حسن ختام:دیدگاه پوپری درباره اقتصاد هزینه معاملات و دستورالعمل های آینده پژوهش های تجربی

The 2009 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel Prize to Oliver Williamson was not a surprise to scholars in business research. Transaction cost economics (TCE) has been among the most important streams of empirical investigation in business research during the last four decades. TCE has formed, developed and changed business research across disciplines during this era. Williamson, (1999:1092) himself noted that “I have no hesitation, however, in declaring that transaction cost economics is an empirical success story.” The Nobel Prize is a milestone event in business research, and the use of the criterion of falsification in this essay provides a compass to navigate future efforts. We present potential avenues of TCE research based on a Popperian lens focused on research discussed throughout this milestone issue of the Journal of Retailing.

The 2009 Nobel Prize to Oliver E. Williamson is a milestone not only to economics but also to the different fields of business research. It is an opportunity to put transaction cost economics (TCE) into a broader perspective, and the criterion of falsifica- tion is a good platform by which to do so. Strongly related to the idea of falsification is the ability to develop and test theoretical statements. We therefore review contributions to TCE in light of the structure, specification, testability, and empirical support that facilitate falsification efforts ( Popper 1959 ). Furthermore, we present opportunities for future avenues for empirical research in this area.

Our Popperian analyses suggest that future scholars should measure both ex ante and ex post transaction costs. During the years of TCE research, the tendency to operationalize dimen- sions of transaction costs has increased ( David and Han 2004 ). After the “ classic TCE ” period (1937–1975), “ the make or buy ” entrepreneurial period (1975–1991) of empirical research, we have moved toward a “ New Empirical TCE ” period (1991-) characterized by refined models, more advanced methodology and more complex business contexts. The New Empirical TCE scholars have taken into consideration that the transaction is the basic unit of analysis ( Williamson 1985 ). Thus, future research should take advantage of dyadic and network methods ( John and Reve 1982; Kumar, Stern and Anderson 1993 ) to reveal the complete institutional effect of dimensions of transaction costs. Furthermore, enhanced use of experimental designs provides the opportunity to evaluate competing perspectives and build stronger theory based on falsification criteria. TCE is a vital theoretical framework that provides new research questions to new generations of scholars. Business models like plural forms ( Bradach and Eccles 1989 ) and franchising ( Dant and Kaufman 2003 ) confront TCE with intriguing research questions. Both the financial crisis and the climate crisis demand new institutional solutions to global questions. We strongly believe that the 2009 Nobel Prize is not the end of an era, but rather a new inspiration to scholars’ worldwide to analyze the institutional development in a yet more relevant, complex and global economy.