Contingency Approach
The Contingency Approach:
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^ , The
Contingency
Its l^oundations and Relevance
A poc p r ah
to Theory Building and Research in Marketing by
Valarie A. Zeithaml
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina,
P. "Rajan" Varadarajan
Texas A&M University, and
Carl P. Zeithaml
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Introduction During the 1960s, management theory and research began to adopt a new orientation, one that embodied a remarkably simple concept and enabled significant advancements in the study of management and organisations. This orientation, now referred to as the contingency approach, emphasises the importance of situational influences on the management of organisations and questions the existence of a single, best way to manage or organise. Today, the contingency approach dominates theory and research in the management literature.
Contingency approaches are positioned within management as mid-range theories between the two extreme views which state ei±er that universal principles of organisation and management exist or that each organisation is unique and each situation must be analysed separately. The contingency approach entails identifying commonly recurring settings and observing how different structures, strategies and behavioural processes fare in each setting[l]. Prominent contingency theories have been proposed and tested relating to organisational environments, characteristics and structures [2,3,4,5,6], competitive conditions and organisational strategies[1,7,8,9], and organisational characteristics and behavioural processes[10,ll,12]. In addition to explicit use by many authors, the contingency approach has been an underlying theme for theory buildhig and research throughout the management literature [9]. The contingency approach to theory building and research can be useful to marketing scholars in at least two important ways. First, the management literature
European Joumal of Marketing
Y. Y^ -a . . ' ^ 1 i^-^ .g
^ , The
Contingency
Its l^oundations and Relevance
A poc p r ah
to Theory Building and Research in Marketing by
Valarie A. Zeithaml
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina,
P. "Rajan" Varadarajan
Texas A&M University, and
Carl P. Zeithaml
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Introduction During the 1960s, management theory and research began to adopt a new orientation, one that embodied a remarkably simple concept and enabled significant advancements in the study of management and organisations. This orientation, now referred to as the contingency approach, emphasises the importance of situational influences on the management of organisations and questions the existence of a single, best way to manage or organise. Today, the contingency approach dominates theory and research in the management literature.
Contingency approaches are positioned within management as mid-range theories between the two extreme views which state ei±er that universal principles of organisation and management exist or that each organisation is unique and each situation must be analysed separately. The contingency approach entails identifying commonly recurring settings and observing how different structures, strategies and behavioural processes fare in each setting[l]. Prominent contingency theories have been proposed and tested relating to organisational environments, characteristics and structures [2,3,4,5,6], competitive conditions and organisational strategies[1,7,8,9], and organisational characteristics and behavioural processes[10,ll,12]. In addition to explicit use by many authors, the contingency approach has been an underlying theme for theory buildhig and research throughout the management literature [9]. The contingency approach to theory building and research can be useful to marketing scholars in at least two important ways. First, the management literature
European Joumal of Marketing
References: European Journal of Marketing nn n ' Further Reading Boston Consulting Group, Perspectives on Experience, Boston Consulting Group, Boston, 1972