Purpose- The purpose of this paper is to examine franchise relationships by using an interaction approach which involves several exchanges or actor bonds between a franchisor and franchisee, such as information, social, and cooperative exchanges, which create a long-term relationship. The objective is to provide a conceptual framework to investigate the relationship from the franchisee’s point of view since little research has been conducted from this perspective.

Design/methodology/approach- This study is based on a web survey directed towards franchisees in Sweden. A total of 191 survey responses were obtained from a wide range of industries, representing a 16.2% response rate. A Pearson Correlation test was performed for the hypotheses.

Findings- The findings supported all five hypotheses. The results show that 160 firms exchange information with the franchisor through an IT system. It is also evident that the majority who use IT systems are small businesses, however, this is due to the fact that the largest sample of this study consists of small firms (n=180).

Research limitations/implications- Limitations of this study involve the somewhat difficulty to obtain access to a large sample of franchisees because of franchisors´ unwillingness to provide contact and email information (in some cases due to confidentiality). The majority of firms participating in the study are categorized as small organizations, a desired comparison of results from larger firms is, consequently, limited.

Originality/value- The paper contributes to filling the gap within franchise relationship literature by applying an interaction approach in contrast to prior economic theories in this field of study.