Kivetz and Simonson(2002)은 보상물을 실용적 속성과 쾌락적 속성으로 구분하고 소비자가 행한 노력수준이 보 상물 선택결과에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지 처음으로 알아보았다. 그 결과를 살펴보면, 소비자의 노력수준이 높아질수 록 쾌락적 속성의 보상물에 대한 죄책감이 감소하여 노력수준이 낮을 때보다 쾌락적 속성의 보상물에 대한 선호도가 상대적으로 증가하였다. 그러나 본 연구에서는 Kivetz and Simonson(2002)의 연구에서 살펴본 소비자의 노력과 는 그 관점을 달리하였는데, 즉 고객보상프로그램에 명시되어 있는 요구조건을 이미 따른 후 불편함을 모두 느낀 상 태로 정의하였다. 실험결과, Kivetz and Simonson(2002)의 연구결과와는 정반대의 결과가 도출되었는데, 즉 낮은 노력수준에서는 실용적 속성의 보상물보다 쾌락적 속성의 보상물의 선호도가 더욱 높아졌다(가설 1). 또한, 높은 노 력수준에서는 쾌락적 속성의 보상물보다 실용적 속성의 보상물의 선호도가 더욱 높아졌다(가설 2). 한편, 이러한 결 과는 노력수준에 따라 다르게 나타나는 소비자의 위험회피성향에 기인함을 알 수 있었다(가설 3). 이와 함께 본 연구 결과를 통해 도출된 학문적 그리고 실무적 시사점이 토론되었고, 연구의 한계점과 미래 연구방향이 제시되었다.

Reward program is a sales promotion tool which provides extra benefit to the customers for purchase of products(Dowling and Uncles 1997). Rewards also can mean any extra benefit provided to customers and it is a core element that makes up reward program(Kivetz and Simonson 2002). Despite the high preferability of reward program in practical marketing field of today, in scholastic field, research is inadequate, especially in marketing field which is highly related as a sales promotion tool(Kivetz and Simonson 2002). Until today, reward program as sales promotion tool, served as a proper function to the businesses and customers. But there is an opinion which states that reward does not always benefit business and even customers(Kearney 1990; Kivetz 2005). Inappropriately designed reward program will burden heavily on business finance in the future. Therefore it is important to design the reward customer intended which is the core element of reward program. But knowledge on influencing cause that affects on selecting differentiated reward is insufficient(Kivetz and Simonson 2002). In the field of researching reward program the focus on reward is on deducing the positive effects on corporation, brand and even reward program. But there exist a research which is related to approving the difference of reward choice according to the context customers are in. Related to this research continuous effort is being made to find factors that can affect result of customer choices, but until now no other factors were proven to be affective except customer effort itself(Kivetz and Simonson 2002). Indeed, Ebert(2003) stated that the most interesting topic for reward program research is to prove the choice results of classified rewards while considering customer effort level. And in research of Kivetz and Simonson(2002), it is proven that customers’ preference are different according to effort level on acquiring reward, that is classified into utilitarian and hedonic rewards. Customers’ choice is made under the viewpoint of utilitarian and hedonic, and when there are two different reward products one is defined as utilitarian and the other as hedonic reward(Mano and Oliver 1993). For example, mountain bike, student handbook, laundry soap, back pack, and low fat milk are classified as utilitarian products and the reason customers select this type of reward is to fulfill the basic desire. On the other hand, chocolate, concert ticket, high class French course dinner, and cruise are defined as hedonic rewards which stimulate customers’ sensory organ and amuse themselves through those rewards(Strahilevitz and Myers 1998). In this research, relationship between effort level and reward choice which the viewpoint of effort is differentiated from research of Kivetz and Simonson(2002) was identified. On the other hand, the limitations of their research were supplemented and experiment focused on risk aversion tendency which can occur during the effort level that is already carried out when making choice on rewards. Research results show that with low level of effort, hypothesis that stated hedonic rewards are preferred more than utilitarian rewards and with high level of effort utilitarian rewards are more preferred than hedonic rewards was supported. This research can offer the following theoretical and practical implications for researchers in marketing field. First, this research can serve as mediation of expanding the researches not only the products with utilitarian and hedonic characteristics but other marketing mix studies. Second, this research motivated other researchers to search for other elements that could affect choice results. Third, this research showed that rewards can be classified by product characteristics that customers recognize. Also, it provided information of customer segmentation information on effort level. Through this research, foundation that allows marketing staffs to design customer-oriented reward program was provided. In conclusion, reward program that could increase the customer value and reduce marketing cost could be made possible. For last, due to the following limitations of this research, additional researches that could supplement are needed. First, research on the interaction effect between the strategical variables that have been used in this research is necessary. Second, research on interaction effect between independent variable and subject group that is set as covariate is necessary in the future.

Reward program is a sales promotion tool which provides extra benefit to the customers for purchase of products(Dowling and Uncles 1997). Rewards also can mean any extra benefit provided to customers and it is a core element that makes up reward program(Kivetz and Simonson 2002). Despite the high preferability of reward program in practical marketing field of today, in scholastic field, research is inadequate, especially in marketing field which is highly related as a sales promotion tool(Kivetz and Simonson 2002). Until today, reward program as sales promotion tool, served as a proper function to the businesses and customers. But there is an opinion which states that reward does not always benefit business and even customers(Kearney 1990; Kivetz 2005). Inappropriately designed reward program will burden heavily on business finance in the future. Therefore it is important to design the reward customer intended which is the core element of reward program. But knowledge on influencing cause that affects on selecting differentiated reward is insufficient(Kivetz and Simonson 2002). In the field of researching reward program the focus on reward is on deducing the positive effects on corporation, brand and even reward program. But there exist a research which is related to approving the difference of reward choice according to the context customers are in. Related to this research continuous effort is being made to find factors that can affect result of customer choices, but until now no other factors were proven to be affective except customer effort itself(Kivetz and Simonson 2002). Indeed, Ebert(2003) stated that the most interesting topic for reward program research is to prove the choice results of classified rewards while considering customer effort level. And in research of Kivetz and Simonson(2002), it is proven that customers’ preference are different according to effort level on acquiring reward, that is classified into utilitarian and hedonic rewards. Customers’ choice is made under the viewpoint of utilitarian and hedonic, and when there are two different reward products one is defined as utilitarian and the other as hedonic reward(Mano and Oliver 1993). For example, mountain bike, student handbook, laundry soap, back pack, and low fat milk are classified as utilitarian products and the reason customers select this type of reward is to fulfill the basic desire. On the other hand, chocolate, concert ticket, high class French course dinner, and cruise are defined as hedonic rewards which stimulate customers’ sensory organ and amuse themselves through those rewards(Strahilevitz and Myers 1998). In this research, relationship between effort level and reward choice which the viewpoint of effort is differentiated from research of Kivetz and Simonson(2002) was identified. On the other hand, the limitations of their research were supplemented and experiment focused on risk aversion tendency which can occur during the effort level that is already carried out when making choice on rewards. Research results show that with low level of effort, hypothesis that stated hedonic rewards are preferred more than utilitarian rewards and with high level of effort utilitarian rewards are more preferred than hedonic rewards was supported. This research can offer the following theoretical and practical implications for researchers in marketing field. First, this research can serve as mediation of expanding the researches not only the products with utilitarian and hedonic characteristics but other marketing mix studies. Second, this research motivated other researchers to search for other elements that could affect choice results. Third, this research showed that rewards can be classified by product characteristics that customers recognize. Also, it provided information of customer segmentation information on effort level. Through this research, foundation that allows marketing staffs to design customer-oriented reward program was provided. In conclusion, reward program that could increase the customer value and reduce marketing cost could be made possible. For last, due to the following limitations of this research, additional researches that could supplement are needed. First, research on the interaction effect between the strategical variables that have been used in this research is necessary. Second, research on interaction effect between independent variable and subject group that is set as covariate is necessary in the future.

reward program, utilitarian reward, hedonic reward, consumer’s effort, risk aversion