공익활동 유형이 기업이미지에 미치는 영향 - 실용적 제품 vs. 쾌락적 제품

The Effects of Type of Cause Activities on Corporate Image: Utilitarian Products vs. Hedonic Products

&nbsp;&nbsp;본 연구는 제품의 유형(실용적 제품 vs. 쾌락적 제품)을 구분하고, 제품유형이 기업이미지에 미치는 영향에 있어서 공익활동 유형(자선적 공익활동 vs. 기능적 공익활동)의 조절효과에 대해서 살펴보고자 하였다. 즉, 본 연구는 기업이미지에 있어서 실용적 제품의 경우에는 기능적 공익활동이 자선적 공익활동에 비해 더욱 긍정적이며, 쾌락적 제품의 경우에는 자선적 공익활동이 기능적 공익활동에 비해 더욱 긍정적이라고 예측하였다.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;그러나 연구결과, 제품유형과 관계없이 자선적 공익활동이 기능적 공익활동에 비해 더욱 긍정적으로 나타났다. 이에 대해서 본 연구는 가설과는 다른 결과에 대해서 다양한 추론을 하였다.

&nbsp;&nbsp;This paper examines the role of product attribute/type of cause activities fit in cause related marketing. First of all, this study employed the two different concepts of product attributes: hedonic and utilitarian. In addition, cause activities conducted by <BR>companies can be divided into the two types: charity based cause activities and function based activities. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether product attribute/type of cause activities fit in cause related marketing can play a critical role to build favorable corporate image. When a company employed a hedonic product, we expect that consumers represent more positive attitudes on charity based activities than function based activities. By the same token, we expect that when a company sells an utilitarian product, consumers represent more positive attitudes on function based activities than charity based activities because both fit well.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;After conducting the experiments, we found that the results are different from our expectations. For both hedonic and utilitarian products, conducting charity based activities is proved to be more effective than doing function based activities to build positive corporate image. If a company wants to beef up positive image of its utilitarian or hedonic products, conducting charity based activities is more likely to be effective.