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The influence of psychological climate on conflict resolution strategies in franchise relationships

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Abstract

Certain conflict resolution strategies should prove more useful than others in the management of conflict in franchise channels. A deeper understanding of the nature of manageable channel-conflict conditions that may affect franchisees’ tendency to initiate specific conflict resolution strategies should also prove useful. To that end, the relationship between franchisees’ perceptions of their channel’s psychological climate and the franchisees’ tendency to engage in specific conflict resolution strategies were investigated. Significant overall differences were observed in the psychological climate perceptions held by franchisees who engaged in problem-solving, persuasion, bargaining, and politicking conflict-resolution strategies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Mississippi, USA

    David Strutton Ph.D. (Assistant Professor and the Acadiana Bottling Professor of Marketing) & Lou E. Pelton Ph.D. (Assistant Professor of Marketing)

  2. the University of Southwestern Louisiana, USA

    David Strutton Ph.D. (Assistant Professor and the Acadiana Bottling Professor of Marketing) & James R. Lumpkin (the Gene Brauns Professor of Marketing)

  3. Augusta College, USA

    Lou E. Pelton Ph.D. (Assistant Professor of Marketing)

Authors
  1. David Strutton Ph.D.
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  2. Lou E. Pelton Ph.D.
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  3. James R. Lumpkin
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Additional information

Before entering academe, Dr. Strutton was in sales with the Tenneco Corporation and owner/president of a retailing firm in North Carolina. Dr. Strutton’s research has been published in the Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Applied Business Research, Journal of Current Issues in Research & Advertising, Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Psychological Reports, and other scholarly journals. His current research interests include relationalism and marketing to the elderly consumer.

His research has appeared in the Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, and Health Marketing Quarterly, among others. Dr. Pelton’s primary research interests include business ethics and channels management. Prior to entering academe, Dr. Pelton was vice president of a marketing consulting firm in Lubbock, Texas.

He has a B.S. in chemistry and an MBA in management and received his Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Arkansas. Before entering academe, Dr. Lumpkin worked in marketing research for Phillips Petroleum Company. His primary research interests include retail patronage theory, market segmentation, and research methodology with recent research focused on the elderly consumer. His research has been published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Business Research, The Gerontologist, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, and other scholarly journals.

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Strutton, D., Pelton, L.E. & Lumpkin, J.R. The influence of psychological climate on conflict resolution strategies in franchise relationships. JAMS 21, 207–215 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070393213004

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