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The aim of this study is to explore possible contingent variables that might explain these twin contradictory effects of marketing channel governance. Franchisors govern their systems to limit opportunism and enhance performance. However, the exact opposite often occurs.

This paper develops an integrative conceptual model of franchisor governance of its franchisees. This model is tested empirically with data collected from 197 Australian franchisees.

Under strong relational norms, goal congruence and outcome monitoring limit franchisee opportunism; compliance enhances franchisee performance, while opportunism reduces it. With weaker norms, outcome monitoring facilitates compliance, and goal congruence boosts franchisee performance, as does franchisee opportunism. However, norms fail to mitigate behavioral monitoring’s negative impact on opportunism.

This research confirms the positive and negative effects of franchisor governance. It also shows that norms can reverse the positive link between franchisee opportunism and performance. It additionally illustrates how goal congruence and compliance can limit opportunism and boost performance. Future research should refine this study’s measures, incorporate additional constructs into the conceptual model and test the generalizability of these findings in lesser-developed economies.

This research shows that monitoring has both positive and negative effects on franchisee opportunism and performance. To avoid monitoring’s adverse effects, franchisors are advised to enhance goal congruence, boost franchisee compliance and develop strong relational norms.

This paper shows that goal congruence, as well as franchisor outcome monitoring, can mitigate the negative effects of franchisor behavioral monitoring on franchisee opportunism, as do relational norms.

A framework for evaluating public opinion towards franchising is proposed and empirically tested in an emerging market, India. Franchising in an emerging market was selected as the context because – (1) future growth is likely to come from newly emerging markets, (2) franchising is primarily seen as a foreign concept in emerging markets and has attracted its fair share of attention, both positive and negative. The results indicate that people evaluate franchising using four key factors – well being of small businesses, socio‐economic, socio‐cultural well being, and employment opportunity. This study further investigates the relationship between these factors and patronage behaviour. Some of these factors were associated with patronage behaviour and the associated residual feeling. Clearly, in order to succeed in emerging and developing markets, the franchising industry must pay heed to public opinion.

This paper aims to examine how external marketing messages, which are generally used to convey company and product information to external target audiences, influence job attitudes and behaviors of salespeople.

The study is conducted based on survey data on 348 salespeople working at regional banks in the Midwestern USA. The relationships among salespeople’s perceptions of marketing messages (i.e. in terms of value incongruence and claim inaccuracy), organizational cynicism, job attitudes (i.e. organizational commitment and job satisfaction) and behaviors (i.e. extra-role performance) are empirically tested.

Salespeople’s perceptions of value incongruence and claim inaccuracy of marketing messages heighten organizational cynicism, which in turn negatively impacts on organizational commitment, job satisfaction and extra-role performance. Also, inaccurate claim directly decreases job attitudes and behaviors.

The results are limited to salespeople in financial institutions, and future research should investigate perceptions of non-customer contact employees in other industry contexts. Future investigation may also include objective performance metrics and consumer satisfaction ratings.

Service firms should strive to align salespeople’s perceptions of marketing messages with firms’ intended goals from those messages.

Drawing on attitude theory and perspectives from sales literature, social psychology and organizational behavior literature, in the first of such investigations, the authors studied the impact of external marketing messages on salespeople’s cynicism, job attitudes and behaviors.

Franchising has long been seen as an avenue into small business. For some, it offers opportunities to build up franchise systems, as franchisors, by cloning small business success in exchange for a royalty. For many others, as franchisees, it offers opportunities for self‐employment, combining elements of the independence normally associated with self‐employment allied with the security derived from association with a tried‐and‐tested business system. However, there is an ongoing debate, the ownership redirection thesis, which suggests that franchise systems will only characteristically seek to involve franchisees in their business growth strategies during the early phases of business development. Thereafter, when finance, human capital and local market intelligence resources are no longer at a premium, the thesis predicts, franchisors will reduce their dependence on franchising with franchisees the prime casualties. Assesses the available evidence on the ownership redirection thesis and offers some fresh data on the issue.

This is the first attempt to examine the theoretical and empirical linkages between franchisee personality traits and franchisee‐franchisor relationship quality.

A self‐report online survey was used in this research to collect data from a random sample of 225 franchisees drawn across 80 franchise systems. Personality was represented by the Big Five personality traits (IPIP‐B5 scales) and relationship quality was conceptualized as a 23‐item second‐order construct (incorporating trust, commitment and relationship satisfaction). Regression analysis was used to test the hypothesized relationships.

Four of the five personality dimensions had the predicted effect on the outcome variable of relationship quality. Dimensions of “agreeableness”, “conscientiousness”, “emotional stability” had a positive effect on relationship quality, while “extraversion” had a negative effect on the dependent variable. Implications of these results are discussed.

Although personality is a valid predictor of work‐related behaviours, future research should investigate the impact of other individual‐level influences (e.g. autonomy, self‐esteem, entrepreneurial fervour) on franchisee‐franchisor relationship quality. Overall, the authors recommend administration of the Big Five tests in franchisee recruitment and ongoing management activities.

The manuscript introduces the need to extend current inter‐organisational approaches to understanding franchise relationships through the inclusion of interpersonal constructs like personality dimensions. In effect, it calls for a marriage of B2B and B2C perspectives to examining the franchising and more generally the relationship marketing phenomenon.

Examines the effects of financial resource availability and system size on ownership redirection patterns – the argument that successful franchisors will acquire less successful franchisee units, resulting in corporate ownership – in 12 franchising business sectors. Discusses the theory of ownership redirection in more depth. Hypothesizes that: as franchise systems gain increased financial resources, there is a greater likelihood of ownership redirection favouring the franchisors; and that, as the size of the franchise system increases, there is a greater likelihood of ownership redirection favouring the franchisors. Draws on data from the US “Franchising in the economy”, over the period 1977‐1986. Conducts a LISREL‐based path analytic approach. Finds a more complex interplay of effects than anticipated, particularly that differences occur depending on the business sector – uniform effect patterns occur in educational products and services, laundry and dry cleaning services, and rental equipment; conversion orientation patterns occur in hotels, motels and campsites; cautious redirection patterns occur in the automotive products and services industry; and, finally, strategic dilemma patterns occur in food retailing. Concludes that further research is required to substantiate (or not) the theory on ownership redirection.

The purpose of this research is to identify the critical determinants of a franchisee’s trust in their franchisor.

A qualitative approach was used, and 30 interviews were conducted with franchising participants. The first phase of the research consisted of exploratory interviews with franchising experts (franchise lawyers, accountants, consultants, mediators and bankers), and the second phase consisted of semi-structured interviews with franchisees and franchisors across two franchise systems.

The research revealed five critical determinants of a franchisee’s trust in their franchisor: franchisee’s engagement in the system, franchisee’s confidence in the system, franchisee’s perception of a strong team culture, franchisee’s perception of franchisor competence and franchisee’s perception of franchisor character.

The research provides insight into how the aforementioned components can be developed within a franchise system to build franchisee trust. The paper also concludes with four practical recommendations that can be integrated within a franchise system to increase levels of franchisee trust.

This research builds on prior research into franchisee trust, providing an original contribution to the literature through the development of a practical model, showcasing critical determinants of a franchisee’s trust in their franchisor.

The purpose of this research is to investigate differences in customer perceptions of quality between credence and experience industries. The paper expands on the implications of national versus local firms and does so within a franchise context.

Based on a sample of 349 consumers, three core SERVQUAL dimensions (reliability, security and tangibility) were analyzed to determine customer perceptions of quality. A mixed-factorial designed was used to evaluate different scenarios of purchasing intentions, measuring the main and interactive effects of service type and criticality among franchised and local brands.

Significant differences were found in customer perceptions of quality between experience- and credence-based services. A significant moderating effect of the level of criticality was shown to play an important role in customers’ perceptions.

This experimental laboratory study highlights the importance for managers to understand the differences in perceptions of customers when dealing between service types and acting under conditions of varying criticality. This holds true for both franchised and non-franchised businesses.

This study offers one of the first investigations of customer perceptions of quality in specific industry types (i.e. credence and experience) within a franchise system. Depending on the industry type, customers have different expectations of quality. The authors offer several specific ways in which managers can use this knowledge to their advantage.

This study empirically explores one of the important channel issues – the relationship between various channel support given to channel partners and the perceived (by managers) goal‐orientation of a firm. Results from an emerging market, India, indicate that perceived orientation towards both profitability and market share is not associated with any of the channel support considered. Growth orientation however is strongly associated with most of the channel support activities – both business (e.g., business advice, pricing and ordering assistance, and personnel training) as well as marketing (advertising support, sales promotional material, and inventory management assistance) oriented activities. In contrast, perceived sales volume orientation is only associated with advertising support and business advice, however, the relationship is negative. These findings have interesting implications for channel management and channel motivation.