서비스제공자의 심리적 주인의식과 자기결정성이 친소비자 행동에 미치는 영향

Abstract

It is not too much to say that the attitudes and behaviors of workers in the service industry determine the destiny of service enterprises, whose operations are based on human. As such, the attitudes and behaviors of service staff have a direct influence on customer satisfaction and is an indicator of the effectiveness of the marketing of a company. Customers experience both satisfaction and dissatisfaction in relation to the behaviors of service providers, who are in direct contact with customers. As a result, the levels of the services offered by providers determines the reputation, as well as, the performances and competitiveness of a service company. In the service industry, where competition is intense, for a company to have a competitive advantage, it is necessary to develop an effective drive that can generate outcomes different from those of other companies and make sure it works. Therefore, to meet the diverse needs of customers at the service point of contact, the service providers, who have the ability to exert control over their actions, should have required qualifications and training when dealing with customers rather than doing simple tasks based on the manuals provided to them (Yagil, 2006). In this regard, one of the attitudes service corporations have recently highlighted to their employees is psychological ownership. Psychological ownership refers to the belief that companies can grow and progress when employees conduct themselves as if they are the owners of the company by which they are employed. The higher level of psychological ownership their employees possess, the fewer conflicts between management and workers there will be and the fewer opportunistic behaviors employees exhibit. Like this, the psychological ownership shown by employees will have a positive influence on the effectiveness of a corporation (Jo, 2006). As mentioned previously, because customers satisfaction is linked to the service attitudes and behaviors exhibited by employees in the service companies, the level of service will serve as a barometer measuring the competitiveness of a service company. Hence, it will be worthwhile to reconsider the psychological ownership of service providers as a driving force for the business performances of a new service company from the viewpoint of a service corporation (Park et al., 2013). The primary objective of this study is to identify, in an empirical manner, how the psychological ownership of service providers, as a leading variable, influences the satisfaction of customers who receive service. In addition, the study was conducted to verify the effect that the psychological ownership and self-determination of service providers have on pro-consumer behaviors. In order to understand customer satisfaction, the users of the service provided, and recommendation intention among other behavior intentions, this study also investigates the mediating effect of regulatory focus on the jobs the workers of service corporations perform, and it is expected to play a role as a medium of those factors. This study tries to contribute to the growth and development of service companies not only by narrowing the gap among service companies, service providers, and service users based on psychological ownership and self-determination, but also by presenting practical implications related to the marketing performance of service companies along with the attendant academic implications. This study shows that both psychological ownership and self-determination of service providers have an impact on regulatory focus and measures how influential regulatory focus is on pro-consumer behaviors. Additionally, the study aims to establish the causal relationship between customer satisfaction and recommendation intention by objectively evaluating the overall attitude and performance of service providers, and proving meditating effects of regulatory focus. In order to set the research model and conduct an analysis, research hypotheses have been established as follows: Pierce et al.(2003) claimed that it is possible to have psychological ownership have either an active or resistant reaction to changes according to regulatory focus (promotion focus and prevention focus). Psychological ownership of service providers will have an impact on regulatory focus. Psychological ownership of service providers will have a positive (+) impact on promotion focus. Psychological ownership of service providers will have a negative (-) impact on prevention focus. Examining preceding research on the relationship between service provider self-determination and their focus from the marketing perspective, it can be argued that the degree of task performance motivation is determined depending on how much employees perceive that their autonomy is guaranteed in choosing ways to carry out their tasks. High self-determination of service providers not only boosts their performance motivation but also increases the durability of their actions (Blanchard and Vallerand, 1996). Self-determination of service providers will have an impact on regulatory focus. Self-determination of service providers will have a positive (+) impact on promotion focus. Self-determination of service providers will have a negative (-) impact on prevention focus. Whereas the frontline workers in the service sector, who are required to interact with customers, are involved in jobs requiring them to provide relationship-based customer service depending on the types and characteristics of a job, they are also tasked with jobs requiring them to serve customers only one time. The motivation of employees can vary according to those different relationships with customers. When the service lasts due to the relationship based on repeated contacts with customers, service providers are highly motivated to provide better service and their promotion focus to pursue ideal self will be activated. For the jobs offering one-time customer service, security-oriented prevention focus will be activated in order to prevent reception of negative feedbacks from customers (Jo, 2013). Regulatory focus of service providers will have an impact on pro-consumer behaviors. Promotion focus of service providers will have a positive (+) impact on pro-consumer behaviors. Prevention focus of service providers will have a negative (-) impact on pro-consumer behaviors. The pro-consumer behavior of those working in the service corporations first begins with an attempt to satisfy service users at the service point of contact (Lim, Chi-geun · Kimm Won-ik, 2009). This is because the attitudes and behaviors of employees at the service point of contact provide crucial clues in affecting the levels of service and the satisfaction of users (Park et al., 2002). Pro-consumer behaviors of service providers will have a positive (+) impact on customer satisfaction and recommendation intention. Pro-consumer behaviors of service providers will have a positive (+) impact on customer satisfaction. Pro-consumer behaviors of service providers will have a positive (+) impact on recommendation intention. It can be anticipated that psychological ownership and self-determination will have a positive impact on pro-consumer behaviors and have not only a direct influence but also an indirect influence through regulatory focus. Thus, this study has set following research hypotheses, assuming that regulatory focus will play a role as a medium in the relationship of pro-consumer behaviors with both psychological ownership and self-determination. Regulatory focus of service providers will play a role as a medium in the relationship between psychological ownership and pro-consumer behaviors. Promotion focus of service providers will play a role as a medium in the relationship between psychological ownership and pro-consumer behaviors. Prevention focus of service providers will play a role as a medium in the relationship between psychological ownership and pro-consumer behaviors. Regulatory focus of service providers will play a role as a medium in the relationship between self-determination and pro-consumer behaviors. Promotion focus of service providers will play a role as a medium in the relationship between self-determination and pro-consumer behaviors. Prevention focus of service providers will play a role as a medium in the relationship between self-determination and pro-consumer behaviors. The results of the study can be summarized as follows: First, the hypothesis, that psychological ownership of service providers will have a positive (+) impact on promotion focus, has been confirmed. However, hypothesis 1-2, that psychological ownership will have a negative (-) impact on prevention focus, has been rejected. The study, considering the view of Pierce et al.(2003), verifies the causal relationship inversely and proves that the impact that psychological ownership of service providers has on motivation types supports the similar findings of existing studies in the empirical analysis. As a result, the study implies that psychological ownership of service providers is a major factor that affects all the motivation types of service providers. Second, the empirical analysis of both hypothesis 2-1, that self-determination of service providers will have a positive (+) impact on promotion focus, and hypothesis 2-2, that self-determination will have a negative (-) impact on prevention focus, suggests that self-determination is a perception of the degree of determination in the process of service providers' performing their tasks. When self-determination becomes higher, promotion focus increases accordingly and has a negative (-) impact on prevention focus. If service providers view their jobs highly, intrinsic motivations to come up with new methods and various approaches regarding their work are boosted while it has a negative (-) impact on motivation to maintain security related to the jobs service providers perform. In this regard, hypothesis' 2-1 and 2-2 have been accepted. Third, the verification of the influence of regulatory focus (promotion focus and prevention focus) on pro-consumer behaviors shows that promotion focus has a positive (+) impact on pro-consumer behaviors and prevention focus has a negative (-) impact on pro-consumer behaviors. Thus, hypothesis' 3-1 and 3-2 have been accepted. Such findings suggest that the type of motivation service providers have makes differences in behaviors service providers perform when trying to support consumers. Fourth, just as suggested in hypothesis 4, pro-consumer behaviors have a positive (+) impact on both customer satisfaction and recommendation intention. Therefore, hypothesis' 4-1 and 4-2 have been accepted. The findings correspond with those of Park et al.(2002) and reaffirms that attitudes and behaviors of service providers at the point of contact serve as crucial clues in affecting the levels of service and the satisfaction of users. Fifth, in the process of verifying that regulatory focus (promotion focus and prevention focus) plays a role as a medium in the relationship among psychological ownership, self-determination, and pro-consumer behaviors, it has been confirmed that psychological ownership and pro-consumer behaviors are fully mediated by promotion focus. In this regard, after analyzing the findings, only hypothesis 5-1 has been accepted while hypothesis' 5-2, 6-1, and 6-2 have been rejected. It is the part that agrees with what Pierce et al.(2003) claimed in their study that the evaluation of consumers on psychological ownership, self-determination, and pro-consumer behaviors of service providers, depending on the types of their regulatory focus, is different and inconsistent. Based on the findings presented above, this study would like to suggest the following theoretical implications: First, the study introduced the concept of psychological ownership, a psychological factor that is actively studied in the fields of social psychology and organizational behavior, as a causal variable which affects customer satisfaction, which itself is an indicator of management performance of a service company regarding the service providers, and verified it. The reconsideration of psychological ownership of service providers serves as a driving force which triggers pro-consumer behaviors and consumer satisfaction. The study has proved that the establishment of psychological ownership of service providers has an impact on business performance of service corporations. Second, this study proved the relationship of pro-consumer behaviors of service providers with the level of consumer evaluation by restructuring the questions presented in the survey from the viewpoint of service users and using multilateral evaluation approaches. Third, by applying motivation types of service providers to marketing, this study reveals that the causal aspects among variables, according to the type of regulatory focus, become different from one another. In addition, the study emphasizes the importance of the regulatory focus type of service providers from the marketing perspective, expands the scope of the research, and implies that attention should be paid to the regulatory focus type of service providers. Fourth, while there was a limitation for the preceding studies in the marketing field to unify targets to measure according to each variable, and identify a precise relationship, this study has theoretical significance in that this study has revealed the causal relationship and used an empirical approach by measuring and analyzing targets after dividing them into causal variables and outcome variables. Practical implications are as follows: First, in order for the beauty service industry, which is reliant on human resources, to improve the service level of providers, it is recommended that the level of psychological ownership and self-determination of its employees be increased. It is indicated that the longer service providers remain at a place of employment, the greater they perceive self-determination and psychological ownership. This study suggests that hair and beauty salon businesses, which have a high turnover rate, should develop measures focusing on employee retention. Based on the empirically analyzed results of this study, it can be suggested. through empirical research and theoretical consideration, that beauty salon businesses and those working in this field should invest in the development of a variety of programs and education which corresponds closer to the actual tasks performed on the job, to enhance psychological ownership of service providers which will result in better business performance in the beauty service industry. . Second, this study suggests strategic human resources management according to the regulatory focus of service providers. This study has demonstrated that, the activeness of service providers, based on customer orientation, and the employees with promotion focus, have a direct and indirect impact on consumer satisfaction and positive oral transmission. Therefore, those in charge of marketing in a service company are advised to select and assign appropriate personnel depending on the type of regulatory focus and take management measures based on the type of promotion focus. Third, by measuring and evaluating pro-consumer behaviors of service providers from the perspective of consumers, beyond the level where service providers self-report their pro-consumer behaviors, this study makes it possible to predict and discuss the management performance of a service corporation in a more accurate, concrete, and consumer-oriented manner. In this regard, if service companies make good use of the findings of this study as an objective indicator of their service evaluation, they can improve their images and the management approaches.