Manish Kacker

Informants in organizational marketing research: Why use multiple informants and how to aggregate responses

Organizational research frequently involves seeking judgmental response data from informants within organizations. This article discusses why using multiple informants improves the quality of response data and thereby the validity of research findings. The authors show that when there are multiple informants who disagree, responses aggregated with confidence- or competence-based weights outperform those with response data-based weights, which in turn provide significant gains in estimation accuracy over simply averaging informant reports. The proposed methods are effective, inexpensive, and easy to use in organizational marketing research.

Managing Consumer Uncertainty in the Adoption of New Products: Temporal Distance and Mental Simulation

Drawing on theories of new product adoption and intertemporal choice, the authors show in cross-sectional and longitudinal investigations (Study 1) that when adoption is in the distant future, people are more concerned about performance- and symbolic-benefit uncertainties. In contrast, in the near future, the concerns are more about switching- and affective-cost uncertainties. In Studies 2 and 2a, using theories of mental simulation, the authors show that in the distant-future adoption scenario, communication strategies that promote outcome simulations are more effective in reducing performance uncertainty, bolstering positive feelings, and enhancing behavioral intentions. In contrast, in the near-future adoption scenario, communication strategies that promote process simulations are better at reducing switching cost and affective uncertainties, assuaging anxiety, and increasing behavioral intentions. The authors also find positive effects of these communication strategies on actual adoption rates and postconsumption satisfaction (Study 2) and on delayed behavioral intentions (Study 2a). In addition, these communication strategies are more efficacious in increasing behavioral intentions when uncertainty levels are higher (Study 3). The key managerial implications are that communication strategies for new products need to reduce uncertainties about costs and benefits and account for temporal distance to adoption.

A Cointegration Analysis of the Correlates of Performance in Franchised Channels

Not much is known about the primary drivers of performance in franchising systems. With some notable exceptions, much of the franchising literature on performance related issues has focused on either contrasting failure rates of independent small businesses and entrepreneurs with those of franchises and/or system survival issues. The existing literature on franchising performance displays at least three other characteristic patterns. First, most studies have restricted themselves to a single sector, usually, the fast food restaurant industry, since it is often perceived and portrayed as the archetypical franchise sector. Second, existing investigations have tended to focus on a single measure of performance. Finally, with the exception of survival articles, empirical studies have typically confined themselves to cross-sectional examination of the evidence. In other words, we know very little about what fosters long term performance.

How Firm Strategies Impact Size of Partner-Based Retail Networks: Evidence from Franchising

How do firms’ partnering strategies impact the size of their partner-based retail networks? We draw on agency theory to address this question in the context of franchising. Our econometric analyses (based on 9 years of longitudinal balanced panel data) include assessment of data nonstationarity and estimation of a dynamic panel data model that accounts for unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity. Our findings indicate that franchisee network size is driven more by franchisor strategies that mitigate agency costs than by strategies that simply lower entry and ongoing costs and barriers for franchisees.

Quality Signaling Through Ex-Ante Voluntary Information Disclosure in Entrepreneurial Networks: Evidence from Franchising

This paper examines antecedents of ex-ante voluntary information disclosures for standardized contracts in entrepreneurial networks. Entrepreneurs (e.g., franchisors) may make such disclosures to prospective business partners in order to signal profitability of partnering, attract financial and managerial resources and develop their entrepreneurial networks. In practice, only a fraction of franchisors make financial performance representations (FPR), an ex-ante voluntary information disclosure to prospective franchisees. We address gaps in the signaling, voluntary information disclosure, franchising, entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprises (SME) literature. We draw on signaling theory to develop a theoretical framework and investigate factors that influence a franchisor’s disclosure decision. We evaluate hypotheses from our theoretical framework through econometric analyses of multi-sector panel data for the U.S. franchising industry. We estimate a logit model and use lagged independent variables to address our dichotomous independent variable and potential endogeneity respectively. Our results support the view that firms signal their quality through FPRs to attract potential business partners and expand their entrepreneurial networks. Beyond the extant literature, we find that rigorous partner qualification mechanism is another driver of voluntary information disclosure in franchising. Our findings also provide empirical support for the complementary role played by multiple quality signaling mechanisms used by franchisors and yield public policy implications for franchising.

Preparing for the Adoption of the New Arrival

Abstract The emotional state of many expecting parents shifts from unbridled joy to anxiety as the reality of learning to care for a newborn and forsaking their current lifestyle sinks in. Similarly, consumers have different concerns when they first hear about a new product compared to the time when they consider buying it. If the buying decision is in the distant future, consumers are primarily concerned with the benefits derived from using the product, such as how the product performs and symbolic benefits of owning the new product. As the buying decision draws closer, consumers shift attention to cost-related issues, such as how long will it take to learn how to use the product or how much will it cost to maintain and use it. Executing a two-phased communication strategy by management that is synchronized with this shift in mental processes by first emphasizing new product benefits and features and later focusing on the practical aspects of using the innovation can have a beneficial impact on both organizational performance and consumer welfare