가격-품질 관계에 대한 심리적 거리와 제품지식의 조절적 영향

국문 초록 (Abstract)

많은 연구자들이 가격과 소비자의 품질 지각 간에 가격이 높으면 품질이 좋은 것으로 지각하는 높은 상관관계가 존재한다는 결과를 얻어왔다. 가격-품질 관계에 대한 초기 연구자들은 품질을 평가하는 데 있어 가격 이외의 다른 정보단서들은 고려하지 않고 가격의 영향력만을 연구하였다. 그 후의 연구자들은 소비자에게 제품속성정보를 제공하였을 때에도 여전히 가격이 품질 지각에 지배적인 영향을 미치는지에 대해 연구하였다. 어떤 연구에서는 제품속성정보가 주어지면 품질 평가에 대한 가격의 영향력이 낮아지는 것으로 나타났고, 다른 연구에서는 제품속성정보가 주어져도 가격에 의존하여 품질을 추론하는 것으로 나타나 혼재된 연구결과를 얻었다. 최근 한 연구에서는 가격-품질 관계에 대한 지금까지의 혼재된 연구결과를 해석수준이론으로 설명하고자 하였다. 본 연구는 이러한 연구 흐름에 따라, 제품속성정보가 주어졌을 때 가격과 소비자의 품질 지각 간의 관계에 대한 심리적 거리(시간적 거리, 공간적 거리)의 조절효과와 가격과 품질 지각 간의 관계에 대한 심리적 거리의 조절효과를 제품지식이 2차 조절하는지에 대해 조사하였다. 본 연구의 결과는 다음과 같이 요약된다. 첫째, 제품속성정보가 주어졌을 때 가격과 소비자의 지각된 품질 간의 관계에서 시간적 거리의 조절효과는 유의하지 않았지만 제품지식의 2차 조절효과는 유의하게 나타났다. 본 연구에서 시간적 거리의 조절효과가 나타나지 않은 이유는 제품지식의 강한 2차 조절효과 때문이었다. 둘째, 제품속성정보가 주어졌을 때 가격과 소비자의 지각된 품질 간의 관계에서 공간적 거리의 조절효과가 나타났으며, 이는 다시 제품지식에 의해 2차 조절되는 것으로 나타났다. 요컨대, 본 연구 결과에 의하면 품질추론 시 심리적 거리가 멀수록 가격 의존도가 높아진다는 것은 소비자가 제품지식을 적게 가진 경우에 제한적으로 적용되며, 제품지식을 많이 가진 소비자는 속성(vs. 가격)에 대한 의존도가 높아진다고 할 수 있다.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Recent research investigating the influence of price on quality inference has been paying much attention on the issue of whether quality judgment is affected by price even when information on product attributes is available. The reported findings failed to provide converging evidence. Some research found that participants consistently relied on price for quality judgments, even when information on specific product attributes was assessable. Studies of other researchers, on the other hand, have found that when product attribute information was given, influence of price on quality judgments became insignificant. Yan and Sengupta (2011) tried to resolve this discrepancy by introducing construal level as a moderator. In light of this stream of research, we document the significant moderating effect of product knowledge on the effect of psychological distance (temporal distance and spatial distance) on the price-quality relationship. In the context of vacation package (Study 1) and electronic dictionary (Study 2) purchases, we tested four research hypotheses. H1: Consumers` relative reliance on price (product attributes) over product attributes (price) for making quality inferences will be heightened when the judgment is temporally distant (close). H2: If consumers possess high product knowledge, their relative reliance on product attributes over price for making quality inferences will be increased regardless of temporal distance. On the other hand, consumers` relative reliance on price (product attributes) over product attributes (price) for making quality inferences will be heightened when the judgment is temporally distant (close). H3: Consumers` relative reliance on price (product attributes) over product attributes (price) for making quality inferences will be heightened when the judgment is spatially distant (close). H4: If consumers possess high product knowledge, their relative reliance on product attributes over price for making quality inferences will be increased regardless of spatial distance. On the other hand, consumers` relative reliance on price (product attributes) over product attributes (price) for making quality inferences will be heightened when the judgment is spatially distant (close). In Study one, four hundred undergraduates were randomly assigned to one of eight conditions, according to a 2 (price: high vs. low) × 2 (product attribute: favorable vs. unfavorable) × 2 (temporal distance: near vs. distant) between-subjects design. Participants` product knowledge was measured using a continuous scale item. A three-way ANCOVA on perceived quality controlling for a moderating effect of product knowledge showed that the interaction effect of ‘price × attributes × temporal distance’ was insignificant (F(1, 391) = 1.84, p = .175, partial η2 = .005). This result was not supportive of H1. H1 was not supported because the moderating effect of product knowledge was so strong. To test H2, we conducted a moderated multiple regression on perceived quality with price, product attributes, temporal distance, product knowledge, and their possible interactions as predictors. As hypothesized, a significant four-way interaction emerged between price, attributes, temporal distance, and product knowledge (β = -.73, t = -2.64, p = .009). To explore the four-way interaction, high vs. low product knowledge participants (split by mean=3.48) were analyzed further. The ‘price × attributes × temporal distance’ interaction was insignificant for the high product knowledge participants (F(1,176) = 2.83, p = .094, partial η2 = .016), whereas it was significant for the low product knowledge participants (F(1,208) = 10.27, p = .002, partial η2 = .047). One-way ANOVA showed that for the high product knowledge participants, relative reliance on product attributes over price for making quality inferences was high regardless of temporal distance (near temporal distance condition: Mfavorable = 5.37 vs. Munfavorable = 2.31; F(1,89) = 171.23, p=.000

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