Search results

To advance research on channel relationship management, this study aims to test for the impacts of a channel member’s perception of exclusion from a supplier’s distribution channel networks (i.e. out-of-the-channel-loop perceptions [OCLP]) on supplier–channel partner relationships. The authors also systematically develop and empirically validate a scale to measure OCLP.

This paper reports two empirical studies. The first develops a new scale for OCLP, following established approaches. The second tests the hypotheses. Survey data from a sample of channel firms operating in four industries were subjected to partial least squares modelling in the test of the hypothesized main and moderating effects.

The authors developed the new scale, including eight items, that capture OCLP from both social and economic perspectives. The results also show that OCLP has negative impacts on channel members’ psychological and behavioural outcomes (satisfaction, information sharing, positive word of mouth), after controlling for the effect of perceived unfairness. Channel partner perceived peer support emerges as a boundary condition of the impact; perceived informational support attenuates, whereas emotional support amplifies, the impact of OCLP.

This study suggests new research opportunities for explaining business-to-business marketing relationships using newly conceptualized OCLP.

This study highlights that suppliers must recognize the potential for negative consequences of OCLP and manage these perceptions to minimize the negative implications. For suppliers, this study also offers several tools for managing OCLP.

This study introduces ostracism concepts to marketing channel literature to study a potential detriment to channel relationships. The proposed scale captures channel partners’ sense of exclusion from supplier relationships. It provides initial insights into the direct impacts on channel relational outcomes and associated boundary conditions.

The invitation to write this chapter offers both Wiremu T. Puke (tangata whenua – person with Māori descent) and Sebastian J. Lowe (Pākehā – New Zealander with European ancestry) the opportunity to reflect on their friendship and research partnership, which they refer to as a takarangi, or an interlocking spiral, as seen in traditional Māori carving practice. This motif denotes the origin of all things: thoughts, ideas, concepts and genealogies, which are interconnected through a rich tapestry of history and tradition through a process of ongoing evolution, Te Ao Hurihuri (the ever-changing world) and Te Ao Mārama (the world of light).

They recognise the spaces that separate the two coils of the outward-radiating and interlocking spiral as their shared space. This space symbolises the unknowns as they move from them to tangible forms, through the written word, oral traditions, such as whakatauākī (sayings/proverbs), or through the many Māori visual arts such as whakairo (carving), or in film. Written as a dialogue between Puke, a tohunga whakairo (master-carver) with strong genealogical connections and tribal affiliations, and Lowe (anthropologist and musician) in recognition of their research partnership, this chapter discusses how their own cultural upbringings, personal and shared experiences, have contributed to the forming of their ever-expanding shared space. The ideas and themes they discuss have led to the formation of this chapter.