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Introduction: Conflict of interest (COI) exists when an individual in the publication process has a competing interest that could compromise their publication process responsibility. COI is commonly associated with authors and less so with editors. Many organizations (e.g. World Association of Medical Editors (WAME)) provide resources and recommendations for addressing COIs at medical journals. However, there are no data describing journals’ utilization of these resources for editor COI policy development or adoption, and little data on the value of editor COI policies. This study aimed to understand current editor COI practices and editors’ perceptions of COI policies, along with barriers to their implementation. Methods: An online survey developed in LimeSurveyTM was distributed to editorial board members of oncology and health care sciences and services journals to measure respondents’ attitudes about COI definitions and features and COI policy experience; barriers to implementing editor COI policies; and editors’ perceptions of COI policies. Frequency analysis of survey data was conducted. Free-text responses were summarized. Results: Response rate was 20.2% (66/327), and comprised complete and partial survey respondents. The majority of respondents were editors-in-chief. Overall, respondents agreed that defined WAME COI domains were important components of an editor COI policy. Nearly 50% of respondents belonged to journals with existing editor COI policies, which they continued to use. Nearly 25% were unaware of the current editor COI policy status at their journal. Few implementation barriers were identified, the most common being challenges with verification of disclosures. Overall, respondents did not report strong attitudes in favour of or against editor COI policies, but respondents agreed that journals with an editor COI policy were more credible and trustworthy. Conclusion: This study shows that editor COI policy development and utilization is not a universal standard of practice and suggests that recognition of the value of an editor COI policy may not be widespread among editorial board members. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Conflict of interest (COI) can play an important role in the stages of getting research published. However, COI of journal editors has not been studied. The aim of this study was to find whether COI policies for editors exist and to probe editors’ perceptions about the policies. The study found that editors believe COI policies are important but for the most part, whether a journal has an editor policy or not, does not affect their perception of the journal’s validity, quality, and transparency. This study also suggests there are few barriers to implementing an editor COI policy. Additional research is needed to demonstrate the role COI plays in the research enterprise with regard to research integrity, and journal credibility and trustworthiness.

In this dissertation, my focus is on understanding distribution channel conflict, its relationship with efficient channel governance and its impact on channel performance. In particular, I will study (1) how the channel conflict can be defined and interpreted, (2) how channel conflict can affect channel governance, (3) what would be the performance outcomes of channel conflict, and (4) how channel conflict can be managed. My theoretical frameworks borrow mainly from transaction cost economics theory (TCE), and strategic marketing. On the empirical side, I employ several methods including meta-analysis (Two-Stage SEM) as well as different econometrics techniques such as Conditional Mixed-Process (CMP) regression estimation. My data comes from diverse sources and are mainly hand collected and created from archival sources. For the meta-analysis study, I extract empirical results of more than 100 studies on channel conflict since the 1960s. For the other empirical efforts, the data comes from various sources. The major data collection undertakings include extracting and integrating data from: (1) Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) of more than 1000 franchise firms, (2) firms records, and (3) specific franchise rankings such as Entrepreneur and Franchise Times’ rankings spanning from 2004 to 2015. The dissertation comprises following broad inter-related chapters (excluding Introduction and Conclusion chapters): (1) Managing Channel Conflict: Insights from the Current Literature, (2) Conflict and Performance in Channels: A Meta-Analysis, (3) Channel Conflict: Bad for Business?, (4) Adapting to Channel Conflict: An Empirical Study?, and (5) Two Views on Channel Conflict. Chapter 1 is a compendium on channel conflict that not only provides a comprehensive literature review on channel conflict (since the 1960s) but also identifies gaps and provides some managerial perspectives on channel conflict. One of the identified gaps in Chapter 1 revolves around the role of channel conflict and its relationship with other inter-firm constructs. In Chapter 2, I build on this identified gap by conducting a comprehensive meta-analysis study using Two-Stage SEM (TSSEM) method to aggregate the previous findings on channel conflict and its relationship with other inter-firm constructs particularly channel performance. I also investigate the potential moderators of the conflict-performance link. Chapters 1 and 2 set the stage for the next empirical work. One of the enduring debates in the channel domain is about the functionality and dysfunctionality of channel conflict. In Chapter 3, I address this directly by exploring the non-linear (inverted U-shaped) relationship between channel conflict and performance. While Chapter 3 explores the empirical relation between conflict and performance, another understudied but important research question is about how firms react to channel conflict. Such reactions can span the range from relying on relational norms to more explicit adjustment in channel governance. In Chapter 4, I address this by examining the effect of manifest channel conflict on channel governance, controlling for relational norms. In particular, I study how firms adapt their channel governance following litigation. Finally, Chapter 5 is a reflection on the body of knowledge that I have investigated above. This chapter will provide two views on channel conflict by comparing two different channel conflict conceptualizations. I illustrate the differences between these two views by comparing them based on firms’ objectives, conflict characteristics, and managerial approaches toward channel conflict, providing real-world examples of how firms approach and manage channel conflict. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / In this dissertation, my focus is on understanding distribution channel conflict, its relationship with efficient channel governance and its impact on channel performance. Channel conflict is an endemic phenomenon. The advent of new technologies (such as Internet-of-Things enabled monitoring systems) and the emergence of the Internet as a primary medium of business transactions have brought big changes to channel management. Use of multiple channels to reach consumers and exchange value with business partners have become much more common with these changes. While channel conflict has always been an important business concern, these have rekindled the interest and attention of researchers and managers to the phenomena. In this dissertation, I investigate the phenomenon of channel conflict and its effect on channel governance and business performance by conducting several independent studies spanning different research methods. The research findings will address gaps in the extant research literature as well as offer both theoretical and practical insights for researchers and practitioners interested in distribution channels strategy and management.

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