가격 변화가 소비자의 공정성 지각에 미치는 영향 -가격 변화 유형과 자기조절초점을 중심으로- = The Influence of Price Change on Consumer Perceptions of Price Fairness: Focused on Roles of The Types of Price Change and Self-Regulatory Focus

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Perceived price fairness of consumers has become an important consideration factor in firm's pricing policies and prior research has emphasized the importance of causes and types of price change. According to prior research, consumers perceive the price change as fair when an increase in a firm's cost makes their price change, whereas consumers perceive the price change as unfair when the pursuit of firm's profit makes their price change. In the context of types of price change, consumers are more sensitive to loss occurrence than to gain decrease. Thus, consumers perceive removal of discounted price more fairly than price increase. But prior research did not consider the motivation level of consumers and suggested the results of the limited situation. Thus, they raise questions about generalizability of results. Therefore, this research examines the roles of self-regulatory focus and the types of price change on fairness perceptions of consumers across causes of price change. Especially, this research suggests “gain decrease” as “capacity decrease of products”(experiment 1) or “quality decrease”(experiment 2). The findings indicate that consumers were more likely to perceive fairness when firm's price change was caused by increasing cost(vs. the pursuit of profit). Also, when price change was caused by increasing cost, the effects of self-regulatory focus and the types of price change were not significant. However, when price change was caused by the pursuit of profit, the effects of the types of price change on fairness perceptions of consumers vary depending on self-regulatory focus. Individuals in a promotion focus regarded price increase more fairly than quality decrease or capacity decrease of products, whereas individuals in a prevention focus considered quality or capacity decrease more fairly than price increase. Finally, discussion of the results, implications, and new ideas for further research were suggested.

국문 초록 (Abstract)

기업의 가격정책에 있어 소비자의 공정성 지각은 중요한 고려 요인으로 밝혀져 왔다. 이에 선행연구들은 소비자의 가격공정성 지각에 영향을 주는 요인으로 기업의 가격 변화 원인과 변화 유형을 제시하였다. 선행연구에 따르면 기업의 가격 변화 원인이 비용 상승일 경우엔 소비자들이 이를 공정하게 지각하는 반면, 수익성 추구를 위한 가격 변화엔 불공정하게 지각한다. 또한 가격 변화 유형의 경우, 소비자들은 손실회피 성향에 의해 손실의 발생보다 이득의 감소를 더 공정하게 생각한다. 이는 기업의 가격 인상 보다 할인가격 제거를 소비자들이 더 공정하게 생각한다는 것을 의미한다. 하지만 기존 연구들은 이득과 손실에 대한 소비자들의 동기를 고려하지 않았으며 할인가격의 제거라는 제한된 상황을 제시함으로써 연구의 결과를 일반화할 수 없다는 한계점을 가지고 있다. 따라서 본 연구는 기업의 가격 변화 원인이 소비자들의 공정성 지각에 미치는 영향에 있어 자기조절초점과 가격 변화 유형의 역할을 조사하였다. 특히, 기업의 가격 변화 유형에서 이득의 감소는 용량 감소(실험 1)와 품질 감소(실험 2)로 제시하여 기존 연구를 발전시켰다. 연구 결과, 소비자들은 수익성 추구보다 비용 상승에 의한 가격 변화를 더 공정하게 지각하는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 비용 상승으로 인한 가격 변화엔 소비자의 가격공정성 지각에 대한 자기조절초점과 가격 변화 유형의 영향력은 유의하지 않았으나 수익성 추구를 목적으로 한 가격 변화에는 두 변수가 중요한 역할을 하는 것으로 나타났다. 촉진초점을 가진 소비자는 품질 감소나 용량 감소보다 가격 인상을 더 공정하게 생각한 반면, 방어초점을 가진 소비자는 가격 인상보다 품질 감소와 용량 감소를 더 공정하게 생각하였다. 마지막으로 학문적·실무적 시사점을 제시하였으며 연구의 한계 및 향후 연구 방향에 대해 논의하였다.

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