chain relationships.

The first review to combine and elaborate views from four major disciplines using AT as a lens to supply chain relationships. Expanding the traditional set of governance mechanisms provides academics and practitioners with a bigger “menu” of options to consider.

While staffing agencies are gaining importance in work relationships with the highly skilled workforce, their work relations with highly skilled independent contractors have not been investigated yet. Staffing agencies as labor market intermediaries charge a fee to help independent contractors as well as client organizations to create contracts for services while independent contractors remain self-employed. Besides their growing relevance, their exact role remains unclear. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of staffing agencies in work relationships with highly skilled independent contractors.

The authors applied a mixed-methods design comprising a qualitative interview study with independent contractors and staffing agencies’ representatives (n=29) coupled with a quantitative survey of staffing agencies (n=81).

The analysis shows that staffing agencies are important actors in work relationships with highly skilled independent contractors. However, the relationships can be differentiated into rather standardized ones on the one hand and individualized relations on the other hand. This seems to correspond with differences between sectors.

First, the authors discuss staffing agencies as new intermediaries and highlight their relevance in the negotiation of working conditions. Second, the authors emphasize variations of the role of staffing agencies in triadic work relationships of highly skilled independent contractors in relation to specificities of sectors. Third, the study also adds on organizational support theory and related research.

Organizational climate is an essential dynamic to leverage in salesforce performance. This study aims to develop a model that explores the determinants of independent manufacturers’ representatives’ (i.e. IMRs’) intentions to comply with their principals’ requests for additional tasking. Using agency theory, the authors explore the application of behavior and outcome-based controls upon dyadic manufacturer-IMR relationships for these additional performance/task requests.

Data from over 1,000 US-based IMRs were used to test two constructs; inter-organizational climate and perceptions of mutual satisfaction within the agency-principal dyad. Compliance behaviors tested were IMRs’ intentions to engage in non-selling-related tasks and intentions to allocate additional selling time to principals’ products. The following four exogenous controls were tested: perceived goal congruence between IMRs and principals; IMRs’ perceptions of principals’ expertise; mutual communications between IMRs and principals in the supply chain dyad; resources and sales support programs provided by principals to IMRs; and IMRs’ perceptions of the adequacy and fairness of the principals’ compensation plans.

Two constructs – inter-organizational climate and perceptions of mutual satisfaction with the agency-principal dyad – mediated the effects of exogenous sales controls on two compliance behaviors. The model’s data were analyzed using Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). A marker variable was deployed to check for common method variance also supported using the Partial least squares (PLS) factor solution. Most variables demonstrated significant direct and mediated effects on each compliance behavior. Variables that emphasized behavioral-based controls dominated intentions for IMRs to engage in non-selling tasks. The principal commission structure, the only sales outcome-based control in the study, most influenced IMRs’ intentions to commit additional sales time to their principals’ products.

This study only examined the intentions of IMRs to engage in additional selling activities and their intention to engage in non-selling tasks. Principals may desire longer-term commitments from IMRs. The model developed here can be modified to capture additional behavioral and attitudinal outcomes including, for example, the exit intentions of IMRs.

Principals are well-advised to foster a positive inter-organizational climate that fuels perceptions of mutually satisfying working relationships with their IMRs. These mutually satisfying working relationships can, by themselves, positively influence IMRs to acquiesce to reasonable requests made by principals. This advice appears to be particularly crucial when asking IMRs to engage in additional non-selling tasks. The total pattern of path estimates points to the conclusion that capable sales control plays an important role in fostering positive inter-organizational climates. The inter-organizational climate – mutual satisfaction link proved crucial as a mediator of the impact of sales controls on IMRs’ behavioral compliance intentions.

Knowing the impact of sales controls on IMR’s affords businesses the ability to use these controls for behavioral compliance intentions on non-selling tasks.

This paper aims to focus on the advertising agency‐firm relationship and aims at understanding and analysing its dynamics. In particular, it digs deep into the reasons behind success and failure of the relationship and attempts to unveil their determinants. This investigation is deemed important because a breaking of the advertising agency‐firm relationship is costly for both parties.

An exploratory study is conducted among partners of the relationship in a Tunisian small to medium‐sized business context. In‐depth interviews were conducted among key executives from the ad agency industry and from clients. Content analysis made it possible to extract factors related to ad agency performance, others related to client management, and still others related to interactive processes involved in the relationship.

Results led to the development of a theoretical framework summarising the three components of the relationship. These are performance of the ad agency, internal policy of the firm, and interpersonal factors. This framework is deemed relevant for both ad agencies and firms in understanding the dynamics of the relationship and in managing eventual conflicts.

The originality of the research lies in the fact that it focuses on the interactive aspects of the relationship and takes into account not only the role of the advertising agency but also that of the client in developing and maintaining such a relationship. This approach allows one to unveil areas of convergence and areas of divergence between both parties' roles perceptions.

This paper aims to present the first systematic review of the literature relating to the relationships between organisations and their marketing agencies, the agency–client relationship, and presents a concept matrix that identifies the key areas of investigation, and topics where further research would be beneficial. As agencies play a pivotal role in operationalising marketing strategy, this relationship is central to marketing theory, management and practice.

A systematic review of the literature was performed using key databases and search terms, and filtering on the basis of criteria relating, for example, to relevance and format, to create a core set of refereed papers on the agency–client relationship in the marketing and advertising domains. Bibliographic and thematic analysis was used to profile the literature in the dataset, and to draw out key themes.

The paper provides an analysis of the extant knowledge base, including key themes, journals and research methods. The following themes emerged from the literature, and are used to elaborate further on the existing body of knowledge: conflict, client account management, contracts and agency theory, cultural and international perspectives and co-creation. An agenda for future research is proposed that advocates a focus on theoretical foundations, research strategies and research topics and themes.

This is the first systematic review of the literature on agency–client relationships, which is scattered across disciplines and informed by several theoretical perspectives. Given the increasing complexity of agency–client relationships in the digital age, and increasing need to understand “marketing-as-practice”, the coherent overview offered by this paper is of particular value for guiding future research.