• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.467-481
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• 2013

The study examined the main effect of the reward channel and reward time of customer loyalty programs for on-offline shopping channels; in addition, it investigated the interaction effect of the reward channels and merchandise as well as the interaction effect of the reward time and merchandise. An online apparel shopping web experiment was conducted with a 2 (reward channel: online channel reward vs. offline channel reward) ${\times}2$ (reward time: immediate vs. delayed) ${\times}2$ (merchandise: online channel product vs. offline channel products) between-subject factorial design. An online shopping channel was considered the core-shopping channel and a department store was considered the cross-shopping channel. Loyalty program value, core-channel loyalty and cross-channel loyalty were measured as dependent variables. A total of 845 shoppers (who had experiences in shopping in both channels) participated in the experiment. The results of the study revealed (1) the main effect of the reward channel on loyalty program value, core-channel loyalty and cross-channel loyalty [online>offline channel rewards], (2) the main effect of reward time on loyalty program value, core-channel loyalty and cross-channel loyalty [immediate>delayed reward], and (3) the interaction effect of the reward channel and merchandise on loyalty program value, core-channel loyalty, and cross-channel loyalty. (4) Finally the study found that loyalty program value affected cross-channel loyalty indirectly through core-channel loyalty. This study suggested diverse theoretical and managerial implications for multi-channel retailers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.331-342
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• 2009

The purposes of this study were to provide the apparel companies with a effective marketing strategy by identifying the present condition of loyalty programs and designing the type of reward and the timing of reward, and to investigate the effects of loyalty programs on customers' satisfaction and loyalty. The experimental study was conducted to examine the relationship between loyalty programs and performances. The experiment, which adopted a scenario methodology, was a 2(type of rewards)${\times}$2(timing of rewards) between subjects factorial design. The sample was based on 362 college students. The data analysis was completed on the basis of SPSS 12.0 package, using descriptive analysis, frequency, factor analysis, Cronbach's a, ANOVA, and regression analysis. The following results were found in this research. First the respondent's recognition of reward(benefit, reserve fund, experience) was not relatively high. Second, the interaction effect of type of rewards and timing of rewards on the loyalty programs' satisfaction(p<.01) and customer loyalty(p<.001) was significant, but that on customer satisfaction was not significant. Finally, loyalty programs' satisfaction positively affected customer satisfaction and loyalty. The implications of the research and directions for future researchers were discussed.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.242-252
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• 2011

The purpose of the study was to investigate customer loyalty programs of diverse types of retailers. As offline retailers, department store and discount store retailers were examined, and as nonstore retailers, online store and TV home shopping retailers were investigated. Types of customer loyalty programs were analyzed based on Dowling and Uncles'(1997) loyalty program framework which included two schemes, types of reward(direct versus indirect rewards) and timing of reward(immediate versus delayed rewards). The study found that different types of retailers utilized different types of loyalty programs: Department store used all the type of rewards, discount store focused on direct/immediate rewards, online store retailers used direct/delayed rewards and/or direct/immediate rewards, and TV home shopping retailers focused on direct/delayed rewards. The study provided diverse managerial and academic implications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Operations and Management Science Society Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.111-113
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• 1998

In this paper, we deal with the model to reward researchers' performance. The rewards which disregarded the preference of researchers don't satisfy researchers, but cause, only conflicts. In order to increase the researchitivity by resolving these researchers' conflicts, we design a new model on the performance rewarding system. For this purpose, we investigate preference structure on the reward of researchers by the$\ulcorner$conjoint analysis$\lrcorner$. And we propose some reasonable and practical programs to reward performance on the basis of the investigation..

• Korean Management Science Review
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.149-160
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• 2010

This paper focuses on frequent flyer programs (FFPs), which have long been used by most airlines as a powerful marketing tool. Since the preference for FFPs reward services and the customer perceived values of mileage points differ among FFPs members, airlines should design a customer-oriented reward service based on customer preference to motivate the use of mileage points. The intention for using mileage points is affected by various kinds of attributes such as reword items, consuming mileage points for rewards and time of usage. In this paper, we focus on evaluating customer perceived values of attributes of FFPs reward services. A conjoint analysis model is applied to get the preference value of each attribute. Some empirical experiments are conducted in relation to Korean customers. From the empirical survey, the preference values of attributes are evaluated for different scenarios with respect to the number of mileage points. With the preference values of attributes, we can find several implications for airlines regarding the development of various FFPs strategies.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.190-205
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• 2023

An accruable point scenario study was applied to examine the effect of the point-accumulation trend (diminishing vs. increasing) and the nominal value (small vs. large) of a medium for repeated consumption on program loyalty. The results showed that both factors affect consumer loyalty toward a reward program. Consumers who received a medium with an increasing accumulation trend and a large nominal value perceived a reward to be more valuable than those who received a diminishing trend and a small nominal value. The results confirmed that a large nominal value or an increasing accumulation trend increased the perception of reward and program loyalty. However, when the desirability of the medium was controlled, the effect of trend was reduced to almost negligible whereas that of the nominal value remained the same. These findings suggest how consumer perceptions of loyalty programs can be practically managed through point accumulation processes.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.36 no.8
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• pp.673-681
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• 2012

As competition increases among ports, new marketing strategies and differentiated means in addition to the existing core services are needed to prevent existing container shipping companies from escaping and to attract new customers. The additional services and reward programs are investigated. How these variables affect relational commitment in terms of customer retention is examined. Customers of the container terminals are examined in terms of psychological behavior. This study presents the structural equation model that shows the connection among benefits, rewards, switching costs and relational commitment. The empirical analysis is done with the subject of the container terminal users and the implications are derived.

• Journal of the Korean Operations Research and Management Science Society
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2009

Consumers earn a number of points for every purchase and then they can exchange a specified number of points for a desired reward in a typical loyalty program. The immediate payoff of their effort given as points is not the real reward they actually care about. It is merely an instrument (or medium) which has no value in itself. In a real world, consumers frequently choose the option with a bigger medium even though the economic value of the option is not changed by the medium. We call it 'medium effect.' In this study we explored if the size of medium affects consumers' preferences. For this we controlled the reward options with three types of medium (small, medium, big) and measured the magnitude of preference difference among the three types of reward options. In addition, we manipulated comparability of reward options with wine and gas discount coupon. We confirmed that choosing one of two wines was easier than that of the two gas coupons. 123 respondents were allocated into three experimental groups. In three experimental grounds, the ratios of the focused reward option's medium to the compared reward option's medium were different. For example, the focused reward option has 10 million points whereas the compared reward option has 10 million points for 1 million won purchase amount in the first group. Then each respondent was asked to choose one of two loyalty programs (focused program vs. compared program) in two different conditions (comparability between reward options. easiness vs. difficulty). To compare the medium effects among the experiment conditions we used chi-squares tests. The empirical results show consumer preference increases and then decreases as reward mile-ages/points given according to purchase amount increase. Additionally, they let us know that comparability of alter natives affects change of consumer preference by reward mileages/points.

• Proceedings of the Korean Operations and Management Science Society Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.179-190
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• 2008

Consumers earn a number of points for every purchase and then they can exchange a specified number of points for a desired reward in a typical loyalty program. The immediate payoff of their effort given as points is not the real reward they actually care about. It is merely an instrument (or medium) which has no value in itself. In a real world, consumers frequently choose the option with a bigger medium even though the economic value of the option is not changed by the medium. We call it 'medium effect'. In this study we explored if the size of medium affects on consumers' preferences. For this we controlled the reward options with three types of medium (small, medium, big) and measured the magnitude of preference difference among the three types of reward options. In addition, we manipulated comparability of reward options with wine and gas discount coupon. We confirmed that choosing one of two wines was easier than that of the two gas coupons. 164 respondents were allocated into three experimental groups and one control group. In three experimental groups, the ratios of the focused reward option's medium to the compared reward option's medium were different. For example, the focused reward option has 10 million points whereas the compared reward option has 10 million points for 1 million won purchase amount in the first group. Then each respondent was asked to choose one of two loyalty programs (focused program vs. compared program) in two different conditions (comparability between reward options: easiness vs. difficulty). To compare the medium effects among the experiment conditions we used chi-squares tests. The empirical results show the medium effect increases and then decreases as the ratio of reward mileages/points to purchase amount increases. Additionally, they let us know that comparability of alternatives affects on the medium effects depending on the ratio of reward mileages/points to purchase amount.