دانلود رایگان مقاله توانایی های حکمرانی و عملکرد ارتباطات در فرانشیزینگ بین المللی

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates governance capabilities driving relationship performance of international franchisors. We collected data from internationalized French franchisors with a mixed-methods design. Interviews from Study 1 (N = 28) complemented previous literature and led to the proposed integrative model of governance capabilities. Questionnaire data from Study 2 (N = 94) was used to test the model with PLS-SEM. We find that two international communication capabilities, intercultural communication and communication adaptation, enhance performance directly, and indirectly through their impact on knowhow transfer, monitoring, and contract adaptation capabilities. The number of countries where the franchisor is present is negatively related to contract and communication adaptation.

6. Discussion and implications

In this research, we set to investigate franchisor dynamic governance capabilities and their role in driving relationship performance. The findings from Study 1 provide answers to the three questions (given in Section 4.1) we sought to address. First, they reveal five forms of governance capabilities that seem crucial for managing international franchise relationships to maximize franchisor satisfaction. Specifically, in addition to knowhow transfer, monitoring and contract adaptation that appear in previous international franchising research, Study 1 revealed the role of intercultural communication and communication adaptation as key governance capabilities. Second, Study 1 findings highlight the interrelationships between the five forms of governance capabilities. This led us to propose the conceptual model in Fig. 1, which highlights the greater role of intercultural communication and communication adaptation as antecedents of the other three governance capabilities. Third, Study 1 shows that franchisor governance adaptation is more complex than what is portrayed in international franchising literature. Specifically, the contract is not the only adapted governance mechanism, as franchisors also adapt their communication internationally.

In Study 2, we tested the conceptual model empirically with quantitative data from French franchisors and found support for the nine hypotheses based on the literature review and Study 1. Study 2 findings also highlighted the role of intercultural communication as a key antecedent for both franchisor relationship performance and other governance capabilities. Specifically, when considering the total effect of the different variables of the model, we find that intercultural communication has by far the largest effect on relationship performance (β = 0.51), on communication adaptation (β = 0.55), on international monitoring (β = 0.37), and on international knowhow transfer (β = 0.21). However, despite intercultural communication's large total effect (β = 0.29) on contract adaptation, the latter seems driven mainly by two other governance capabilities: communication adaptation (β = 0.38) and international monitoring (β = −0.37). We now turn to discuss the implications of our work and its limitations.