Multimarket contact: meaning and measurement at multiple levels of analysis

The growing literature on multimarket contact and mutual forbearance in management and economics has produced an inflation of multimarket contact measures. The lack of validation of these multiple measures has hindered the accumulation of consistent knowledge and comparison of empirical findings. This paper investigates the measurement of the multimarket contact concept. Specifically, we review the existing measures of multimarket contact, identify the main differences among them, and evaluate their reliability and discriminant and predictive validity at multiple levels of analysis, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. The results indicate substantial differences in the reliability and discriminant validity of these measures. Predictive validity depends critically on the level of measurement and on whether longitudinal or cross-sectional correlations are considered.

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