The Influence of Group Sanctions on Distributor Opportunism: Based on the Perspective of Deterrence Theory

Drawing on the literature of marketing channel governance and deterrence theory, this study, moving beyond the dyadic relationship between supplier and distributor, focuses on the horizontal network of distributors and investigates the differential effects of group sanctions, which consist of reputation, attitude and behavior, on distributor opportunism. The findings, from an empirical study of 274 distributors in the liquor industry in China, show that in the horizontal network of distributors, group sanctions have a negative effect on the distributor opportunism. More specifically, sanctions of reputation and attitude are negatively related to the distributor opportunism, whereas the behavior sanctions have no significant effect on distributor opportunism. In addition, personal norms are negatively related to the distributor opportunism and it moderates the relationship between group sanctions and opportunism. The effects of group sanctions on opportunism are also moderated by the network dependency of the distributor in the channel system. These findings have important implications for channel governance research and managerial practice.