IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v8y1997i6p612-623.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Holding Distribution Channel Relationships Together: The Role of Transaction-Specific Assets and Length of Prior Relationship

Author

Listed:
  • Allen M. Weiss

    (Department of Marketing, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-1421)

  • Nancy Kurland

    (Department of Management and Organization, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-1421)

Abstract

The authors investigate the effect of managers' perceptions of two types of transaction-specific investments on their intention to terminate a current interorganizational relationship: (1) the specific knowledge necessary for a manufacturer's representative (rep) to carry out the selling function for a given manufacturer and (2) the specific knowledge reps acquire about their own customer accounts. The extent to which the length of prior relationship strengthens or weakens the hypothesized linkages is also examined. The authors test the hypotheses within the context of distribution channels (i.e., between a manufacturer and its selling agent), which are characteristic of many vertical organizational relationships. The results replicate in an additional setting some prior findings on the influence of transaction-specific investments between two parties directly involved in a relationship. The authors also find that specialized investments by a downstream partner (i.e., a manufacturer's rep) in relationships that are even farther downstream (i.e., customer accounts) can influence a manufacturer's intention to terminate the manufacturer-rep relationship. Moreover, the length of prior relationship between a manufacturer and its rep is shown to moderate this effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Allen M. Weiss & Nancy Kurland, 1997. "Holding Distribution Channel Relationships Together: The Role of Transaction-Specific Assets and Length of Prior Relationship," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(6), pages 612-623, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:8:y:1997:i:6:p:612-623
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.8.6.612
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.8.6.612
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.8.6.612?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Joseph P. Broschak & Emily S. Block & Sharon Koppman & Idris Adjerid, 2020. "Will We Ever Meet Again? The Relationship between Inter‐Firm Managerial Migration and the Circulation of Client Ties," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(6), pages 1106-1142, September.
    2. Leinan Zhang & Qingyan Zeng & Silin Zhang & Shuqin Li & Liang Wang, 2022. "Transaction-Specific Investment and Organizational Performance: A Meta-Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-18, April.
    3. Wu, Lei-Yu & Chen, Kuan-Yang & Chen, Po-Yuan & Tung, Pei-Ju, 2016. "Revisiting associations between specific asset investment and loyal and cooperative behavior: A complexity theory perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3545-3552.
    4. Kim, Keysuk, 2001. "On the effects of customer conditions on distributor commitment and supplier commitment in industrial channels of distribution," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 87-99, February.
    5. Nilesh Saraf & Christoph Schlueter Langdon & Sanjay Gosain, 2007. "IS Application Capabilities and Relational Value in Interfirm Partnerships," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 18(3), pages 320-339, September.
    6. Roden, Sinéad & Lawson, Benn, 2014. "Developing social capital in buyer–supplier relationships: The contingent effect of relationship-specific adaptations," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 89-99.
    7. De Cannière, M.H. & De Pelsmacker, P. & Geuens, M., 2006. "The moderating impact of relational strength on the relationship between relationship quality and purchasing behavior," Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School Working Paper Series 2006-16, Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School.
    8. Gázquez-Abad, Juan Carlos & Canniére, Marie Hélène De & Martínez-López, Francisco J., 2011. "Dynamics of Customer Response to Promotional and Relational Direct Mailings from an Apparel Retailer: The Moderating Role of Relationship Strength," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 166-181.
    9. Olivier Habimana, 2016. "From Coase to Williamson: Evolution, Formalization and Empirics of Transaction Cost Economics," Journal of Social Economics, Research Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 3(1), pages 36-42.
    10. Brian R. Murtha & Goutam Challagalla & Ajay K. Kohli, 2011. "The Threat from Within: Account Managers' Concern About Opportunism by Their Own Team Members," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(9), pages 1580-1593, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:8:y:1997:i:6:p:612-623. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.