Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Chambers College of Business and Economics

Department

Marketing

Committee Chair

Jody L. Crosno

Committee Member

M. Paula Fitzgerald

Committee Member

Xinchun Wang

Committee Member

Piu Ying Tong

Abstract

Traditional marketing theories (e.g., agency theory) suggest that aligning goals with a partner firm will enhance compliance and lead to better overall performance for both firms. The research on positive deviance, in contrast, suggests that a firm may deviate from contractual terms in order to accomplish shared goals and enhance performance. Merging these perspectives and pulling from more nuanced discussions of compliance, this dissertation explores the potential deleterious effects of goal congruence on compliance. Specifically, we examine the conditions in which goal congruence leads to both compliance and noncompliance and how these conditions impact performance. Additionally, this dissertation examines how means-conflict—disagreement over the methods prescribed to achieve a goal—interacts with goal congruence to shape different forms of compliance. Two studies are designed to examine these relationships: (1) a two-wave survey of U.S franchisees and (2) an experimental study of B2B managers. This research aims to answer the following research questions, which have not been explored in the marketing literature: (1) When does goal congruence lead to (non)compliance in B2B relationships? (2) When does noncompliance yield positive outcomes in B2B relationships? (3) When does compliance lead to negative outcomes in B2B relationships?

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