경험수집 소비행동에 대한 통합적 연구

Abstract

Experience collecting behavior is a large-scaled phenomenon that can be observed easily. However, there has been little research regarding experience collecting behavior. Therefore, this study examines the current situations, types, major motivations, values, processes and diffusion of experience collecting behavior. For this purpose, the authors conducted three rounds of ethnographic interviews and three rounds of descriptive surveys rotationally in order to gain a deeper understanding of experience collecting behavior. The results of the research can be summarized as follows. First, the rate of respondents who have collected experiences at least once appears to be similar with the ratio of respondents who have collected objects at least once. However, in terms of the current collection, the ratio of the experience collection (76.0%) is much higher than the one of the object collection (58.7%). In case of ever stopping the collecting process, the ratio of the experience collection (67.4%) is much lower than the one of the object collection (93.6%). The experience collecting process was stopped mainly due to problems such as the economic or time-related limitations, whereas the object collecting process was stopped mainly because it no longer provided any kind of meaning/fun or there were economic and space- related limitations. Second, the experience collection can be classified into three types including ‘direct experience’ (such as travels, visits to extraordinary restaurants/cafes, and leisure/sporting activities), ‘watching experience’ (at such places as movies, concert halls and exhibition centers/museums) and ‘personal development experiences’ (such as the development of personal skills useful foremployment). Among such categories, ‘direct experience’ is the one which consumers tend to carry out the most. Third, the motives of experience collection can be classified into ‘personal growth,’ ‘pleasure in life’ and ‘satisfaction in social relations.' Among these three categories, ‘personal growth’ can be seen as the category with the biggest difference compared to object collection. Fourth, the values of the experience collection, which are different from the ones of the object collection, include ‘the intrinsic growth,’ ‘the preservation of memories,’ ‘the emotional satisfaction’ and ‘the formation of positive relations with others.’ In particular, ‘the preservation of memories,’ which has not been mentioned as the motivation of experience collection, is regarded as the second important value. When it is necessary to preserve good memories in the experience collecting process, object collection can play the role of a complementary good for experience collection. Fifth, experience collection can be regarded as a dynamic behavior which increases the level of satisfaction and creates values based on the level of accumulation. The current experience collecting behavior and the related level of satisfaction are subject to the forward and backward influence of the memories related to the past experience and the plans for the experience collection in the future. Last, once the experience collecting process is started, it is likely that the process is continuously carried out in more fields due to its high values and utility. Moreover, as consumers share their experience with their friends and other unspecified people through the SNS or online communities, the experience collecting behavior is spread more. This study discusses the theoretical and practical implications in terms of consumer behavior and suggests directions for future research.