Antecedents of economic and non-economic satisfaction in a franchise context

Despite the interpersonal and interdependent relationship between franchisors and franchisees where both parties act and work together, the franchisor-franchisee relationship is often strained due to differing individual goals and roles between the franchisor and the franchisee. Although it would seem logical to assume that relationship marketing would, accordingly, be very relevant to franchising, there is a lack of research exploring relationship dynamics in a franchise context - and specifically so from a franchisee's point of view. This paper addressed this gap by exploring the antecedents of economic satisfaction and non-economic satisfaction, because franchisees' satisfaction will determine whether they stay in, or leave, a franchise relationship. Data were collected from 415 South African franchisees operating in 17 franchise sectors. Results revealed franchisees' non-economic satisfaction was positively influenced by their service quality, information exchange and economic satisfaction perceptions; and that service quality also predicts economic satisfaction. Positive relationships were furthermore established between service quality and information exchange, with franchisees' sense of autonomy, in turn, influencing both their service quality and information exchange perceptions.