• Asia Marketing Journal
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• 제12권4호
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• pp.55-78
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• 2011

외식업계에서는 충성도제고를 위한 장기적 고객 관리 프로그램으로서 사용금액 대비 일정률의 포인트를 적립해주는 고객보상(로열티)프로그램을 시행해왔으며, 단기적인 매출 증대를 목적으로 신용카드사나 이동통신사와의 전략적 제휴를 통해 소비자에게 할인혜택을 제공하는 제휴할인카드를 경쟁적으로 도입하고 있다. 포인트 적립과 제휴카드할인 프로그램은 추구하는 목적은 서로 다르나 소비자에게는 동일한 구매시점에 둘 중에서 하나를 선택해야하는 경합적인 대안이 된다. 일반적으로 소비자는 손실에 대해 더 민감하게 반응하는 위험회피 성향을 보이며, 실용적 동기에 의한 취득 및 거래효용의 관점에서 할인이 강력한 구매 동기가 되므로, 분리된 이익으로서의 포인트 적립 보다 할인 혜택을 제공함으로써 손실의 감소로 인식되는 제휴카드할인이 더 선호될 것으로 예상할 수 있다. 기업의 입장에서도 제휴기업간의 비용분담을 통해 보다 적은 비용으로 큰 소비자 할인혜택을 제공할 수 있다는 비용효율의 장점 및 경쟁 대응 필요성 때문에 제휴카드할인을 도입하게 된다. 그러나 할인판촉은 실제적인 비용이 투입되므로 매출의 증가를 통해 비용 보다 큰 수익이 보장될 때만 의미를 가지는 촉진 수단이다. 외식업의 경우 방문객수가 증가해야 매출의 증대를 이룰 수 있으며 운영효율이 향상된다. 테이블당 고객수 증가는 공간효율을 높여주어 이익개선에 기여가 크다. 따라서 제휴카드할인이 실제적인 기업성과향상을 가져오려면 할인이 객수의 증가 특히 테이블당 객수의 증가에 기여를 해야 한다. 제휴카드할인이 객수증가 및 이익률의 향상에 도움이 되는지의 여부를 알아보기 위하여 패밀리 레스토랑업체의 실제 매출 데이터를 사용하여 검증해 본 결과 포인트 적립제도는 객수 증가와 유의적 관계를 보이지 않은 반면 제휴할인은 객수 증가에 실제적인 영향이 있음이 밝혀졌으며, 할인율이 증가하면 테이블당 고객수도 증가하며 약 25%의 할인이 제공되면 추가로 한 명의 고객이 유인되는 효과가 있었다. 또한 수익성의 측면에서는 1인당 지불금액 즉 객단가는 할인율의 증가에 따라 하락하는 경향을 보였지만 객수의 증가로 인한 추가이익이 추가비용을 상쇄하고 있어서 제휴할인카드의 도입이 비용 대비 효과의 측면에서 적극적으로 고려할 수 있는 촉진 수단임이 입증되었다. 본 연구는 기업의 실측 데이터를 활용하고 있다는 점에서 소비자 태도나 의도의 변화를 기준으로 기업의 의사 결정 정보를 제공하고자한 기존연구보다 현실적인 접근을 하고 있다. 즉, 기업의 실제 데이터로 제휴카드할인 프로그램의 효과를 측정하였고, 포인트 적립 및 차감제도를 직접 비교함으로써 기업에게 향후 마케팅 전략 수립에 관한 현실적인 시사점을 제공하였다는 점에서 연구의 의의를 찾을 수 있을 것이다.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• 제19권3호
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• pp.69-98
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• 2009

We investigated what factors motivate gamers to participate in a guild and why they continue to be engaged as members of the guild. We find that, based on the result of focus group interviews with MMORPG gamers, social support and self-esteem factors play important roles. Considering both prior research and the focus group interviews we have conducted, we define social support and character control as independent variables. Character identity, guild identity, and self-esteem are proposed as mediating variables while guild flow and game loyalty as dependent variables. Accordingly, we develop the research model and hypotheses, and verify them empirically. Based on our experiences of playing the WoW game, we proposed a research model and conducted focus-group interviews (FGIs). FGIs involve formulating a hypothesis and then collecting some relevant data. FGIs were conducted face-to-face with students of C University in Korea. We formulated structured interview schedules, and the questions were based on our research variables and personal experiences. The questions for the interviews encompassed the following areas: (a) the demographic characteristics of the focus group; (b) the number of years for which respondents had played online games; (c) the motive for starting a game; (d) the number of game-characters assumed by each gamer; (e) the type of game played; and (f) other issues such as the reasons for involvement in the play, the willingness to reuse the game in case new versions were released, etc. On average, it took two hours to interview each of three groups. A primary set of FGIs was conducted with three groups on the premise that there would be some differences caused by character race (Horde vs. Alliance) or by playable server (Normal vs. Combat). With respect to the manner of playing, we found that guild members shared information, felt a sense of belonging, and played computer games for quite a long time through the guild; however, they did not undergo these experiences when playing alone. Gamers who belonged to a specific guild helped other players without expecting compensation for that, freely shared information about the game, gave away items for free, and more generous with other members who made mistakes. The guild members were aware of the existence other members and experienced a sense of belonging through interactions with, and evaluations from, other players. It was clear that social support was shown within the guild and that it played an important role as a major research variable. Based on the results of the first FGIs, a second set of in-depth FGIs was carried out with a focus on the psychology of the individual within the guild and the social community of the guild. The second set of FGIs also focused on the guild's offline meetings. Gamers, over all, recognize the necessity of joining a community, not only off-line but also online world of the guild. They admit that the guild is important for them to easily and conveniently enjoy playing online computer games. The active behavior and positive attitudes of existing guild members can motivate new members of the guild to adapt themselves to the guild environment. They then adopt the same behaviors and attitudes of established guild members. In this manner, the new members of the guild strengthen the bonds with other gamers while feeling a sense of belonging, and developing social identity, thereby. It was discovered that the interaction among guild members and the social support encouraged new gamers to quickly develop a sense of social identity and increase their self-esteem. The guild seemed to play the role of socializing gamers. Sometimes, even in the real world, the guild members helped one another; therefore, the features of the guild also spilled over to the offline environment. We intend to use self-esteem, which was found through the second set of FGIs, as an important research variable. To collect data, an online survey was designed with a questionnaire to be completed by WoW gamers, who belong to a guild. The survey was registered on the best three domestic game-sites: 'WoW playforum,' 'WoW gamemeca,' and 'Wow invent.' The selected items to be measured in the questionnaire were decided based on prior research and data from FGIs. To verify the content of the questionnaire, we carried out a pilot test with the same participants to point out ambiguous questions as a way to ensure maximum accuracy of the survey result. A total of 244 responses were analyzed from the 250 completed questionnaires. The SEM analysis was used to test goodness-of-fit of the model. As a result, we found important results as follows: First, according to the statistics, social support had statistically significant impacts on character control, character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Second, character control had significant effects on character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Third, character identity shows its clear impact on self-esteem and game loyalty. Fourth, guild identity affected self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Fifth, self-esteem had a positive influence on the guild flow. These days, the number of virtual community is rising along with its significance largely because of the nature of the online games. Accordingly, this study is designed to clarify the psychological relationship between gamers within the guild that has been generally established by gamers to play online games together. This study focuses on the relationships in which social support influences guild flow or game loyalty through character control, character identity, guild identity, and self-esteem, which are present within a guild in the MMORPG game environment. The study results are as follows. First, the effects of social support on character control, character identity, guild identity and self-esteem are proven to be statistically significant. It was found that character control improves character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Among the seven variables, social support, which is derived from FGIs, plays an important role in this study. With the active support of other guild members, gamers can improve their ability to develop good characters and to control them. Second, character identity has a positive effect on self-esteem and game loyalty, while guild identity has a significant effect on self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Self-esteem affects guild flow. It was found that the higher the character and guild identities become, the greater the self-esteem is established. Contrary to the findings of prior research, our study results indicate that the relationship between character identity and guild flow is not significant. Rather, it was found that character identity directly affects game players' loyalty. Even though the character identity had no direct effect on increasing guild flow, it has indirectly affected guild flow through self-esteem. The significant relationship between self-esteem and guild flow indicates that gamers achieve flow, i.e., a feeling of pleasure and excitement through social support. Several important implications of this study should be noted. First, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to conduct this study. Through FGIs, it was observed that both social support and self-esteem are important variables. Second, because guilds had been rarely studied, this research is expected to play an important role in the online community. Third, according to the result, six hypotheses (H1, H5, H6, H7, H8, and H11) setup based on FGIs, were statistically significant; thus, we can suggest the corresponding relationships among the variables as a guideline for follow-up research. Our research is significant as it has following implications: first, the social support of the guild members is important when establishing character control, character identity, guildidentity and self-esteem. It is also a major variable that affects guild flow and game loyalty. Second, character control when improved by social support shows notable influence on the development of character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Third, character identity and guild identity are major factors to help establish gamers' own self-esteem. Fourth, character identity affects guild flow through self-esteem and game loyalty. The gamers usually express themselves through characters; the higher character identity is, the more loyalty a gamer has. Fifth, guild identity, established within the guild, has clear effects on self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Sixth, qualitative and quantitative methods are employed to conduct this study. Based on the results of focus group interviews and SEM analysis, we find that the social support by guild members and psychological factors are significant in strengthening the flow of guild and loyalty to the game. As such, game developers should provide some extra functions for guild community, through which gamers can play online games in collaboration with one another. Also, we suggest that positive self-esteem which is built up through social support can help gamers achieve higher level of flow and satisfaction, which will consequently contribute to minimizing the possibility for the players to develop negative attitude toward the guild they belong to.