유통경로 연구들은 주로 양자관계에 초점이 맞추어져왔고, 네트워크 관련 선행연구들조차도 네트워크 특성들이 네트워크 구성원들 간의 행동과 성과에 미치는 효과를 실증하는 연구들로서 극히 제한적인 범위에서 이루어져왔다. 또한 영향전략 관련 선행연구들도 양자관계에서 의존이나 힘 등이 영향전략에 미치는 효과나 영향전략이 양자의 행동과 성과에 미치는 효과에 대한 검증에 주로 초점이 맞추어져왔다. 그런데, 본 연구처럼 양자관계보다 더 확장된 네트워크 관계에서 양자 중 한 경로구성원의 네트워크 특성들(네트워크 밀도, 네트워크 구심)로 인해서 발생되는 의존이나 힘이 다른 경로구성원의 영향전략, 특히 관계적 유통경로 상황에서의 비강압적 영향전략(권고, 정보교환, 요청)에 어떻게 영향을 미치는지를 검증하는 것은 연구의 가치가 크다고 볼 수 있다. 한편, 환경의 동태성, 환경의 풍요성과 더불어 환경의 다양성이 경로구성원 행동의 불확실성을 일으키는 주요 환경차원임에도 불구하고, 그와 관련된 선행연구들은 매우 미흡한 실정이다. 그런데, 본 연구에서 환경의 다양성이 유통업체의 네트워크 특성에 영향을 미치는 가설들을 설정하고 검증함으로써, 환경의 다양성이 고객의 접점에 위치한 유통업체와 그 네트워크 조직 활동에 매우 중요한 영향을 미치는 변수임이 밝혀졌다. 본 연구의 가설들을 검증하기 위해, 국내 자동차 산업을 배경으로 하여 공급업체인 자동차 제조업체 본사와 구매업체인 대리점의 관계에서 대리점을 대상으로 설문조사를 수행하여 실증분석을 하였다. 샘플들은 국내 자동차 산업의 선두업체와 거래하고 있는 대리점들 중에서 115개의 대리점들을 대상으로 하였다. PLS 경로 모형 분석을 통해 가설을 검증한 결과, 네트워크 구심을 증가시키는 환경의 다양성의 영향력은 나타났으나 네트워크 밀도를 증가시키는 환경의 다양성의 영향력은 나타나지 않았다. 그리고 권고와 정보교환을 증가시키는 네트워크 밀도의 영향력은 나타났으나 요청을 감소시키는 네트워크 밀도의 영향력은 나타나지 않았다. 반면, 권고와 정보교환을 감소시키는 네트워크 구심의 영향력은 나타났으나 요청을 증가시키는 네트워크 구심의 영향력은 나타나지 않았다. 한편, 갈등을 감소시키는 권고의 영향력은 존재하나 정보교환의 영향력은 존재하지 않은 것으로 나타났다. 그리고 갈등을 증가시키는 요청의 영향력은 존재하는 것으로 나타났다. 끝으로, 본 연구의 이론적 의의와 관리적 시사점들이 논의되었고, 연구의 한계점들과 향후의 연구방향들이 제시되었다.

To run business effectively, distributers have ties with network which is composed of many firms (Bradford, Stringfellow, and Weitz 2004). As the distribution channel of automobile industry in Korea is reorganized into independent dealership system from dealership system under direct management of manufacturer, independent dealerships in automobile manufacturer have organized and managed their business network, namely dealership association. That is the reason why dealerships wish to gain transactional outcome from automobile manufacturer and to improve dealership's business performance through having more comparative advantages in comparison with the dealerships of other automobile manufacturer. It implies that business performance can be decided by the competition among business networks rather than it among firms (Achrol 1997; Anderson, Håkansson, and Johanson 1994; Bradford, Stringfellow, Weitz 2004; Möller and Halinen 1999). Under the condition which automobile industry is faced with, automobile manufacturers need to plan and perform relationship management for their dealerships, considering that the circumstance of each dealership differs, and network organization such as dealership association wields strong influence over each dealership. In the field of distribution channel study, extant studies have focused on mostly dyadic relation. However, some researchers have argued that network including dyadic relation has to be highlighted to understand perfectly the characteristics of dyadic relation(Anderson, Håkansson, and Johanson 1994; Levy and Grewal 2000; Möller and Wilson 1995; Wathne and Heide 2004). Because the behaviors of stakeholder group surrounding dyad can influence the exchange relation of dyad, it is acutely necessary to study about network characteristics and the effects of them. However, there have been scarce of studies verifying the influence relations between network and other variables related with distribution channel. Realizing the necessity of network research, this study verified how (1) environment, (2) network characteristics, (3) communication contents in dyadic relation, and (4) relationship quality in dyadic relation have effects on one another. First, this study verified that the environment of demand sector in primary task environment, which is asserted by Achrol, Reve, and Stern(1983), has effects on network dimensions. This study considered environmental diversity to figure out the environment, and it introduced network density and network centrality as network dimensions. Second, this study verified influence of network dimensions on communication content and influence of communication content on conflict. In other words, considering the characteristics of network which have indirect effects on the performance of dyadic relation, this study is to figure out influence of dealership's network dimensions on dyadic conflict in terms of communication content. However, excepting coercive influence strategies such as promise, legalistic plea, and threat, this study introduced noncoercive influence strategies including recommendation, information exchange, and request as communication content in the research model. Automobile dealership, the subject of this study, belongs to relational distribution channel which maintains exchange relationship sustainedly. In such a distribution channel, it may not be necessary to verify the influence of coercive influence strategies which can be harmful to maintain constant relationship because they increase conflict despite attracting short-term sales or profit. Lastly, the reason why strategic management of conflict is emphasized is that conflict is the source of various transaction risks. Explaining concretely, conflict can cause calculative behavior that can hurt the other party by a transaction and dissolve the relationship before fully exploring the premises for making a relationship(Dwyer, Schurr, and Oh 1987). Because conflict can be inherent or revealed in even an interdependent relational distribution channel(Dwyer, Schurr, and Oh 1987), it is significant to explore strategic management mechanism for controlling conflict. To verify the hypotheses of this study, an empirical study surveying 115 dealerships to deal with a leading automobile manufacturer in Korea was conducted. An analysis of the collected data indicates that while environmental diversity has a positive influence on network centrality, it doesn't have a positive influence on network density. The analysis of this study also indicates that while network density has positive influences on recommendation and information exchange, it doesn't have a negative influence on request. In addition, while network centrality has negative influences on recommendation and information exchange, it doesn't have a positive influence on request. Meanwhile, Not only does recommendation have a negative influence on conflict, request has a positive influence on conflict as well. However, information exchange doesn't have a negative influence on conflict. Finally, the author discussed some theoretical contributions and managerial implications. And then, the author presented limitations of this study and the future research directions.

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relational distribution channel, environmental diversity, network density, network centrality, recommendation, information exchange, request, conflict