• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.39-63
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• 2012

Previous studies of reward programs have generally focused on designing the best programs for consumers and suggested that consumers' perception of the value of reward programs can vary according to the type of reward program (e.g., hedonic vs. utilitarian and direct vs. indirect) and its timing (e.g., immediate vs. delayed). These studies have typically assumed that consumers' preference for reward programs has a positive effect on brand loyalty. However, Dowling and Uncles (1997) pointed out that this preference does not necessarily foster brand loyalty. In this regard, the present study verifies this assumption by examining the effects of consumers' perception of the value of reward programs on their brand loyalty. Although reward programs are widely used by online shopping malls, most studies have examined the conditions under which consumers are most likely to value loyalty programs in the context of offline shopping. In the context of online shopping, however, consumers' preferences may have little effect on their brand loyalty because they have more opportunities for comparing diverse reward programs offered by many online shopping malls. That is, in online shopping, finding attractive reward programs may require little effort on the part of consumers, who are likely to switch to other online shopping malls. Accordingly, this study empirically examines whether consumers' perception of the value of reward programs influences their brand loyalty in the context of online shopping. Meanwhile, consumers seek utilitarian and/or hedonic value from their online shopping activity(Jones et al., 2006; Barbin et al., 1994). They visit online shopping malls to buy something necessary (utilitarian value) and/or enjoy the process of shopping itself (hedonic value). In this sense, reward programs may reinforce utilitarian as well as hedonic value, and their effect may vary according to the type of reward (utilitarian vs. hedonic). According to Chaudhuri and Holbrook (2001), consumers' perception of the value of a brand can influence their brand loyalty through brand trust and affect. Utilitarian value influences brand loyalty through brand trust, whereas hedonic value influences it through brand affect. This indicates that the effect of this perception on brand trust or affect may be moderated by the type of reward program. Specifically, this perception may have a greater effect on brand trust for utilitarian reward programs than for hedonic ones, whereas the opposite may be true for brand affect. Given the above discussion, the present study is conducted with three objectives in order to provide practical implications for online shopping malls to strategically use reward program for establishing profitable relationship with customers. First, the present study examines whether reward programs can be an effective marketing tool for increasing brand loyalty in the context of online shopping. Second, it investigates the paths through which consumers' perception of the value of reward programs influences their brand loyalty. Third, it analyzes the effects of this perception on brand trust and affect by considering the type of reward program as a moderator. This study suggests and empirically analyzes a new research model for examining how consumers' perception of the value of reward programs influences their brand loyalty in the context of online shopping. The model postulates the following 10 hypotheses about the structural relationships between five constructs: (H1) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs has a positive effect on their program loyalty; (H2) Program loyalty has a positive effect on brand loyalty; (H3) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs has a positive effect on their brand trust; (H4) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs has a positive effect on their brand affect; (H5) Brand trust has a positive effect on program loyalty; (H6) Brand affect has a positive effect on program loyalty; (H7) Brand trust has a positive effect on brand loyalty; (H8) Brand affect has a positive effect on brand loyalty; (H9) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs is more likely to influence their brand trust for utilitarian reward programs than for hedonic ones; and (H10) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs is more likely to influence their brand affect for hedonic reward programs than for utilitarian ones. To test the hypotheses, we considered a sample of 220 undergraduate students in Korea (male:113). We randomly assigned these participants to one of two groups based on the type of reward program (utilitarian: transportation card, hedonic: movie ticket). We instructed the participants to imagine that they were offered these reward programs while visiting an online shopping mall. We then asked them to answer some questions about their perception of the value of the reward programs, program loyalty, brand loyalty, brand trust, and brand affect, in that order. We also asked some questions about their demographic backgrounds and then debriefed them. We employed the structural equation modeling (SEM) method with AMOS 18.0. The results provide support for some hypotheses (H1, H3, H4, H7, H8, and H9) while providing no support for others (H2, H5, H6, H10) (see Figure 1). Noteworthy is that the path proposed by previous studies, "value perception → program loyalty → brand loyalty," was not significant in the context of online shopping, whereas this study's proposed path, "value perception → brand trust/brand affect → brand loyalty," was significant. In addition, the results indicate that the type of reward program moderated the relationship between consumers' value perception and brand trust but not the relationship between their value perception and brand affect. These results have some important implications. First, this study is one of the first to examine how consumers' perception of the value of reward programs influences their brand loyalty in the context of online shopping. In particular, the results indicate that the proposed path, "value perception → brand trust/brand affect → brand loyalty," can better explain the effects of reward programs on brand loyalty than existing paths. Furthermore, these results suggest that online shopping malls should place greater emphasis on the type of reward program when devising reward programs. To foster brand loyalty, they should reinforce the type of shopping value that consumers emphasize by providing them with appropriate reward programs. If consumers prefer utilitarian value to hedonic value, then online shopping malls should offer utilitarian reward programs and vice versa.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.11 no.8
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• pp.321-330
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• 2011

This study focuses on the moderating effect of sex role on the relationship between perceived values on the reward program of tele-communication firms and customer satisfaction. To test moderating effect, Difference test for distinct parameters in Amos 18.0 program was used. Results show that both kind of perceived values(utilitarian value and hedonic value) have a significant effect on customer satisfaction. And the moderating effect of sex variable was verified. For male, hedonic value has influenced on the customer satisfaction more than utilitarian value. And for female, reversely, utilitarian value has influenced on the customer satisfaction more than female value.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.133-151
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• 2011

This study investigates the moderating effect of customer type(deal prone/promotion insensitives) on the relationship between perceived values on the reward program of tele-communication firms and customer satisfaction. To test moderating effect, Difference test for distinct parameters in Amos 18.0 program was used. Results show that there is no the moderating effect of customer variable. But both kind of perceived values(utilitarian value and hedonic value) have a significant effect on customer satisfaction. For all customer, utilitarian reward has influenced on the customer satisfaction more than hedonic reward. And for utilitarian reward, promotion insensitives customer has influenced on the customer satisfaction more than deal prone customer.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.173-193
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• 2019

Reward-based crowdfunding is a funding platform that allows funds to be raised to early operators who have lack of funds, and is seen as an outstanding infrastructure that is going to lead the fourth industrial revolution in that it is a field of realization of new technologies and creative ideas by start-ups. Reward-based crowdfunding has grown in line with the trend of the fourth industrial revolution, and funding success cases are taking place in various industries that culture/art to technology/IT, including as a new means of knowledge management in a rapidly changing industrial environment. The study focused on the fact that consumer's donation purposes may also vary depending on the category of projects classified as reward-based crowdfunding. Because consumer payment decisions and motivation of consumer purchasing behavior are classified according to the purpose of purchase, the previous papers that the goal gradient effect that the main motivation of consumer donation for reward-based crowdfunding introduced vary depending on project category of utilitarian and hedonic. In this study, consumer's daily donation data is collected by Indiegogo which is a leading reward-based crowdfunding company using web-crawling and the model was defined as propensity score matching (PSM) and random effect model. The results showed that the goal gradient effect occurred in utilitarian project category, but no goal gradient effect for the hedonic project category. Furthermore, this paper developed the study of motivation of consumer donation and contributes theoretical foundation by the results consumer donation may vary depending on the project category; also, this paper has implications for an effective marketing strategy depending on the project category leaves real meaning to the projector.

• Journal of the Korean Operations Research and Management Science Society
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.183-199
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• 2013

This study investigates customers' different behavior in accumulating and redeeming points and focuses on the moderating effect of usage level. We measure the hedonic accumulation and redemption ratio and usage level using loyalty program transaction data and link them to the survey data of loyalty and satisfaction. By doing so, we examine the effects of hedonic accumulation and redemption ratio on a consumer's loyalty intention and his or her satisfaction and the moderating effect of usage level. The result shows that there is a significant positive effect of hedonic accumulation and redemption ratio on customer loyalty and the mediating role of satisfaction on customer loyalty in both stages. And accumulation and redemption most importantly, we find an interaction effect of usage level on outlet type in point redemption stage while no effect in accumulation stage. That is if customers accumulate and redeem points at a hedonic outlets in both stages, it will give him a feeling of satisfaction and finally it will enhance the loyalty toward the focal loyalty program. And light buyers' loyalty increase more than those of heavy buyers when they redeem points in hedonic outlet. Our findings will help marketing managers of loyalty program to apply the effective segmentation strategy to the reward program which affects the customer's satisfaction and loyalty.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.123-129
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• 2009

Taste is associated with hedonic evaluation as well as recognition of quality and intensity. Taste information is sent to the cortical gustatory area in a chemotopical manner to be processed for discrimination of taste quality. It is also conveyed to the reward system and feeding center via the prefrontal cortices. The amygdala, which receives taste inputs, also influences reward and feeding. In terms of neuroactive substances, palatability is closely related to benzodiazepine derivatives and $\beta$-endorphin, both of which facilitate consumption of food and fluid. The reward system contains the ventral tegmental area, nucleus accumbens and ventral pallidum and finally sends information to the lateral hypothalamic area, the feeding center. The dopaminergic system originating from the ventral tegmental area mediates the motivation to consume palatable food. The actual ingestive behavior is promoted by the orexigenic neuropeptides from the hypothalamus. Even palatable food can become aversive and avoided as a consequence of postingestional unpleasant experience such as malaise. The brain mechanism of these aspects of taste is elucidated.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.77-98
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• 2017

This research explores two key facets of behavior (reward point accrual and redemption) that consist of a loyalty program. It focuses on assessing the impact of accrual effort level on three types of redemption behavior: speed, unit size, and hedonic preference at the individual level by using large scale transaction data from a multi-vendor loyalty program providing flexible environment for point accrual and redemption. Findings from this research demonstrate that customers tend 1) to speed up point redemption, 2) to enlarge the size of redeemed points, and 3) to prefer utilitarian rewards as the level of effort at the accrual stage of reward point increases.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.108-118
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• 2017

This study focuses on an effectiveness of socially recommended advertising on social network sites (SNSs) and investigates the impact of three critical factors on SNS advertising effectiveness - reward type for advertising recommenders' intention, product type on advertisements, and tie strength. A $2{\times}2$ factorial design was used to test the interaction effects between the two variables, reward type and product type on advertisements, moderated by tie strength. The results indicate that when participants observe socially recommended advertising, hedonic product ads with non-monetary reward shows the most effectiveness, and reward type and product type are also effective. In the combination of reward type and product type, we have confirmed the regulating factor influencing the effectiveness of social advertising according to the tie strength between the recommenders and the consumers. Strong-tie recommenders have more influence on the effectiveness of the social advertising than weak-tie recommenders. Based on these results, theoretical and practical implications were provided to refine marketing environments on SNSs.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.55-65
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• 2020

Purpose: The research aims to examine whether perception about busyness can affect the way people view themselves and then make an impact on purchase decision-making. Based on a proposed theoretical framework, the current research examines whether or not perception about busyness affects perceived self-worth and has an impact on impulsive buying. Research design, data, and methodology: The paper conducted a survey in which two scenarios are used for manipulating degree of busy mindset. For analyzing data, analysis of variance and regression analysis are applied, in conjunction with analysis of moderating effects. Results: Busy mindset has a positive effect on perceived self-worth. The effect of busy mindset on perceived self-worth is greater in the group of high perceived social mobility. In the category of hedonic products, perceived self-worth has a positive effect on impulsive buying intention. Conclusions: These results imply that a sense of self-worth can affect impulsive buying behavior on the basis that people sometimes buy things on impulse as a way of self-indulgence or self-reward for their efforts. Managerial implications of the results suggest a busy appeal to consumers would be more effective for hedonic products.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.59-72
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• 2019

Purpose - Blockchain technology, which has the characteristics of credibility, security, integrity and decentralization, has brought innovation to internet platforms that mediate peer to peer transactions, as well as changes to the contents distribution services. Blockchain-based copyright distribution platforms can solve problems which have been articulated on prior internet social networks: increased market dominance of platform business because of centralization with no reward to creators who upload on platforms, and lack of fairness, such as unfair profit distribution between the copyright holder and businesses. With this background, the current research confirmed the factors that affect the intention of usage and behaviors, targeting potential users of blockchain-based copyright distribution platforms. Research design, data, and methodology - Centered around the UTAUT2 Model, the research model was designed with 'Perceived Security' added as Construct, and 'Age' and 'Knowledge Level' added as moderating variables. For data, 607 responses were collected by an online survey, and 601 responses were included in the final analysis. We analyzed the research model and sample by using SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 23.0 on the collected responses. Results - First, results of research on whether Constructs make positive effects on Intention of use is: social influence, facilitating conditions, habit, and perceived security had positive effects on intention of use, and performance expectancy, effort expectancy, hedonic motivation, and economic value did not. Second, results of the research on whether facilitating condition, habit, and intention of use made an impact on using behaviors, it was shown that only habit and intention of use made positive effects. Third, in two groups divided by age above or under 40, group effort expectancy, intention of use, habit, and intention of use had controlling effects, and facilitating condition, intention of use, perceived security, and intention of use had effects in both groups. Conclusions - The research shows that no matter how great a blockchain-based platform is, if advantages of blockchain are not proved in various industries and utilized in real life like the internet, blockchain-based distribution systems will develop slowly. Rather than a short-term inducement emphasizing technology, there is a need for a strategic approach that can foster the environment.