Jihye Park, Youngsung Kim (2013), "Agent Licensing Effect of Cause-Related Activity on Product Choice Justification,"  Journal of Korean Marketing Association, 28, 93-114.

김영성 상무(Ph. D)

ABSTRACT

Consumers are motivated to enjoy hedonic aspects of consumption. However, due to unjustifiable nature of hedonic consumption, pursuing fun and enjoyment and spending more on hedonic products often accompany negative feelings such as a sense of guilt and regret. Hedonic consumption is perceived relatively more discretionary and less valuable for spending than utilitarian consumption. People often avoid choosing and consuming hedonic products in the purchase decision context. However, when justifiable cues are available, people choose more hedonic alternatives than utilitarian alternatives. Past research found product choice justifiable cues from the purchaser's prior behavior. After volunteering community service and committing to a charitable act, people were likely to purchase hedonic products than utilitarian products. Opportunity to appear altruistic in a prior task enabled people to feel licensed to subsequently choose a hedonic item and reduce negative feelings associated with the product choice.People believe that they have earned the right to indulge after altruistic activities are performed. In this study, we attempt to extend Khan and Dhar(2005)'s licensing effect to corporate cause-related marketing activities. Licensing effect for the hedonic product choice can occur when the corporate altruistic activities are used for justifying hedonic consumption. Thus, the purpose of our study was to examine the agent licensing effect of cause-related marketing activity on product choice.

The first experiment was conducted to examine if Khan and Dhar(2005)'s licensing effect occurs when people are exposed to the information about the corporate cause-related activity. A total of 94 students participated in the experiment. In the agent licensing condition, participants were asked to read a news article about the recent corporate social activity, whereas those who were assigned to the control condition read a common story about the company. After reading the news article, both groups were asked to select one of two product choices (utilitarian vs. hedonic product). Results revealed that when people were exposed to the agent licensing condition, they chose a hedonic alternative more than a utilitarian alternative. Also, those who chose a hedonic alternative in the agent licensing condition had less negative feelings than those who chose a utilitarian alternative.

The agent licensing effect can occur through biased information processing. When people are exposed to the information about cause-related activity, they are likely to process the information to justify their product choice. Congruency bias occurs with pre-existing attitude or preference in order to maintain own existing beliefs and values. When consumers encounter information about a brand, they are likely to retrieve a brand attitude from memory and use their attitude as a basis to evaluate the incoming information. If new information challenges their initial attitudes, they are more likely to counterargue and reject the information. Therefore, the second experiment was designed to examine if consumers bias information in the agent licensing condition in order to justify their product choice. In addition, the magnitude of cause-related activity was investigated if it mediates the agent licensing effect under the licensing condition. A total of 119 undergraduate students participated. Different from the experiment 1,multiple choice sets were provided and the ratio of choosing hedonic options was calculated. Results revealed that people were likely to choose more hedonic options than utilitarian options when the donation size increased. Also, those who chose more hedonic options generated less counter arguments than those who chose more utilitarian options when the donation size was larger. However, the difference of support arguments was not found.

The third experiment was conducted to examine if the agent licensing effect persists with the exposure to the negative information. Confirmation bias occurs if the decision makers feel committed to a preferred alternative after the decision has been made. Once committed to a decision alternative, people prefer congruent or supportive information over incongruent or challenging information to avoid post decisional tension. Thus, it seems when people face with negative information that is contradictory to their prior decision on hedonic products, they are likely to ignore the information and persist their post decision. 2 (Information consistency: consistent vs. inconsistent) X 2 (Product type: hedonic vs.utilitarian) between subjects design was employed. A total of 98 undergraduate students participated in the third experiment. After the exposure to one of the four stimuli, participants were asked to attend the class for one hour and participate the second phase of the study. In the second phase, all participants read a news article about the negative event that recently occurs in the company. Results revealed that product choice difference was not found before and after people were exposed to the negative information. Also,differences of negative feelings were not detected in both conditions. The results confirmed that people tend to persist their product choice decision even with exposure to the disconfirming information.

This research has some contributions to extend choice justification and licensing literature. Consumers use not only their own altruistic service, but also corporate altruistic activity as a choice justification.This research also provides alternative explanation to the effect of cause-related marketing activity.Cause-related activity can be more powerful when it relates to the hedonic aspect of products. Academic and practical implications were further discussed.

- Key Words: Agent licensing, Choice Justification, Cause-related activity, Information processing bias

본 논문은 2013년  마케팅연구에 등재된 논문의 초록을 발췌 하였음.

연구요약

소비자들은 쾌락재(예: 향수, 술, 사치품 등)를 구입할 때 죄책감이 발생하게 된다. 이와 반대로 실용재(예: 청소기, 도서, 기능성 의류 등)를 구입할 때 죄책감이 발생하지 않는데 그러한 이유는 자기 스스로 소비의 정당화가 가능하기 때문이다. 3차례의 실험 결과 소비자가 쾌락재를 구입할 때 발생하는 죄책감을 기업이 감소 시켜 줄 수 있다. 예를 들어  사회에 기부를 하는 기업의 향수 제품이 그렇지 않은 향수 제품 보다 구매의도가 더욱 증가하였고 죄책감이 감소하였다. 이처럼 기업의 선한 행동을 인식한 소비자들은 쾌락재 구입 시 발생하는 죄책감을 감소 시켜 줄 수 있으며 구입의도가 보다 증가하는 것을 알 수 있다. 결과적으로 실제 기업의 공인 연계 마케팅, 기업의 사회적 책임 활동, ESG 활동 등이 대외적인 이미지를 긍정적으로 만들어줄 뿐만 아니라 실제 제품 구입 까지 영향을 미치는 것을 알 수 있다.

주요 시사점

공익연계마케팅(Cause related marketing), 공정무역(fair trade), 기업의 사회적 책임(Corporate Social Responsibility), 지속 가능 경영(sustainability), 공유가치창출(Crating shared value) 등으로 기업의 공익적 활동이 확장되고 있다. 최근에 ESG 경영이  통해 환경, 사회, 지배구조에 대한 부분을 평가하고 이를 기업 투자에 반영하고 있는 추세이다. 글로벌 주요 사모펀드, 기관투자자들은 개별 기업의 ESG 지표를 측정하고 해당 결과를 통해 투자 여부를 결정하고 있으며, 세계 최대 사모펀드인 블랙스톤의 경우 ESG를 제대로 이행하지 않는 기업에게는 투자를 하지 않겠다고 한다. 앞으로 기업은 소비자들에게 "좋은 제품", "저렴한 제품", "다양한 제품"을 제공하는 부분도 중요하지만 환경, 사회, 지배 구조에 대한 부분에 사회적 합의를 이루지 못한다면 소비자들에게 외면 받게 될 것으로 예상된다.

컨설팅 문의(김영성 이사): yskim@eoncg.com

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