Autonomy and Performance Outcome: The Role of Motivational, Informational, and Structural Moderators

Marketing

Further details

The autonomy-performance link has been shown to differ substantially contingent upon internal and environmental conditions. Inspired by interactional psychology and based mainly on research in work psychology, we propose that increased motivation (motivational mechanisms), capitalization on information asymmetries (informational mechanisms), and better alignment with organizational structures (structural mechanisms) impact the link between autonomy and performance. The related hypotheses are tested against a dyadic matched sample consisting of 52 franchise systems and 2,724 individual franchise partners. Results using multilevel analysis indicate that motivational mechanisms negatively moderate the autonomy-performance link, while informational mechanisms largely show positive moderations. Structural mechanisms which are related to fees weaken the impact of autonomy on performance, while experience-related structural mechanisms allow autonomy to have its full impact on performance.