خلاصة:
The Nigerian franchise sector witnessed a rapid growth at the turn of the century, from 2001 to 2010, and thereafter started declining. Disputes, relational conflicts, and high rate of outlets closure have characterized the industry over the years. Meanwhile, studies show that to a large extent, success of franchisees depends on the quality of relationship they have with their franchisors. No prior empirical study has investigated the cause of the increasing relationship disputes in the Nigerian franchise industry. This investigation aims to explore the key relationship factors that influence franchisees’ overall satisfaction and intention to stay. Personal interview involving 26 franchisees was used to collect data from different franchise brands across Nigeria. Four factors emerged strongly as the antecedents of the relationship problem in the franchise system. Answering the calls of many scholars for studies in different cultures and settings on franchisor-franchisees relationship, this study provides the first-ever empirical insights into the relationship dynamics between franchisors and franchisees in Nigeria, thereby helping to strengthen the theory in the subject. The study offers some recommendations that will potentially help in reviving the industry for the benefit of the stakeholders and the economy at large.
ملخص الجهاز:
Moreover, since it is difficult to access the financial records of the franchisees who are mainly SMEs and privately owned, it was thought that the focus of the study should be more on the non-financial aspects of performance such as franchisees’ overall satisfaction and intention to remain which scholars have noted to be better determinants of the long-term health of any franchise system (Lucia-Palacio et al.
Literature Review Franchisees’ overall satisfaction Research in franchisees’ overall satisfaction is presumed to be rooted in the concept of consumer satisfaction (Bordonabe-Juste & Polo- Redondo, 2008), as franchisees are usually seen not just as business partners to franchisors but also in many ways as their customers (Lee et al.
More specifically, it is believed that franchisees’ overall satisfaction with the quality of their relationship with franchisors is likely to have beneficial positive effects not just for the franchisees alone, but also for the entire franchise system (Altinay et al.
Through personal in-depth interviews involving 26 franchisees drawn from across different franchise systems and sectors in Nigeria, this study found that trust in franchisor, commitment of franchisors, effectiveness of communication as well as the closeness of the relationship between the two parties are the key relationship factors that have varying degree of influence on franchisees’ overall satisfaction and intention to remain.