Managing a Mission-driven Franchise Organization: An Empirical Investigation of Organizational Practice and Individual Outcomes

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate the interplay among organizational practice, the adoption of a management philosophy and individual outcomes in a mission-driven multinational education franchise system. A sample of 1,700 potential survey participants throughout the focal organization in both Canada and the United States was used, including 1,282 franchisees and 418 employees. A total of 152 responses were received, including 83 responses from franchisees and 69 responses from corporate employees. The findings of the study provide evidence that the adoption of a management philosophy will mediate the relationships between a philosophy-oriented organizational practice and the individual outcomes in the context of a mission-driven education industry franchise–franchisor setup in North America. One obvious limitation is that the data collection was conducted from within a single organization. The findings of the study are specific to the North American region. Hence, the generalizability is limited. The article builds upon Wang’s (  Journal of Business, 2011, Ethics, 101(1), 111–126) study by adding new measures. The empirical evidence of the study confirms that it is possible for a franchise organization to utilize corporate mission and management philosophy to govern a high level of unity between all stakeholders in a franchise system.