본 논문에서는 대인 관계 중 가장 기본적인 단위인 2人 다이아드 내의 성 역학관계에 관해 서술하였다. 이성 혹은 동성 간의 성 역학관계는 인류 역사상 가장 오래되고 기본적인 역학 관계임에도 불구하고, 이에 대한 체계적이고 학술적인 이론화 작업은 매우 희소하다. 일반적인 교환 관계 상황에서 한 명이 주도자의 역할을(α라 명기) 다른 한 명이 파트너의 역할을(β라 명기) 하게 되며, 남성 주도자-여성 파트너{αMale, βFemale}, 남성주도자-남성 파트너{αMale, βMale}, 여성 주도자-남성 파트너{αFemale, βMale}, 여성 주도자-여성 파트너{αFemale, βFemale}의 네 가지 경우의 성 다이아드로 분류할 수 있다. 본 논문에서는 대인 관계 중 가장 기본적인 단위인 2人 다이아드 내의 성 역학관계에 관해 이론 모델을 개발하고, 제시된 성 역학관계 이론 모델을 실증적으로 검증하였다. 소비자와 판매원 다이아드를 상정하는 컴퓨터 쇼핑 시뮬레이션 실험을 실시하여 판매 교환 관계 상황 내에서 네 가지 성 다이아드 유형 별로 피험자가 파트너에 대해 느끼는 사후 태도 및 작용 기제를 측정하였으며, 사후 태도에 영향을 미치는 영향 요인을 규명하고 그 유의성을 검증하여 성 역학관계 이론 모델을 지지하는 결과를 얻었다.
The dynamics between the sexes are one of the most fundamental forces that drive the course of human history, but few systematic, scientific theory about gender dynamics has been developed in the extant marketing literature. In a buyer-seller dyad, one typically plays the initiating role (noted as α) and the other, the partner role(noted as β). Thus, four types of gender dyads can be identified as the following: {αMale, βFemale}, {αMale, βMale}, {αFemale, βMale}, and {αFemale, βFemale}. Previous gender studies generally took a "unilateral" approach in studying gender effects in persuasion. For example, sex stereotypes reinforce the notion that males speakers are more competent and credible than are female speakers in professional and technical arenas (Eagly and Johnson 1990). Another example is that female leadership is deemed more vulnerable than male leadership because historically women has held a relative social minority position (Carli and Eagly 1999). These aforementioned studies, however, considered only the effect of an initiator`s {α} sex while ignoring the potential effect of a partner`s {β} sex on the effectiveness of persuasion. The purpose of this research is to address this gap in the marketing literature by developing a theory of gender dynamics in dyad. This paper presented a formal theory of gender dynamics by identifying the following four factors that influence consumer attitudes toward a partner in dyad: attraction, communion, generosity, and expertise. Then we showed how each gender dyad type can form a particular configuration of four influencing factors to result in the overall attitude towards the partner. The four gender-dyadic factors were attraction, communion, generosity, and perceived expertise. We conducted two experiments which began to demonstrate the usefulness of the gender dynamics theory. The first experiment employed a 2(subject sex: male vs. female) X 2(partner sex: male vs. female) X 2(partner price tactic: high vs. low) between-subject design. Using ANOVA, we found a significant main effect of price tactic on attitude. We also found a significant interaction between subject sex and partner sex on subject attitude. We also found heterosexual dyads perceived partners to be more attractive than same-sex dyads. Female subjects scored higher marks on communion than male subjects. Male subjects showed a higher level of generosity towards a female partner than toward a male parther. Attraction, communion, and generosity had significant influences on attitude towards a partner and subjects` final product choice was significantly affected by their attitudes toward partners. The second experiment added expertise as another gender-dyadic factor. Using a 2(subject sex: male vs. female) X 2(partner sex: male vs. female) X 2(expertise: expert vs. novice), we found a yet again significant interaction between subject sex and partner sex on attitude. More importantly, the interaction between both parties` sexes influenced perceived expertise of a partner. Particularly, female subjects perceived a male partner to have greater expertise than a female partner even after partner expertise was identically manipulated for both partner sexes. Since marketing is the study of "exchange," the gender dynamics model presented in this study offers a conceptual foundation for human dyadic exchange. Indeed, marketing exchange occurs between two social actors, whose actions are largely determined by their gender identity. This study offered the first empirical evidence for the unambiguous "bilateral" effects of communicator sex including both the initiator`s and the partner`s sex. While previous theoretical model of persuasion, the Elaboration Likelihood Model, suggested that the sex of a communicator was only a "peripheral" cue, the results experiment demonstrated that the bilateral sex effects of gender dynamics are more than peripheral. Gender dynamics are not to be considered as a peripheral and nonconsequential influence on persuasion because they can have far-reaching effects on consumer attitude and communication effectiveness.