مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

 مجله تحقیقات بازاریابی – Journal of Business Research

Within the franchising and entrepreneurship literature, the notion of entrepreneurial franchisees is often viewed as a paradox (Falbe, Dandridge, & Kumar, 1998). For example, Clarkin and Rosa (2005: 305) argue that franchising is “seldom viewed as a context in which entrepreneurship is possible” and a study by Ketchen, Short and Combs (2011) of thought leaders in the field of entrepreneurship, found little agreement as to whether franchisees can be considered entrepreneurs. Proponents of the view that franchisees are not entrepreneurs argue that franchisees must follow the rules and regulations of the franchise system and, therefore, are similar to non-entrepreneur managers (Seawright, Smith, Mitchell, & McClendon, 2011). Yet, research has shown that entrepreneurial behaviors by franchisees may benefit the system (Baucus, Baucus, & Human, 1996; Dada & Watson, 2013b) and there is evidence to suggest that some franchisors use rhetoric in their franchise promotions to highlight the entrepreneurial aspects of their franchise opportunity to potential franchisees (Zachary, McKenny, Short, Davis, & Wu, 2011). Despite the ongoing debate, little is known about the extent to which franchisors view franchisees as entrepreneurs, or desire entrepreneurial franchisees.

Business format franchising, the focus of this study, “occurs when a firm (the franchisor) sells the right to use its trade name, operating systems, and product specifications to another firm (the franchisee)” (Castrogiovanni, Combs, & Justis, 2006: 27–۲۸). Typically, it is designed around standardization, with the franchisor desiring a uniform replication of his/her standardized business format across the entire franchise system. Standardization involves minimizing variance in operations via the development of work patterns that are constantly applied and consistently adhered to (Gilson, Mathieu, Shalley, & Ruddy, 2005). The provision of a standardized product or service across all locations is crucial to the success of the franchise system (Cox & Mason, 2007) and the franchisor exercises control over the franchisee in order to minimize risk of opportunism, ensure adherence to the franchise contract, and to protect the brand name (Pizanti & Lerner, 2003). Hence, standardization has been associated with image uniformity, quality control, and cost minimization in the franchise system (Kaufmann & Eroglu, 1998). In keeping with the desire for standardization, franchisors need to select franchisees that can ensure the system-wide adoption of a consistent brand image in order to achieve standardization and efficiencies (Wang & Altinay, 2008). As a result, franchisors may avoid selecting prospective franchisees that have high entrepreneurial tendencies, as they are more likely to deviate from the franchisor’s standardized procedures.

Whilst it is assumed that franchisees have a greater entrepreneurial orientation than employees (Castrogiovanni & Kidwell, 2010), little is known as to the extent to which franchisors actively seek entrepreneurial franchisees. In fact, given the large body of studies on franchisee incentives to free ride (e.g., Kidwell, Nygaard, & Silkoset, 2007; Kidwell & Nygaard, 2011), it seems that the last thing many franchisors want is entrepreneurial franchisees. It has been stressed that franchisees with high entrepreneurial dispositions may be risky for a franchise system as they may exhibit considerable entrepreneurial autonomy in their operations, which may depart from the franchisor’s proven methods (e.g., Birkeland, 2002; Boulay, 2008). Consequently, a major concern is that (entrepreneurial) franchisees may display opportunistic behaviors to the detriment of the franchisor, by deliberately ignoring the franchisor’s goals as well as deviating from the franchisor’s proven procedures in pursuit of their own entrepreneurial interests (Baucus et al., 1996; Gassenheimer, Baucus, & Baucus, 1996). Hence, it has been argued that franchisors “…prefer to select a manager rather than an entrepreneur as a franchisee to protect their business system from unauthorized change” (Falbe et al., 1998: 126–۱۲۷).