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고객등급하락에 따른 고객의 심리적 메커니즘에 관한 탐색적 연구

An Exploratory Study on the Customer’s Psychological Mechanisms according to the Customer Demotion

전중옥|이은미
한국소비자학회 (Korean Society Of Consumer Studies)|2012.12|소비자학연구 (Journal of Consumer Studies)|제23권 제4호|pp. 131-154

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참고문헌

키워드

인지적 요인affective factorcognitive factorcustomer demotion고객등급하락감정적 요인지위부조화status dissonance-based discomfort
주제분류경제학

초록

본 연구는 고객등급하락을 경험한 소비자들에게 나타나는 심리적 메커니즘의 본질을 보다 깊이 있게 이해하기 위해 위계적 로열티프로그램의 사용자들을 대상으로 심층면접하였으며, 고객등급하락에 대한 소비자의 인식을 구성하고 있는 요인과 이와 관련된 소비자의 내면적 특성 및 심리적 구조를 구체화하기 위해 Nvivo를 활용한 분석기법을 적용하였다. 그 결과, 지각된 고객등급하락으로 인한 심리적 메커니즘의 핵심적 구성요인은 크게 ‘고객등급하락에 대한 인지적 요인’, ‘고객등급하락에 대한 감정적 요인’, ‘고객등급하락에 대한 긴장과 갈등’의 세 가지 주요 범주로 구분되었다. 첫째, 고객등급하락에 대한 인지적 요인을 구성하는 내용은 ‘등급하향조정에 관한 제도 및 구조’, ‘등급하락의 적용기준’, ‘등급하향조정에 따른 보상 혜택의 축소’, ‘등급 재상향조정 조건’ 등으로, 고객등급하락이라는 정보 또는 상황에 노출되었을 때 소비자가 지각하게 되는 인지적 요소의 공통점이 발견되었다. 둘째, 고객등급하락에 대한 감정적 요인을 구성하는 내용은 ‘부정적 감정’, ‘등급하락에 대한 무감정’, ‘등급하락에 대한 무반응’ 등으로 나타났다. 이와 같은 결과는 선행연구에서 제시한 바와 같이 지각된 등급하락이 부정적 감정을 유발시키며 이에 따라 소비자의 행동반응을 이끌어낸다는 사실과 일관되면서도, 반드시 등급하락으로 인해 부정적인 감정만이 발생되는 것은 아님을 확인할 수 있다. 마지막으로 고객등급하락에 대한 심리적 긴장과 갈등의 요인은 ‘하락된 등급에 대한 심리적 불편함’, ‘기업의 자신과의 관계에 대한 갈등’, ‘등급하락에 대한 정당성 판단의 혼란스러움’, ‘등급하락에 대한 결과의 애매모호함’으로 요약된다. 이와 함께 본 연구에서는 고객등급하락에 따른 심리적 긴장과 갈등을 지위부조화라 명명하고, 지위부조화는 고객등급하락의 원인과 결과가 대치됨으로써 형성되는 심리적 긴장, 갈등 그리고 불편한 심리상태로 정의하였다. 이상과 같이 고객등급하락에 대한 심리적 메커니즘을 제시하고 고객등급하락에 따른 양면적 반응에 대한 새로운 전략적 방향과 견해의 필요성을 위시한 시사점을 도출하였다.

Abstract

In a competitive market situation, most companies try to find ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors. One of the strategies that strengthens their relationships with customers, which should lead to an increase in consumer's loyalty, is the use of loyalty programs. The existing research concerning loyalty programs has mainly focused on positive effects. However, some researchers have discounted such effects due to the excessive costs of loyalty programs. Accordingly, the phenomenon of negative effects, which is caused by loyalty programs designed incorrectly, has a detrimental effect on firm's performance. Hierarchical loyalty programs are “award preferred customer status” providing exclusive benefits to consumers who have exceeded a certain spending level(Wagner, Hennig-Thurau and Rudolph, 2009). In order to remain the preferred status, customers must maintain a required level of spending, otherwise, they will be demoted and lose their preferred status. In some circumstances, hierarchical loyalty programs cannot manage, especially when customer demotion occurs. Customer demotion is the degrading of preferred-customer status to consumers when they fall below a certain spending level. Wagner, Hennig-Thurau and Rudolph(2009), analyzed that customer demotion jeopardizes customer loyalty intention, due to an increased level of negative affect and a decrease in perceived benefits. However, it is not enough to explain a concrete psychological mechanism to deeper understand customers' responses to status degradations. The existing literature for psychological structure on customer demotion is limited, but of high importance for marketers and academics. The objective of this study is, thus, to extend existing psychological mechanisms to specify the concept of customer demotion. We conducted an AFGI(Advanced Focus Group Interview) to those who have used hierarchical loyalty programs, and analyzed their textual contents throughout the Nvivo 8.0 software. The major components of psychological mechanisms when customers experience demotion are expressed with the 3 broad categories such as ‘cognitive factor’, ‘affective factor’, and ‘psychological stress and conflict’. The sub-categories that describe the state of cognition in customer demotion are found: ‘the policy and institution related to customer demotion’, ‘criteria of customer demotion’, ‘reduction of rewards’, and ‘requirements for re-upgrading’. In case of affect in customer demotion experience, we found the three major themes that are ‘negative affect’, ‘neutral emotion’, and ‘non-responses’. These results are consistent with the fact that negative affect is led to customer's negative behavior in previous research on customer demotion. It also indicates perceived demotion can evoke a variety of affect other than negative affect. The four sub-categories of psychological stress and conflict expressing feeling on customer demotion are found: ‘psychological discomfort’, ‘conflict of relationship between firm and customer’, ‘the confusion of judging legitimacy on degrading’, and ‘ambiguity of perceived demotion’. In this study, thus, psychological stress and conflict on customer demotion are termed as status dissonance- based discomfort. This primary outcome of this study is to contribute developing the new psychological mechanisms of customer demotion. It also has the practical relevance due to helping managers in understanding how to develop management strategies on degrading status.

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