Inthis dissertation the term marketing relationships is intended to mean interorganizational relationships. As such, the objective of relationship marketing is to promote cooperation at an organizationallevel. As discussed previously, interfirm cooperation can be affected by structural mechanisms existing at an organizational level, by interpersonal attachments between individual boundary personnel, and by sentiments, i.e. satisfaction. This raises questions about methodology for conducting interorganizational research, for example whether the theoretical level has been reflected by the method chosen. It is an unresolved question in interorganizational research which variables exist at an organizational level, which variables exist only at an individual level, and what the linkages between them are (Heide and John 1995). Furthermore, itis unclear which informant strategy to choose in this kind of research. Inthis dissertation, with the exception of chapter 5, single key informants are used. The idea behind choosing key informants is that these possess capabilities and organizational positions that enable them to reflect company policy and opinions held by their organization. Some researchers have been critical of using key informants (Phillips 1981), while others (john and Reve 1982) suggest that key informants can produce valid results when used carefully. Yet, as Heide and John (1995)note, the use of key informants is not necessarily a matter of convenience and budget constraints, but also a reflection of specialization and rationalization of organizational roles. This was the case for chapters 2, 3, and 4. However, even when the questionnaires are designed to tap company decisions and opinions, problems of linkages between variables at personal and organizational levels
still remain. For example, consider the variables personal relationship (chapter 3) and personal similarity (chapter 4), and the general importance of interpersonal attachments between boundary spanning personnel. This dissertation and past research demonstrate the significant effect of these variables for promoting interfirm cooperation. Nevertheless, when decisions with respect to establishing and maintaining a marketing relationship are made at a higher organizational level, for example the board of directors, the significance of interpersonal attachments between lower range boundary spanners might be changed. The satisfaction construct may also be considered. Satisfaction is widely accepted as a relevant measure of past performance in marketing channel research (Dwyer and Oh 1987; Gaski 1984; Robicheaux and El-Ansary 1975; Ruekert and Churchill 1984). Anderson and Narus (1984, p. 66) define satisfaction "as a positive affective state resulting from the appraisal of all aspects of a firm's working relationships with another firm." Similar definitions have been given by other researchers (e.g., Molm 1991). This raises a question that has not been given much attention in interorganizational research: Do firms have sentiments, or can emotions, like satisfaction, only reside within the individuals constituting the organization?
Sinceitis beyond the scope of this dissertation to discuss this issue thoroughly, it will be left for further exploration by others.
Another consideration is whether the research in this dissertation meets some general requirements of theory construction and testing in interorganizational research. Bacharach (1989, p. 498) states that " ...researchers can define a theory as a statement of relationships between units observed or approximated in the empirical world" and "a theory may be viewed as a system of constructs and variables in which the constructs are related to each other by propositions and the variables are related to each other by hypotheses." Evidently, this dissertation relates variables by hypotheses which are empirically tested (chapters 2, 3, and 4), and it offers propositions for further exploration and testing (chapter 5). The next issue is whether the research meets falsification criteria in the way that the theory is constructed such that empirical refutation is possible (Bacharach 1989). According to Bacharach (1989), falsifiability relates to variables and constructs, as well as relationships.
Falsifiability of variables relates to measurement issues, falsifiability of constructs relates to
researcher should realize the general falsification principle. On the theoretical - conceptual level the research should be judged against these four principles: (1) are the theoretical statements tautological? (2) are the statements falsifiable or are they only verifiable? (3) are the statements "self-evident"? (4) are the statements based on a thorough literature review where arguments pro and con are reasonable balanced? On the empirical- operationallevel two questions should be clarified: (5) are the empirical tests designed in such a way that they will provide a critical test and that alternative explanations can be excluded as far as possible? (6) are the results of the empirical tests critically discussed? Much of the research on power-dependence relationships has, for example, been criticized for weak operationalizations, tautological statements, weak test methodology, and modest empirical support (Gaski 1984; Nygaard 1994; Troye 1994), while the cross sectional survey methods commonly used for measuring marketing relationship governance have been criticized for their modest ability to represent the processes they are intended to measure (Anderson 1995; Wilson 1995).
Taken together, chapter 2 might be the weakest with respect to these criteria as the hypotheses can be criticized as being somewhat self-evident, whereas use of confirmatory factor analysis might have produced a stronger test of the measurement model. However, the study builds on an established research tradition and indicates a strong explanatory power for the dependent variables. Some of the critique that can be raised against chapter 2, has been met in chapters 3 and 4 by the application of structural equation modeling. Moreover, these studies investigate an unexplored research area and also improve the falsifiability of relationships by introducing contingency claims (chapter 4). Finally, the constructs and propositions offered in chapter 5 should provide promising avenues for future research and theory development.
Some notes on the analytical method applied in chapters 2, 3 , and 4 should also be made.
Regression and structural equation models assume linear relationships between the variables although past research has indicated that curvilinear relationships might be as likely (Oliva, Oliver, and MacMillan 1992). Furthermore, as also noted by Bacharach (1989, p. 580), the actual ordering of the variables and the nature of their relationships (e.g., causal, simultaneous) can only take place on the assumptive level. However, this is not specific for
the research of this dissertation, but applies to most marketing and interorganizational research in general (Nygaard 1994).