선택의 이유를 바꾸는 카테고리의 힘

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to suggest a new product categorization method and examine its effect: hedonic vs. utilitarian categories. Depending on the value intended for each category for either hedonic or utilitarian, the identical products were arranged into various groups and were named differently, and thus designing two categories of hedonic and utilitarian. Choosers characteristics such as familiarity and involvement with the given product are used to classify choosers into two groups: preference matchers vs. preference constructors. Under the choice decision condition, two main dependent variables, the reason for their choice and willingness to pay in time for price discount, were measured. People were asked to choose a product for themselves, and rated the reason for their choice between want and need, which represents for hedonic or utilitarian choice motivation. After that, they were also asked to rate how much they were willing to pay for time to discount the price of the chosen product. A random sample of 157 females participated in an experiment within the context of women shoes choice decision. The results of the study revealed a significant interaction between category types and chooser types. First, the result showed that preference constructors reasons for choice were affected by category characteristics such as hedonic (i.e., want) or utilitarian (i.e., need) motivation, whereas preference matchers reasons were shown as the opposite. The opposite result is suggested because preference matchers are highly involved and familiar with the given products. Their choice reasons are mostly based on hedonic motivation such as expressing personal taste with expected, typical utilitarian categories. However, with hedonic, unexpected and atypical categories, they are uncertain with their choice as well as the reason, resulting in attribution to utilitarian motivation for justification. Second, willingness to pay in time for price discount was resulted from the significant interaction between category types and chooser types. However, this result is better explained by utilitarian and hedonic motivation. People who rated the reason for their choice more closely to utilitarian motivation (i.e., needs) were more willing to pay in time for price discount, whereas people who described their choice reason as more close to hedonic motivation (i.e., wants) were less willing to pay in time for price discount. This result illustrates that when people buy products for utilitarian motivation, they tend to adhere to price aspect whereas for hedonic motivation, people are less likely to do that. The findings of the study emphasize a significantly distinct effect of category types on peoples post-choice phenomenon such as reasoning and WTP in time for their choice. The study provides an important implication for retailers developing hedonic and utilitarian categorization strategies that may change peoples reason for their choice, which alter the intention to focus on price discount.