Mignonac, Karim, Vandenberghe, Christian, Perrigot, Rozenn, Akremi, Assâad El and Herrbach, Olivier (2015) A multi-study investigation of outcomes of franchisees’ affective commitment to their franchise organization. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 39 (3). pp. 461-488.

Abstract

Franchisees’ affective organizational commitment refers to the degree to which franchisees
experience an emotional attachment to their franchise organization. Using a social exchange
theory perspective, this research reports four studies that explore the relationship between
franchisee’s affective commitment and franchisee outcomes. We found that affective com-
mitment to the franchise organization was positively related to franchisee objective perfor-
mance (Study 1) and intent to acquire additional units (Study 2), and negatively related to
franchisee opportunism (Study 3) and intent to leave the franchise organization, particularly
when continuance commitment (i.e., commitment based on the cost associated with mem-
bership to the franchise) was low (Study 4). The implications of these findings are discussed.