When Preferential Treatment Backfires:Exploring the Satisfaction of Beneficiaries towards Preferential Treat-ment from the Perspective of Social Psychological Dis-tance
Preferential treatment is defined as"giving certain cus-tomers higher social status and extra or better products and ser-vices beyond what is normally offered".As an easy-to-implement marketing tool,preferential treatment has been widely used in various domains such as restaurants,hotels,and airports to improve consumer experience and satisfaction.Existing literature indicates that preferential treatment in private settings has a positive impact on the beneficiaries.However,previous research has not formed a unified consensus on the impact of preferential treatment on treated consumers in public settings involving social interactions.Given the prevalence of preferential treatment offered by businesses,the advantages of its public implementation,as well as the associated costs,it is crucial to explore this topic from the social perspective.Our research proposes a new factor closely related to interpersonal relationships,the presence of acquaintance,that influences consum-er satisfaction with preferential treatment.We suggest that prefer-ential treatment will lead to decreased consumer satisfaction with presence of acquaintance.This happens because preferential treat-ment makes consumers feel alienated from the acquaintance due to its limited availability and exclusivity.We tested our hypotheses through a survey and five experiments.In the pilot survey(Study 1),we revealed the common occurrence of preferential treatments and the prevalence of encountering ac-quaintances in daily consumption contexts.In Study 2,we showed that preferential treatment decreased consumers'satisfaction with the presence(vs.no presence)of acquaintances.Besides,Study 2 manipulated the social closeness between participants and acquain-tances.The results showed that preferential treatment decreased consumer satisfaction regardless of whether they had a very close or normal relationship with the acquaintance,broadening the scope of the main effect.Studies 3 to 6 further explored the boundary con-ditions of the negative impact of preferential treatment on treated consumers.We proposed that our main effect exists under three conditions.First,the treated consumer needs to care about the changes in their psychological distance with the acquaintances.When the treated consumers'consumption motive is to attract social attention from others,or when their personality places more emphasis on dis-playing their uniqueness rather than strengthening psychological connections with others,the main effect will be weakened.Study 3 directly measured the perceived psychological distance with the acquaintance and demonstrated its mediating role in driving the main effect.Furthermore,Study 3 showed that the main effect was attenuated when consumers were motivated to attract attention from others.Study 4 revealed the moderating role of conspicuous con-sumption orientation as a personality trait and ruled out the alterna-tive explanation related to"Mianzi"or social image in driving the main effect.Second,the preferential treatment needs to be observable by ac-quaintances so they can recognize that the beneficiaries are being treated differently by the firms,leading to an increase in psycholog-ical distance.Based on this,Study 5 showed that this effect was at-tenuated when preferential treatment was unobservable to acquain-tances.Third,the preferential treatment needs to cause an increase(rather than a decrease)in perceived psychological distance between con-sumers and their acquaintances.If preferential treatment makes the relationship between the treated consumer and their acquaintances closer,the main effect will be reversed.Align with this,Study 6 showed that our main effect was reversed when preferential treat-ment could be shared with acquaintances.Additionally,Study 6 further showed that when consumers refused preferential treatment in the presence of acquaintances,they felt a closer psychological distance with those acquaintances,resulting in high satisfaction even without receiving actual benefits.The current research makes the following theoretical contributions.First,our research expands the understanding of the effectiveness of preferential treatment.While prior research has mainly focused on the negative feedback from bystanders who do not receive pref-erential treatment,our research highlights the impact of preferential treatment on treated consumers.Consistent with the common belief,most of the existing literature has shown a positive effect of prefer-ential treatment on its beneficiaries,leading to increased word-of-mouth,reduced price sensitivity,increased brand loyalty,etc.We propose that preferential treatment will lead to decreased consumer satisfaction with the presence of acquaintance.Second,our findings supplement related literature on social influ-ences in the domain of service marketing.Previous research on beneficiaries'satisfaction with preferential treatment typically dis-cusses this issue based on social comparison theory and perceived fairness theory.On the one hand,consumers who received preferen-tial treatment may engage in downward social comparison,leading to feelings of superiority and increased satisfaction.On the other hand,treated consumers may also experience a sense of unfairness,among other moral discomforts,leasing to a decreased satisfaction.This research introduces a new factor,the presence of acquaintanc-es,to reconcile prior mixed findings on preferential treatment from the perspective of perceived psychological distance.Specifically,we show that the presence of acquaintances decreases the satisfaction of the beneficiaries after receiving preferential treatment.Third,the research enriches the application of psychological dis-tance theory in service settings.Current research identified four theory-driven moderators of the main effect related to psychological distance,including(1)consumers'motivation to attract attention from others;(2)consumers'personality traits related to conspicuous consumption;(3)the observability of preferential treatment;and(4)whether the preferential treatment can be shared with the ac-quaintances.Service providers can use these four factors to reduce the negative effects of preferential treatment with the presence of acquaintances.This research also has important practical implications.The find-ings provide practical guidance for firms and frontline employees when implementing preferential treatments.In marketing practice,businesses often publicize preferential treatment for various purpos-es,such as ensuring transparency,increasing reputation,enhancing customer engagement,and generating greater social impact.How-ever,the conclusions of our research suggest that preferential treat-ment in the public settings may backfire when the acquaintances of treated consumers are present.Frontline employees can use insights of this research to flexibly implement preferential treatment for con-sumers who are interacting with other consumers,such as avoiding providing preferential treatment or making it"unobservable",to effectively reduce the negative impact of the presence of acquain-tances on consumers'satisfaction with preferential treatment.
Preferential TreatmentPresence of AcquaintancesPsychological DistancePerceived Alienation
万方数据
