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Chinese Journal of Management Science ›› 2025, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (10): 36-46.doi: 10.16381/j.cnki.issn1003-207x.2022.1668

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How do Channel Diversity and Cross-channel Conflict Affect the Effectiveness of Channel Governance Mechanisms?

Xingyu Zhao1, Guijun Zhuang2()   

  1. 1.School of Economics and Management,Xi'an University of Technology,Xi'an 710054,China
    2.School of Management,Xi’an Jiaotong University,Xi’an 710049,China
  • Received:2022-08-04 Revised:2023-05-18 Online:2025-10-25 Published:2025-10-24
  • Contact: Guijun Zhuang E-mail:zhgj@mail.xjtu.edu.cn

Abstract:

The development of Internet technology and e-commerce provide strong support for enterprises to adopt multi-channel selling products. Using different types of channels to sell products has become an important way for enterprise to build competitiveness, but it also poses challenges to manage marketing channel. The implementation of multi-channel marketing not only change the structure of a firm’s channel portfolio, but also has impacts on the inter-organizational relationships and interactive behaviors between firms in a particular channel. Prior literatures on inter-organizational relationships have devoted much attention to channel governance mechanisms, but the effectiveness of channel governance mechanisms in the context of multiple channels is under-researched.To fill the gap in existing research, based on open system theory and the literatures of multi-channel marketing, the effectiveness of channel governance mechanisms in the context of multiple channels is explored by examining the moderating role of channel diversity and cross-channel conflict on the relationship between contractual governance, relational governance and channel opportunism. Manufacturer is taken as the object and the data is obtained by a questionnaire survey. Through multiple regression analysis of data collected from 525 manufacturing firms, the results show that the relationship between channel governance mechanisms and opportunism depends on several multi-channel level contingencies. Specifically, the manufacturer’s channel diversity weakens the effect of contractual governance on opportunism, whereas cross-channel conflict strengthens the relationship between relational governance and opportunism; channel diversity enhances the effects of relational governance on opportunism, but cross-channel conflict weakens the relationship between relational governance and opportunism.The results of this study reveal the effectiveness of channel governance mechanisms in the multi-channel context, not only enrich the study of channel governance, but also have significant implications for future studies. In practice, it provides valuable guidance for the effective implementation of channel governance mechanisms in the context of multiple channels in this paper.

Key words: contractual governance, relational governance, opportunism, channel diversity, cross-channel

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