FRANCHISING AS AN ENTREPRENEURSHIP PATHWAY FOR MINORITIES

Value-based selling (VBS) has become an increasingly important selling practice in contemporary business-to-business (B2B) markets, but currently most VBS studies are limited to exploratory and descriptive case studies. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical toolbox that provides a foundation for more theory-driven research on VBS and thereby advances both the theoretical and managerial understanding of VBS. Specifically, we consider equity theory, framing theory, mental accounting, social exchange theory, signaling theory, agency theory, game theory, and institutional theory in terms of their implications for VBS. We provide a brief overview of each theory and its applications, highlight the key implications and potential research questions for VBS, and summarize our insights into a research agenda. This paper contributes to the contemporary VBS literature by developing a theory-driven research agenda. It also provides managerial insights on how different theories can inform decision-making for the implementation and management of VBS in B2B markets.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine what factors affect entrepreneurs with minority background to access public financial institutions’ funds in initiating and developing their new ventures. Following the signal theory, social capital theory and the liability of newness perspective, the effect of demographic characteristics of entrepreneurs were investigated and the differences between ethnic minority and non-minority entrepreneurs’ access to financial institutions’ funds were compared. Design/methodology/approach – This paper draws on the data of 2,119 high technology and non-high technology firms from the Kauffman foundation survey. The empirical analysis was focussed on the characteristics of entrepreneurs of these new ventures and the nature of the financial arrangements of these businesses to test the theoretical framework. Findings – This study provides empirical evidence that ethnic minority entrepreneurs are less likely to access loans from financial institutions than non-minority entrepreneurs. Moreover, the education level of ethnic minority entrepreneurs was identified as a key factor to help them to access financial institutions’ funds. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation is that the data did not allow us to explore the actual reasons for observed correlations between entrepreneurs’ ethnic background, demographic characteristics and their use of financial institutions’ funds. Practical implications – Since the constraints in the access to financial resources greatly impact the success of new ventures, this study indicates through what factors minority entrepreneurs can increase their credence to get more financial support. In addition, it is also helpful for the loan managers of financial institutions to make rational decisions when they assess the application of minority entrepreneurs. Originality/value – This study enriches the understanding of minority entrepreneurs in the entrepreneurship literature. First, it aggregates major minorities in the USA and strives to identify systematically different financing behaviors of these minority entrepreneurs; second, it provides empirical investigation on the correlation of ethnic minority background and access to funds from financial institutions and the moderating effect of a set of demographic factors.

PurposeDifferent from the previous organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) literature, this study aims to propose an OCB-O (organizational citizenship behavior toward organizations) and OCB-I (organizational citizenship behavior toward individual coworkers) driven mechanism for the formation of OCB-C (organizational citizenship behavior toward customers). Based on the social exchange and agency theories, the authors propose that perceived leadership support and work autonomy contribute to both OCB-I and OCB-O, which contributes to proactive and reactive customer service attitude as well as OCB-C.Design/methodology/approachA three-wave survey was conducted in five-star hotels in Mainland China, and a sample of 410 hotel frontline employees was used to test the model.FindingsFindings of the study suggested that perceived leadership support positively led to OCB-O and OCB-I while work autonomy led to OCB-I, demonstrating the importance of employees’ perceived leadership support on motivating employees to perform OCB-I and OCB-O. OCB-I and OCB-O directly improved OCB-C, confirming the proposed spillover effect from OCB-I and OCB-O to OCB-C. OCB-I supported both proactive and reactive customer service attitudes, revealing OCB-I as more effective than OCB-O on influencing employees’ service attitudes. Furthermore, OCB-I, OCB-O and proactive customer service attitude lead to OCB-C.Practical implicationsThis study suggests that it is important for leaders to show care and support to employees and design jobs with a certain level of flexibility, so that employees are motivated to go the extra mile to do a good job. When employees make helping others a habit, they will provide more genuine care to customers and do a better job in serving customers.Originality/valueThis study supports the spillover mechanism of OCB-I and OCB-O on OCB-C. Specifically, the spillover mechanism starts from a workplace-driven model with employees’ perceived leadership support and work autonomy to enhance OCB-O as well as OCB-I. Then, spillover effects stem directly from OCB-I and OCB-O to OCB-C and indirectly to proactive customer service attitude.

Aims: To examine earning management from agency and signalling theory perspectives. Agency theory was used as a clogging factor for earning management practice whereas, signalling theory relates to managements intention to reflect insider information for the market.
 Study Design: Considering the nature of the problem, explanatory research design with mixed research approach was employed.
 Place and Duration of Study: Sample: large manufacturing companies from the period of 2009 to 2017, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
 Methodology: The study used audited financial reports of 14 large manufacturing companies in Addis Ababa operating from the period of 2009 to 2017 for which random effect regression model was used.
 Results: From agency theory proxies, leverage and audit quality had significant positive and negative impact respectively on earning management. The finding for signalling theory proxies showed that, size of the firm had a positive significant relationship with earning management.
 Conclusion: The study concluded that signalling and agency theories partially explained earning management in Ethiopian Large Manufacturing Share companies.
 Originality/value: There were numerous studies explaining earning management from signalling and Agency theory self-reliantly, but this study has modeled earning maneuver motives of management (signalling motive) and controlling mechanisms (Agency theory proxies) set by stakeholders, in one model. Further, the study was conducted in developing country perspective with lower legal requirement on information asymmetry, higher reporting laxity and non-standard/mixed reporting experience.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to assess the impact of transformational leadership on organizational performance in public sector agencies in Somalia.
 Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries.
 Findings: Several studies have investigated the impact of transformational leadership on organizational performance within public sector agencies, revealing significant insights. Transformational leadership, characterized by inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, and idealized influence, has been found to positively influence various aspects of organizational performance. These include improved employee job satisfaction, increased employee commitment, enhanced organizational citizenship behavior, and greater organizational effectiveness. Furthermore, transformational leaders in public sector agencies tend to foster innovation and creativity among employees, leading to improved service delivery and better outcomes for stakeholders. Additionally, transformational leadership has been linked to higher levels of employee engagement and motivation, resulting in increased productivity and performance within these organizations.
 Implications to Theory, Practice and Policy: Social exchange theory, agency theory and social learning theory may be use to anchor future studies on assessing the impact of transformational leadership on organizational performance in public sector agencies in Somalia. Public sector agencies should invest in leadership development programs that focus on cultivating transformational leadership competencies among managers and executives. Public sector agencies should revise hiring and promotion criteria to prioritize candidates with demonstrated transformational leadership qualities.

The study aims to assess the factors influencing employee Job commitment Case study Temeke Municipal Council, Tanzania. The main objective was to examine factors which influence employees Job commitment at work place in public sector Temeke Municipal. The specific objectives were to examine the relationship between communication practices within public sector, to examine various leadership styles within public sector organizations, to analyse the association between job satisfaction levels among public sector employees, to investigate the role of employee engagement initiatives in influencing job commitment within public sector organization. This research was guided by Social Exchange Theory and Agency Theory. The study adopted a descriptive research design and a quantitative approach. Data was collected structured questionnaires from a purposive sample of 50 and descriptively analyzed. The study found that both intrinsic and extrinsic factors significantly influence employee job commitment at Temeke Council. Key findings revealed that effective communication practices, transformational leadership styles, high job satisfaction, and robust employee engagement initiatives are positively correlated with increased job commitment. Employees who experienced clear and frequent communication, recognized and supportive leadership and opportunities for professional growth reported higher levels of engagement and loyalty to the organization. The study concludes that retaining and enhancing employee’s commitment relies on deliberate efforts of the management to improve job satisfaction, quality selection of leadership styles, communication practices as well as employee’s engagement. The study recommends the management of Temeke Municipal Council to invest in leadership development programs to enhance managers' skills in communication, conflict resolution, and team building. Effective leadership is crucial for fostering a supportive and motivating work environment.

Franchising as a legal or marketing concept was not new. It arose as a structured business system in the US, around 1860´s when The Singer Company established a network of resellers for sewing machines. Nowadays franchising is one of the fastest developing forms of business in the world. The evolution of theories that seek to explain franchise systems have been published in academic journals from time to time, but until now there was not a study that have established a social network analysis to quantify the degree of centrality and cohesion of the relationship between the main authors, journals, methods and theories in franchise. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to extend the knowledge about franchising through an extensive research on its main theoretical perspectives into relevant international academic journals, showing the evolution of the field, highlighting the principal issues, authors and methods. Through a selection of 130 articles ranging from 1966 to 2015 the study investigates five relevant theories in franchising: (1) Resource Acquisition Theory, (2) Agency Theory, (3) Transaction Cost Analysis, (4) Signaling Theory, and (5) Property Rights Theory. A descriptive statistical analysis was done in order to identify the main authors and trends with the most used associated theories in franchise papers. The findings show agency theory and signaling theory, and resource scarcity theory as the main perspectives used in studies about franchising, but other perspectives have been increasing its presence, mainly the institutional theory and resource based-view perspective. The main dependent and independent variables cover a wide range of constructs, but ownership, performance, age, size, growth, geographical dispersion, and internationalization have been the most cited.

The purpose of this study was to analyzed the effect of CSR on firm value. Firm value proxy with Tobin’s Q. This research was taken because there are still differences between the researchs with each other. This research adding agency cost reduction as mediating variable. This research was not use stakeholder theory, but was applicated agency theory, signaling theory, and legitimacy theory. This study use WarpPLS 5.0. This study uses 63 samples of manufacture firms that listed in Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) during 2013 to 2015. The sampling method used for this study is purposive sampling. Type of the data used is secondary data. The result of the test is that CSR positive influence to the firm value. Based on the results of the analysis found that the agency cost reduction is partial mediation between the relationship of CSR on firm value. Institutional ownership can’t moderate CSR on ACR. Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Firm Value, Agency Cost Reduction, Institutional Ownership

Many works have analyzed franchising and identified the major research lines regarding the scientific works published until that moment (Elango and Fried, 1997; Díez de Castro and Rondán, 2004). The present paper tries to follow this process. Moreover, it is identified the theories used by researchers to study franchising -agency theory, resource scarcity theory, risk extension theory, contractual theory, transaction cost theory, as well as signaling theory-, and explained its contributions to the literature. Subsequently, four research lines are highlighted in conjunction with main literature about the topic, and emphasized those studies developed by Spanish researchers under the form of papers, conference proceedings, books, book's chapters, as well as dissertations. In doing so, we attempt to offer a whole vision about franchising literature from the 60s up to date.

A study of 439 franchisors was conducted to identify factors influencing changes in their propensity to franchise. Consistent with agency theory, franchisors with wide multinational scope were increasing their proportion of franchised outlets whereas franchisors with large outlets were emphasizing firm ownership. As predicted by resource scarcity theory, franchisors were decreasing their proportion franchised as they grew in size, although most of the decrease occurred while firms were relatively small. In contrast to resource scarcity theory, franchisors increased their proportion franchised over time. Key implications are that both agency and resource scarcity theories are needed to explain franchising, but perhaps future research should look beyond resource scarcities toward resource‐based capabilities to better explain franchising decisions.

This study investigates the antecedents of franchisees’ exit intentions and exit behaviors from their franchise networks. Building on social exchange theory and agency theory, we develop hypotheses...

From the perspectives of social equitable exchange theory, contents and features of exchange between medical staff and patients in the doctor-patient relationship as well as their evalua- tion on social equitable exchange theory were analyzed according to basic features of doctor-patient relationship. Suggestions were proposed from government, industry, hospital and medical staff. Key words: Social exchange theory; Doctor-patient relationship; Medical disputes

Sales employees generally do not share all of the performance information that they are privy to with their supervisors. This leads to information asymmetries that they can use for personal gain. This study examinee the antecedents and consequences of information asymmetry in a performance evaluation setting. A major feature of the study is the use of two theories—namely, agency theory and social exchange theory—for explaining the level of information asymmetry between salespeople and their supervisors. Empirical results indicate that social exchange theory is more useful in explaining the occurrence of information asymmetry. The study also examinee the dual role played by control systems in reducing asymmetry and promoting dysfunctional behaviors of salespeople.

This paper studies the case of a French multinational company which doubled its size and geographical spread of activities because of acquisitions of Anglo-Saxon multinational companies. It analyses the rationale behind the introduction of a competency-based leadership model in this multinational company through the frameworks of agency and neoinstitutional theories. The interpretation of the data through agency theory leads to the following conclusion: globalization means strengthening agency problems and therefore an increase in agency costs. It is argued that the multinational company introduced the competency-based leadership model as a means of cultural control. A formalized and common reference for leadership development and evaluation makes it possible to reduce information asymmetry, diminish the possibility of opportunistic behaviour among managers and thereby reduce agency costs. While agency theory justifies the introduction of the competency-based leadership model, it does not explain the modalities of its choice. This theoretical perspective ignores the institutional context of HRM choices. The results obtained through the frameworks of neoinstitutional theory show that the choice of the competency model was based on the mimetic mechanisms of institutional isomorphism. Furthermore, the introduction of the competency-based leadership model allows the multinational company to gain both internal and external organizational legitimacy. Consequently, the paper suggests that agency theory has to be combined with insights from the neoinstitutional theory in order to explain the introduction of organizational practices. While agency theory provides the rationale of the model's introduction, neoinstitutional theory explicates the nature of the selected organizational practice.

Social Exchange Theory research in the field of tourism has accumulated some achievements. It is a very widely used theory in tourism research. It is widely used in residents' support, forecasting future tourism development and other issues, and has strong explanatory power. However, as an important academic school of sociology, social exchange theory has a long history of development and theoretical connotation, not just two simple concepts of cost and benefit. Early researchers simplified the social exchange theory as cost and benefit, which is convenient for quantitative research. With the deepening of the research, there are some phenomena in the field of tourism that can't be explained by the social exchange theory, and the social exchange theory can't accurately explain some complex problems. There are some problems in the use of social exchange theory and research methods in tourism academia, which leads to the lack of theoretical contribution in related research. This paper attempts to trace the origin of social exchange theory in the field of tourism, analyze various research methods and scales, and critically reflect on the problems existing in the research of social exchange theory in the field of tourism. The research in the field of tourism simplifies the social exchange theory, but the social exchange theory has a complex and huge theoretical background and foundation. In the tourism research, we find out the parts that are easy to quantify, and ignore some other parts that have explanatory power in the field of tourism. The cost-benefit model commonly used by researchers is convenient for quantitative explanation of some phenomena in the field of tourism and helps to explain many phenomena. However, the existing research framework and models are oversimplified and misused, ignoring the original rich connotation of social exchange theory, such as some important variables and principles, and even being mistaken for only the connotation of cost and benefit. In the future, tourism research should clarify the theoretical basis, theoretical source and theoretical connotation of social exchange theory, adhere to the problem oriented research design, avoid following others' advice, and ignore other explanatory parts of social exchange theory in the field of tourism. Social exchange theory is a rich theoretical mine, and there are many contents that can be mined. In the future, we should bring the contents previously ignored for research into the research framework and research model, so as to improve the explanatory power of social exchange theory on complex tourism phenomena.