A Journal of Retailing Retrospective Based on ISI Web of Knowledge

In this article, we attempt two things. First, we begin with reviewing the three principal ways by which academic institutions make their quality assessments regarding different journals. We conclude this section with an assertion that citation-based measures of journal influence are the “most objective.” Second, we review the history of Journal of Retailing (from 1956 Issue 1 to 2009 Issue 2) using citation counts as a surrogate for quality assessment using the citation data contained in the ISI Web of Knowledge database.² We conclude with noting the recent impressive scores of the Journal of Retailing in terms of these citation scores and a discussion of what we perceive to be the next set of challenges for the Journal of Retailing.     

An Empirical Analysis of Franchisee Value-in-Use, Investment Risk and Relational Satisfaction

An exchange perspective of franchising recognizes the important role that both the franchisor and franchisee assume in developing and maintaining sustainable relationships. However, should franchisees not perceive value in the quality of provided products or services, some incentive misalignment between agent and principal is likely (e.g. free riding, non-compliance with system standards), potentially resulting in greater perceptions of financial risk, diminished levels of franchisee satisfaction, reduced unit performance and conflict ( [Harmon and Griffiths, 2008] and [Kaufmann and Dant, 1998] ). A greater understanding of franchisee perceptions of value is very important if ongoing satisfaction in the franchising relationship is the goal. This paper, therefore, makes a significant contribution to such an understanding by empirically testing the dimensions of value that influence franchisee perceptions of risk and relationship satisfaction. Moreover, we make important comparisons across gender, the results of which provide rich information. In theoretical terms, we advance the literature in the context of value and franchising and, in practical terms, the results, by managing for performance (financial risk and relationship quality), assist franchisors in developing, delivering and managing what is of value to their franchisees. Furthermore, the findings of this study provide a solid platform for future research in this area.     

Deriving Meaning for Social Franchising From Commercial Franchising and Social Enterprise

Auntie Anne's Pretzels, the American Red Cross, and IKEA are franchises for a social benefit, but are they social franchises? There is a diversity of perceptions of what is meant by the term social franchising but no consensus on the precise meaning. Given that social franchising is a relatively new area of research and that a crucial first step in research on any topic is to define its parameters, this article derives a set of indicators for the phenomenon of social franchising by bringing together three strands of scholarship: social franchising, commercial franchising, and social enterprise.     

Bridging the B2C and B2B Research Divide: The Domain of Retailing Literature

As the oldest academic journal in marketing, Journal of Retailing publishes research dealing with all sorts of B2B and B2C retailing-related topics. However, there appears to be a perception that Journal of Retailing welcomes only research pertaining to B2C issues. In this article, we debunk that perception through an analysis of the content of Journal of Retailing articles published during the 2002-2008 period. In particular, we find that only 18.7% of Journal of Retailing's content is devoted exclusively to B2C or C2C (consumer-to-consumer) topics. The remainder focuses on B2B research issues. We explore the implications of these findings for researchers who wish to pursue retailing-related B2B research.     

In search of corporate governance in franchising

Abstract

A firm’s governance structure and business model might explain the firm’s failure or success. Franchising is a business model that has not received much attention within the corporate governance (CG) literature even though it obviously brings several unique CG challenges. Therefore, we review articles at the interface of CG and franchising. We identify and thematize the literature in four focus areas, each with a different relationship to CG: 1) traditional CG, 2) governance challenges unique to franchising, 3) governance modes, and 4) contracts. We find that the literature largely ignores the traditional view of CG when examining many aspects of franchising. We also find that the franchising literature covers governance topics when discussing governance modes, which provides a basis for developing CG theories. Altogether, our findings open a promising avenue for future research that incorporates CG into studies of franchising.     

Franchising: Directions for Future Research

There have been important contributions to the literature on franchising in recent years, but many interesting questions have received less attention than they deserve. In this paper, I briefly highlight four of these: (i) the existence of master franchising and multi-unit ownership, (ii) the differences in the intensity of franchising across sectors, (iii) international franchising, and (iv) the problems surrounding the adoption of new technologies and adaptation in franchised chains. While not exhaustive, this set of topics illustrates the variety of potential franchise-related research topics.     

Emerging Issues in Retailing Research

Retailing practice and the research resulting have experienced significant changes in recent years. This article reflects on Journal of Retailing articles published during our editorial tenure (2002–2007). Although Journal of Retailing publishes articles on many retailing topics, they have chosen four categories that they believe has had the largest impact on retailing research during that time, and the potential for the greatest contribution in the future: Growth of the Internet and e-commerce; branding and customer loyalty; service success strategies; and behavioral issues in pricing and patronage. Several illustrative studies are highlighted in each category, and directions for future research are provided.     

The Journal of Retailing 2006–2011: A Nostalgic Retrospective

This article concludes our five years at the helm of the Journal of Retailing. In it, we make a few announcements, review some highlights of our tenure as JR co-editors, provide some insights into the review process, offer some bits of advice for authors, and recount our vision for the Journal.     

Strategy and the board of directors in venture capital-backed firms

The results of this research demonstrate that boards of directors in venture-capital backed companies are more involved in both strategy formation and evaluation than are boards where members do not have large ownership stakes. These same results are demonstrated even when industry, board size, level of diversification, and insider board representation are held constant. Agency theory and institutional theory are advanced as reasons for this higher level of involvement.Venture capitalists are generally seen as value-added investors who have played a significant role in the development of many entrepreneurial businesses (Bygrave and Timmons 1992). This success has lead students of industrial competitiveness like Thurow (1992) to argue that the venture capitalist should serve as an example for directors of all types of organizations. One of the most significant value-added activities of the venture capitalist is involvement with strategy [Fried and Hisrich 1995] , [MacMillan, Kulow, and Khoylian 1988] , Sapienza 1989, [Sapienza et al. 1996] and [Rosenstein, Bruno, Bygrave, and Taylor 1993] . Implicit in the writings extolling directors who act like venture capitalists Porter 1992a, Porter 1992b, [Bhide 1994] and [Thurow 1992] is the belief that they will be more active than traditional board members. However, little empirical work has been done to directly compare the level of strategic involvement of the two types of boards.Building on the work of Judge and Zeithaml (1992), this study compares the level of board involvement with strategy by the boards of venture capital-backed companies with the boards of other types of organizations. After establishing different levels of involvement, it then examines why there is a difference. Finally, this study provides additional empirical evidence on the relationship between board involvement and performance (Zahra and Pearce 1989).     

A Futuristic Research Agenda for the Field of Franchising

This brief paper summarizes the sweeping changes taking place within the North American franchising reality and extols franchising researchers to venture forth into novel arenas of investigation. In the process, it also offers commentary on two articles appearing in this issue of the Journal of Small Business Management . In general, this polemic invites researchers (1) to look beyond the North American contexts for data and original theoretical development; (2) to investigate new phenomena associated with franchising; and (3) to examine extant ontology of franchising research topics from novel perspectives. Illustrative frameworks for executing this research agenda are presented throughout.     

The Theoretical Domains of Retailing Research: A Retrospective

In a previous review article [Brown, James R. and Dant, Rajiv P. (2008a), “Scientific Method and Retailing Research: A Retrospective,” Journal of Retailing, 84 (April), 1-13], we had discussed the substantive domains, the methodological approaches, and the inferential tools that researchers used to test their conceptual frameworks in 164 articles published in the Journal of Retailing during 2002-2007. In this article, we continue this introspective process, by reviewing the theories used in 173 articles published in the Journal of Retailing in the 2004-2009 (to Issue 2) time period, and classifying those theories according to their application to various substantive issues. A total of 119 different theories were used across these 173 articles, which we sub-grouped into twelve broad-based theoretical categories: (1) marketing theories, (2) microeconomic theory, (3) consumer choice theory, (4) social exchange theory, (5) information processing theory, (6) satisfaction theory, (7) reference price theory, (8) competitive theory, (9) attribution theory, (10) other psychological theories for individuals, (11) other social psychological/sociological theories, and (12) other theories. We also examine the methodological approaches and tools used to test those theories. A number of research gaps are identified for future retailing scholarship.     

Commentary: Relative Presence of Business-to-Business Research in Retailing Literature

Our objective in this article is to correct the record on the contribution of the Journal of Retailing to business-to-business (B2B) research in marketing. In particular, we refute the assertion of LaPlaca and Katrichis (2009 LaPlaca, P. J. and Katrichis, J. M. 2009. Relative presence of business-to-business research in the marketing literature. Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing.,  [Google Scholar]) that the Journal of Retailing “does not regularly publish research concerning business-to-business marketing.” Our analysis of recently published (2002–2008) articles in the Journal of Retailing shows that less than 19% are devoted to B2C or C2C topics. Our comparison of the Journal of Retailing's relative emphasis on nine B2B content areas indicates parity with other marketing journals for some topics and a lesser emphasis for others. The key B2B topics of marketing strategy and channels of distribution appear relatively more frequently in the Journal of Retailing than they do in other marketing journals reviewed by LaPlaca and Katrichis (2009 LaPlaca, P. J. and Katrichis, J. M. 2009. Relative presence of business-to-business research in the marketing literature. Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing.,  [Google Scholar]). Hence, any estimate of the contribution of B2B research to marketing knowledge that dismisses the impact of the Journal of Retailing contains a downward bias.     

Women’s Careers at the Start of the 21st Century: Patterns and Paradoxes

In this article we assess the extant literature on women’s careers appearing in selected career, management and psychology journals from 1990 to the present to determine what is currently known about the state of women’s careers at the dawn of the 21st century. Based on this review, we identify four patterns that cumulatively contribute to the current state of the literature on women’s careers: women’s careers are embedded in women’s larger-life contexts, families and careers are central to women’s lives, women’s career paths reflect a wide range and variety of patterns, and human and social capital are critical factors for women’s careers. We also identify paradoxes that highlight the disconnection between organizational practice and scholarly research associated with each of the identified patterns. Our overall conclusion is that male-defined constructions of work and career success continue to dominate organizational research and practice. We provide direction for a research agenda on women’s careers that addresses the development of integrative career theories relevant for women’s contemporary lives in hopes of providing fresh avenues for conceptualizing career success for women. Propositions are identified for more strongly connecting career scholarship to organizational practice in support of women’s continued career advancement.     

Franchising and the domain of entrepreneurship research

In this essay, we explore the relationship between franchising and entrepreneurship in general, and their research domains in particular. We begin by categorizing the focus of various representative definitions of entrepreneurship as: (1) traits, (2) processes, or (3) activities, and adopt the view that identifying the unique research domain of entrepreneurship is a more worthwhile endeavor than attempting to reach definitional consensus. We subsequently discuss the differences between entrepreneurship in the manufacturing and retailing contexts, and the particular features of franchising as it relates to the study of retailing entrepreneurship. Specifically, four areas are examined: the franchisor’s role in creating an innovative concept, the franchisee’s role in bringing the franchisor’s concept to new markets, the franchisee’s acceptance of risk, and the special issues surrounding the pervasive practice of multi-unit franchising. We conclude with a brief discussion of the reasons for including the study of franchising, franchisors, and franchisees as integral areas within the distinctive domain of entrepreneurship research, and similarly exhort franchising researchers to explore the implications of their work for the study of entrepreneurship.     

Retrospection on the impact of Wallendorf and Brucks' “Introspection in consumer research: Implementation and implications”

This paper offers a retrospection of the impact of Wallendorf & Brucks' (W&Bs') (1993) contribution. The present article considers W&Bs' contributions to theory and research and uses citation analyses to consider W&Bs' impact in the literature. The number of citation references indicates that the article has substantial impact on introspection scholarship. An analysis of the contents of references confirms W&Bs' unique importance to introspection theory and research. W&Bs' influence on introspection studies is diverse and substantive, spanning a wide range of topics that W&B explicate. These contributions move W&B from noteworthy scholarship to seminal status in its contributions to introspection research.     

Examining the Drivers for Franchised Chains Performance through the Lens of the Dynamic Capabilities Approach

This paper draws on the dynamic capabilities approach to explain the performance of franchised chains. This approach is a useful lens to understand why some chains are more likely to drive superior performance than others. Hence, using this theoretical lens, we explore why and how several characteristics of franchised chains influence sales performance. This study includes 189 retail and service chains operating in the United States. Findings show that experience before franchising, length of training, chain age, franchising fees, and level of internationalization positively impact performance of franchised chains, whereas the proportion of franchised units has a curvilinear influence (inverted‐U shape) on chains' performance. Implications for franchising scholars and practitioners are discussed.     

Editorial: Enhancing quantitative theory-testing entrepreneurship research

The purpose of this editorial is to discuss methodological advancements to enhance quantitative theory-testing entrepreneurship research. As the impact of entrepreneurship scholarship accelerates and deepens, our methods must keep pace to continue shaping theory, policy, and practice. Like our sister fields in business, entrepreneurship is coming to terms with the replication and credibility crisis in the social sciences, forcing the field to revisit commonly-held assumptions that limit the promise and prospect of our scholarship. Thus, we provide suggestions for reviewers and editors to identify concerns in empirical work, and to guide authors in improving their analyses and research designs. We hope that our editorial provides useful and actionable guidance for entrepreneurship researchers submitting theory-testing papers to Journal of Business Venturing.     

Does franchising pay? Evidence from the restaurant industry

Franchising has taken a prominent position in service industries for several decades, but little is known about how franchising affects financial performance. Thus, we addressed the question of whether chains that franchise to some extent outperform those that are wholly owned. Then, among chains that franchise, we also addressed the question of whether more franchising is better – that is, whether the proportion of a chain's units that are franchised is associated with superior financial performance. To answer these questions, our study first compares the risk-adjusted performance of franchising vs. non-franchising restaurant firms. Second, it investigates the relationship between franchising propensity and firm financial performance. We considered five different measures of firm financial performance: the Sharpe ratio, the Treynor ratio, the Jensen index, the Sortino ratio, and the upside potential ratio. On comparison of franchising and wholly owned firms, all five measures indicated that franchising firms outperformed their non-franchising counterparts. When we focussed on just the franchising firms, however, the results were less clear. Among firms that franchise, the franchising–performance relationship was positive and significant only with respect to the Jensen index. Thus, we provide very robust evidence that franchising pays – that is, that some franchising is good – but among firms that franchise, it is unclear whether more franchising is better.     

Franchising choice in retail networks: a multi-level institutional framework

Franchising is one of the most dynamic forms of organization for retail networks. Conceptualized as a hybrid form by transaction cost theory, franchising outlets are supposed, in the long run, to be bought by franchisors in order to capture residual rents. However, franchising persists a long time and still represents one of the favorite means to cover territories. This article suggests that this persistence of franchising in the organization of retail networks can be explained by institutional theory. The article also argues that institutional forces exert their influence at multiple levels. Based on this, a set of seven research propositions are developed, setting out a research agenda in this area.     

Ethical Judgments in Business Ethics Research: Definition,and Research Agenda

Decades of empirical and theoretical research has produced an extensive literature on the ethical judgments construct. Given its importance to understanding people’s ethical choices, future research should explore the psychological processes that produce ethical judgments. In this paper, the authors discuss two steps needed to advance this effort. First, they note that the business ethics literature lacks a single, generally accepted definition of ethical judgments. After reviewing several extant definitions, the authors offer a definition of the construct and discuss its advantages. Second, future ethical judgment research would benefit from greater integration between theories of ethical decision making and theories of social cognition. Drawing upon the Hunt–Vitell (Journal of Macromarketing 6(Spring), 5–15, 1986; In: N. C. Smith and J. A. Quelch (eds.), Ethics in Marketing. Irwin, Homewood, IL, pp. 775–784, 1992) model and the heuristic-systematic model (Chaiken, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 39(November), 752–766, 1980), the authors present a brief research agenda intended to stimulate research on the psychological processes behind ethical judgments.