Vol. 54 No. 1 (2026): Published March 30, 2025
DOI https://doi.org/10.18799/26584956/2026/1/2153
Signaling function of a personal brand in the contractual relationship of franchising: problem statement
Franchising, being a key business scaling strategy, faces a fundamental problem of information asymmetry at the stage of concluding a contract between a franchisor and a potential franchisee. Traditional quality signals (advertisements, booklets) are easily imitated and do not reduce the risk of opportunistic behavior, which hinders the growth of networks, especially in the early stages of their development. In conditions of high uncertainty, there is a need to identify reliable mechanisms capable of performing a signaling function and reducing transaction costs ex-ante. Aim. To theoretically substantiate a conceptual model in which the founder's personal brand is considered as a specific intangible asset that performs a signaling function in contractual franchising relationships to reduce information asymmetry and opportunistic risks. Methods. The research is based on the synthesis of the theory of transaction costs (O. Williamson), the theory of signals (M. Spence) and the resource theory of the company (VRIO-analysis). The methods of comparative signal analysis, theoretical modeling, and the hypothetical-deductive method are used to formulate empirically verifiable hypotheses. Results. It is provedthat the founder's personalbrandhasuniqueVRIOcharacteristics(value,rarity,highuniqueness,organization),whichturnitinto a costlysignaland a "reputationalpledge".This makes it possible to distinguishbona fide franchisorsfromopportunists. A signaldynamicsmodel was developed,according to whichthesignal of the founder's personalbranddominates in the earlystages of networkdevelopment,andas the networkmatures, the signalloadshifts to thecompanyinstitutionalreputation. A hypothesis is formulatedabout the nonlinearnature of the personalbrandimpactonthenetwork scale.
For citation: Dukart S.A. Silifonova E.V. Signaling function of a personal brand in contractual relations of franchising: problem statement. Journal of Wellbeing Technologies, 2026, vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 302–312. https://doi.org/10.18799/26584956/2026/1/2153
Keywords:
franchising, information asymmetry, signal theory, personal brand, transaction costs, contractual relations, VRIO analysis, reputational collateral, business scaling, opportunism
References:
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