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This review article develops an integrated overview of the present status of the theory of power and conflict in marketing channels. It includes a presentation of the conceptual foundation provided by behavioral science and a report on empirical contributions of the marketing literature. Since there appear to be many problems with the empirical work done in the area, both methodological and conceptual, the article also presents some proposals for clarification and theoretical development.

Though considerable research has been reported on the effects of coercive and noncoercive power sources in marketing channels, the particular effects of power sources that have been exercised, as opposed to those that remain unexercised, have not been identified. The authors summarize the findings of a research project examining these differential effects on selected variables of interest to channel managers, including power, conflict, dealer satisfaction, and channel performance.

There have been a number of published measures of generalized consumer attitudes, perhaps the most familiar being the Index of Consumer Sentiment of the University of Michigan's Survey Research Center. What this article proposes is an “index of consumer sentiment toward marketing,” which is intended to be a validated, longitudinal, aggregate measure of national consumer sentiment toward marketing practice, to be reported at regular intervals to the marketing and consumer research communities. The article describes the measure and measurement procedure and provides validation evidence. Since this study also involved replication of prior research on this issue, information on the recent evolution of consumer sentiment toward marketing is presented.