The Effects of Switching-Frustrated Situation on Negative Psychological Response

전환 좌절상황에서 소비자의 부정적 심리반응에 관한 연구

Despite the voluminous research on switching barriers, the notion that they can generate negative responses has not been investigated. Further, a critical question is what determines the strength of such negative responses. To address this question, the classic theory of psychological reactance is briefly reviewed, and the idea of switching barrier is advanced. This study attempts to suggest a model on the negative effects of switching- frustrated situation, based on the studies on psychological reactance. According to psychological reactance theory(Brehm 1966), whenever a freedom is threatened or removed, individuals are motivated, at least temporarily, to restore their freedom. For example, if individuals think they are free to engage in behaviors .v, y, or z, then threatening their freedom to engage in x would cause psychological reactance. This reactance could be reduced by an increase in the perceived attractiveness of engaging in, the threatened behavior(Kivetz 2005). This investigation seeks to extend existing switching barrier research in three important ways. First, while the past research has emphasized only positive role of switching barrier, this study address negative role of it by applying psychological reactance theory. Second, to find negative results of switching barrier, I suggest negative psychological response including regret to the past choice, resentment to the present provider, and strong desire to the alternative provider. Third, I suggest the perceived severity of the switching barriers, the attractiveness of the alternative as switching-frustrated situation which can lead to negative results. And, in addition to these relationships, I added moderated effects of perceived justice for better explanation. So this study includes the following hypotheses. H1-1 ~ H1-3: The attractiveness of the alternative has a positive effect regret to the past choice (h1-1), resentment to the present provider (h1-2), and strong desire to the alternative provider (h1-3). H2-1 ~ H2-3 : The perceived severity of the switching barrier has a positive effect regret to the past choice (h2-1), resentment to the present provider (h2-2), and strong desire to the alternative provider (h2-3). H3-1 ~ H3-3 : The positive relationships between the attractiveness of the alternative and consumer' negative responses will be stronger at low level of perceived justice than at high level of perceived justice. H4-1 ~ H4-3 : The positive relationships between the perceived severity of the switching barrier and consumer' negative responses will be stronger at low level of perceived justice than at high level of perceived justice. Survey research is employed to test hypotheses involving perceived severity of the switching barrier(Hess 2008), attractiveness of the alternative(Anderson and Narus 1990; Ohanian 1990),regret(Glovich and Medvec 1995), resentment, strong desire(Alcohol Urge Questionaire: Bohn et al. 1995), perceived justice(Bies and Moag 1986; Clemmer 1993; Lind and Tyler 1998). Previous researches, such as reactance theory, emotion and service failure, have been referenced to measure constructs. All items were measured on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree". We collected data involving various service field, and used 249 respondents to analyze these data using the moderated regression. The results of our analysis suggest, as expected, that the perceived severity of the switching barrier had positive effects on regret to the past choice(b = .197, p< .01), resentment to the present provider(b = .214, p< .01), and strong desire to the alternative provider(b = .254, p< .001). And the attractiveness of the alternative had positive effects on regret to the past choice(b = .353, p<.001), resentment to the present provider(b = .174, p< .01), and strong desire to the alternative provider(b = .265, p< .001). However, our findings indicate perceived justice partly moderates relationship between switching-frustrated situation and psychological negative response. The study has brought to light a number of insights between switching barriers and consumer' negative responses that have been subject to little prior research. In particular, this study adds to the existing understanding of the psychological responses to switching barriers in switching- frustrated situation. This research therefore has significance to marketers for strategic marketing programs, particularly in terms of customer retention and switching barrier strategies. Since consumers could exhibit negative responses to switching barrier, companies would be able to lose their customer when they thoughtlessly use switching barrier for remaining customer. Although the study has these contributions, there are several limitations including unsupported hypotheses and research method. So, we need to make up for these limitations in the future researches.

현재 치열한 경쟁상황 속에서 기업들은 소비자들이 다른 대안으로 전환하는 것을 막기 위한 다양한 전략들을 실행하고 있으며, 이 중에서 전환장벽을 이용하는 전략은 고객유지와 관련해 매우 효과적인 것으로 알려져 있다. 하지만 전환 장벽으로 인해 새로운 대안으로 바꾸지 못하고 현재 서비스제공자와의 관계를 유지해야 하는 소비자 입장에서도 전환장벽이 긍정적일 것인가? 심리적 반작용이론에 의하면, 사람들은 어떤 자유가 위협받거나 제거될 때, 그 자유를 되찾는 방향으로 동기부여 되거나 어떤 부정적 반응을 보일 수 있다고 하였다. 전환장벽 역시 전환의 자유를 제약한다는 점에서 소비자의 부정적 반응을 유발할 수 있으므로, 본 연구는 전환장벽으로 인해 다른 대안을 단념해야 하는 상황에서 소비자가 경험할 수 있는 부정적 심리 반응과 그에 영향을 주는 변수들에 초점을 맞춘다. 연구가설에서, 부정적 심리반응에는 '이전선택에 대한 후회', '현재 제공자에 대한 원망', '좌절된 제공자에 대한 열망'을 포함하였으며, 전환좌절 상황의 특성-'좌절된 대안의 매력성', '전환 장벽의 심각성'-이 이러한 반응들에 영향을 줄 것으로 가정하였다. 그리고 이러한 전환 좌절상황의 특성이 주는 부정적 영향은 현재까지 해당 제공자로부터 받은 대우에 따라서 달라질 것으로 보고 지각된 공정성을 조절변수로 추가하였다. 연구 결과 전환좌절상황의 특성과 부정적 심리반응의 관계는 모두 지지된 반면, 지각된 공정성의 조절효과는 대부분의 관계를 상호작용 공정성이 조절하는 것으로 나타나 일부만이 지지 되었다. 이러한 결과는 전환 장벽의 긍정적 측면에만 영향을 밝혀온 기존 연구의 한계점보완하고 있으며 그에 따른 이론적 실무적 시사점을 제공해준다.