What we know about ownership redirection in franchising: A meta-analysis

Oxenfeldt and Kelly's provocative ownership redirection thesis-the premise that there may be a deliberate effort on the part of the more powerful franchisors to convert the previously franchisee-owned outlets into company-owned outlets-has attracted considerable research attention. However, the empirical evidence on the thesis remains equivocal. This paper reports the results of a meta-analysis of the existing studies of ownership redirection. The focus of the analysis is on the disparate operationalizations of the phenomenon itself and the manner in which the construct measurement affects the determination of its existence.