Type of Document	Dissertation
Author	Gillis, William E.
URN	etd-06082007-125057
Title	Resource-Based and Relational Antecedents of Firms’ Propensity to Franchise and their Effects on Firm Performance
Degree	Doctor of Philosophy
Department	Management, Department of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title James G. Combs Committee Chair Annette L. Ranft Committee Member Bruce T. Lamont Committee Member Larry C. Giunipero Committee Member
Keywords	Relational View Resource-based Theory Franchising Agency Theory Franchisor
Date of Defense	2007-06-01
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract Franchising is an important organizational form, but extant theory explaining firms’ use of franchising is at best incomplete. Research has primarily used agency and resource-scarcity theory to explain firms’ propensity to franchise, and studies have rarely investigated the performance differences among franchising firms. In an attempt to offer a different and, hopefully, richer explanation for the antecedents to firms’ propensity to franchise and franchisor performance, I build hypotheses grounded in resource-based and relational theories, and test these ideas using a survey of 156 top management team members from active franchisors. Findings support my arguments that the relational view adds explanatory power, but similar support was not found for resource-based variables. However, resource-based and relational variables both explain firm performance, both directly and by interacting with firms’ propensity to franchise. I also found that some relational variables act opposite to theory, and further investigation revealed the existence of two distinct organizational types, the plural form and the turnkey operator. These findings suggest that future inquiry can benefit from looking beyond firms’ exact propensity to franchise and more to organizational type as a moderator of the relationship between franchisor and relational resources and performance.
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