An empirical investigation of the linkages among relationalism, environmental uncertainty, and bureaucratization

This study empirically examines the relationships among the constructs of environmental uncertainty, bureaucratization, and emergent relationalism in distribution channels. In doing so, two important streams of literature-political economy framework and Macneil's relational exchange theory-are brought together for the first time. Analyses: of data from the pharmaceutical industry's channels of distribution, using structural equations modeling support an interactive nonrecursive relationship among these factors. Specifically, it is found that (1) environmental uncertainty affects relationalism positively, whereas relationalism affects environmental uncertainty negatively; (2) bureaucratization and relationalism influence each other negatively; and (3) environmental uncertainty and bureaucratization affect each other positively. The results also suggest that relationalism is more powerful in mitigating the perceptions of 'bureaucratization and environmental uncertainty than the perceptions of bureau-cratization and environmental uncertainty are in preventing relationalism. The empirical data for the study were obtained from the pharmaceutical industry's channels of distribution. J BUSN RES 1998. 43.125-140. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.