비교초점, 사회적 거리, 소비자 독특성 욕구가 제품선호에 미치는 영향: 동화 대 대조 = The influence of focus of comparison, social distance, and consumer's need for uniqueness on product preference: Assimilation versus contrast

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this study is to apply a concept of focus of comparison in social psychology to consumer psychology with considering existing two concepts of consumer psychology, social distance and consumers' need for uniqueness(CNFU). The results revealed that general tendency of social comparison that close social distance generates assimilation and far social distance generates contrast was reverified for both ‘self→other’ and ‘other→self’ focus of comparison in this study. Through the results of the study, it can be expected that using proper focus of comparison considering social distance would lead to higher product preference. That is, when consumers conceive that they are similar to comparison object(under a close social distance condition), ‘self→other’ focus of comparison would be better, and when consumers conceive that they are not similar to comparison object(under a far social distance condition), ‘other→self’ focus of comparison would be better. It is also expected that ‘self→other’ focus of comparison would be more proper for consumers who have high level of need for uniqueness and ‘other→self’ focus of comparison is more proper for consumers who have low level of need for uniqueness.

국문 초록 (Abstract)

본 연구는 비교초점, 사회적 거리 및 소비자독특성욕구 등이 동화와 대조에 근거하여 제품선호에 어떠한 영향을 주는지를 살펴보았다. 연구결과, 사회적 거리가 가까울수록 동화행동이, 멀수록 대조행동이 나타난다는 사회적 비교과정의 일반적 경향성은 ‘자기→타인(자신을 기준으로 타인 평가)’의 비교초점과 ‘타인→자기(타인을 기준으로 자신 평가)’의 비교초점 모두에서 재입증되었다. 또한 사회적 거리에 따른 제품선호에 있어서 비교초점 간에는 유의한 차이를 보이지 않았지만, 사회적 거리가 가까우면서 비교초점이 ‘자기→타인’인 경우에 비교초점이 ‘타인→자기’일 때보다, 사회적 거리가 멀면서 비교초점이 ‘타인→자기’인 경우에 비교초점이 ‘자기→타인’일 때보다 각각 제품에 대한 선호가 더 높았다는 점에서 소비자가 느끼는 비교대상과의 사회적 거리에 따라 더욱 높은 선호를 이끄는 비교초점이 다를 수 있다는 가능성을 볼 수 있었다. 또한 비교초점과 소비자독특성욕구간의 이원상호작용을 통해 ‘자기→타인’인 경우에 소비자독특성이 높은 사람이 낮은 사람에 비해 더 높은 제품선호를 보였다.

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