1. ¹Department of Marketing, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
2. ²Department of Marketing, Xi'an Jiao Tong University, China
3. ³Department of Marketing, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
4. ⁴Wuhan University, China

Correspondence: C Su, Department of Marketing, City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Tel: +852 2784 4951; Fax: +852 2788 9146; E-mail: mkctsu@cityu.edu.hk

Received 6 February 2007; Revised 6 November 2007; Accepted 2 January 2008; Published online 4 December 2008.

Abstract

Channel communications in emerging markets are embedded in the intricacy of economic and sociocultural environments. Managing channel relationships in emerging markets therefore requires more than formal interfirm communication to rely on interpersonal influence. Extending embeddedness theory, we offer a conceptualization incorporating three embedding elements – task environment, social relations, and institutional norms – into a preliminary model that specifies the antecedents, moderators, and contingent consequences of interpersonal influence strategies in marketing channels. Specifically, dependence, firm boundary spanners' social capital, and their cultural values (e.g., guanxi orientation) may combine to shape firm boundary spanners' use of interpersonal influence in channel communications, which in turn affects channel member satisfaction. In a Chinese marketing channel context, we test our research hypotheses with parallel analyses of 395 matched supplier–retailer dyads. The empirical results provide general support for the predictions, and reveal differences between suppliers and retailers in terms of the focal effects.