A Study on the Impact of Perceived Regulations for Sales at Super-Supermarket and Discount Store on Consumers' Shopping Value and Subjective Well-Being

Purpose - This study focused on consumers' perception about regulations for sales enforced by national and local governments in Korea. The study examined the relationship between perceived regulatory restrictions and subjective well-being (SWB), and perceived regulatory restrictions and shopping value, respectively. Research Design, Data, and Methodology - Data were collected from 135 college students and consumers in Gyeonggi Province to verify the relationships, moderating effects, and mediating effects, thus testing the theoretical model and its hypotheses. Results - First, consumers' positive perception of regulatory restrictions enabled enhancement of their SWB. Second, consumers' positive perception of regulatory restrictions had no significant positive influence on hedonic value but had a significant positive influence on utilitarian value. Third, utilitarian value exhibited a full mediating effect on the relationship between regulatory restrictions and SWB. Conclusion - This study showed that consumers' positive win-win attitude is based on social norms. Further, we expect that consumers experiencing discomfort due to regulatory restrictions resolve this by going to other distributors. Finally, to increase distributors' competitiveness and consumers' utilitarian value, it is suggested that distributors require a variety of marketing strategies.