부산대학교 도서관

Front-loaded point program has been introduced by an credit card company in Korea in 2003. Front-loaded point program is different from ordinary point program which is called rear-loaded point program, in that incentives are provided right after consumers decide to sign up for the program. An important aspect of front-loaded point program is that consumers are provided with immediate benefits or points by a company only if they promise to pay back the points within certain period of time through purchasing products or services from that company. Prior researches focus on rear-loaded point program, that is a traditional type of point program to give consumers incentives upon their accumulated repeat purchases. The current research focuses on front-loaded point program, which has not been a topic of debate since it was newly introduced in industries. The authors examine the factors improving the effectiveness of front-loaded point program which gives customers reward in advance. Specifically, the authors examine the effects of mental simulation on the attitude and behavior relating to front-loaded point program on the basis of mental simulation theory and psychological reactance theory. Based on literature review, the authors propose hypotheses as follows. First hypothesis is that consumers are more likely to join front-loaded program and to show favorable attitude toward front-loaded program, when consumers focus on outcome simulation (vs. process simulation). Second hypothesis is that psychological reactance will mediate the effect of mental simulation on attitude and intention to join front-loaded point program. On the other hand, We demonstrate that mental simulation has an effect on the attitude and intention to join front-loaded point program, product type will moderate the effect of the mental simulation (H3). Specifically, Consumers who focus on process simulation are more likely to join front-loaded point program and to show positive attitude toward front-loaded program when they purchase hedonic/expressional products rather than utilitarian/functional products (H3-1). Consumers who focus on outcome simulation are more likely to join front-loaded program and to show favorable attitude toward front-loaded program when they purchase utilitarian/functional products rather than hedonic/expressional products (H3-2). The authors conducted two studies to verify hypotheses. Using the first study, the authors reveal that process simulation influences the degree of individuals’ psychological reactance, which results in unfavorable attitude toward front-loaded point program. Specifically, when consumers are involved with process simulation rather than outcome simulation, they are more likely to feel psychological reactance, and this leads to unfavorable attitude and behavior toward front-loaded program. Also, using the second study, the authors examine the moderating roles of product types consumers want to purchase with front-loaded points. As a result, when consumers are involved in process simulation, they prefer to purchase hedonic/expressional products with front-loaded points than utilitarian/functional products; while when consumers are involved in outcome simulation, they prefer to purchase utilitarian/functional products with front-loaded points than hedonic/expressional products. The current research provides academical and practical contributions. First, the current research expands the scope of research area relating to customer reward programs. The current research introduces front-loaded point program as a new topic of debate in academic area. Second, the current research gives marketing practitioners practical guidelines on how to implement front-loaded point program to improve the effectiveness of this program. To persuade consumers to join the program, marketers should promote consumers to focus on outcome simulation rather than process simulation with diverse marketing tactics. Also, marketers are more likely to persuade consumers to join the program when they provide consumers with different product type on the basis of mental simulation consumers focus on.