미신적 신념(superstitious belief)이 소비자 행동에 많은 영향을 미친다. 하지만 그럼에도 불구하고 미신적 신념과 관련하여 특히 마케팅 분야에서 실증적 연구는 아직 미흡한 실정이다. 이에 본 연구에서는 미신적 신념이 제품태도에 어떤 영향을 미치는지 살펴보았다. 실험1에서는 미신적 브랜드 제품의 태도와 일반 브랜드 제품에 대한 태도의 비교를 통해 미신적 브랜드가 제품태도에 어떤 영향을 미치는지 살펴보았다. 그 결과, 일반 브랜드 제품에 대한 태도보다 미신적 브랜드 제품에 대해 더 호의적이었다. 실험2는 실험1을 확장하여 유사 확장제품과 비 유사 확장제품 평가에 있어 미신적 브랜드가 어떤 영향을 미치는지 살펴보았다. 그 결과, 유사 확장제품 평가에 있어서 미신적 브랜드 제품에 대한 태도와 일반 브랜드 제품에 대한 태도의 차이는 발생하지 않았다. 하지만 비 유사 확장제품 평가에 있어서 일반 브랜드 제품에 대한 태도보다 미신적 브랜드 제품에 대한 태도가 더 호의적이었다. 실험3은 조절초점을 통해 미신적 브랜드와 비 유사 확장제품 평가에 있어 조절초점이 어떤 역할을 하는지 살펴보았는데, 촉진동기의 경우 일반 브랜드 제품에 대한 태도와 미신적 브랜드 제품에 대한 태도는 차이가 없었다. 하지만 예방동기의 경우, 일반 브랜드 제품에 대한 태도보다 미신적 브랜드 제품에 대한 태도가 더 호의적이었다.
Despite superstitious beliefs have strong impacts on our daily lives, less empirical research has been done, especially in marketing domain. Thus, the current research empirically explored the influences of superstitious belief on product attitude. After two pretests were conducted, the research adopted a superstitious brand, TX770 and a general brand, TX550 and these brands were used throughout the experiments. Based on the fact that lucky superstitious beliefs were perceived more favorably than unlucky superstitious beliefs, Experiment 1 examined the influence of superstitious brand on product attitude by comparing the superstitious brand with general brand. A hundred of undergraduates participated in the experiment and all participants were randomly assigned to the conditions of the superstitious brand vs. general brand. Then participants were asked to evaluate attitudes toward the Notebook with three items on seven-point scales. The result showed that participants in the superstitious brand condition evaluated the Notebook more favorably than those in the general brand condition. That is, TX770 Notebook was evaluated more favorably than TX550 Notebook. Much of studies on brand extension have focused on perceived fit between the original brand and its extensions, such that the higher the perceived fit, the more likely the favorable evaluations of extensions. Thus, perceived fit is the key driver that influences the success of brand extensions. Although prior research has identified several factors as determinants of perceived fit between the original brand and its extensions, brand extension, in particular, research on dissimilar extensions is still ongoing to enhance the evaluations of dissimilar extensions. Thus, Experiment 2 extended the result of Experiment 1 to brand extension domain and explored the influence of superstitious belief on product attitude in brand extension domain. Specifically, the research examined the influences of superstitious brand on similar extension vs. dissimilar extension product to expend the scope of research and to deepen our understanding of brand extension. Experiment 2 used superstitious brand, TX770 and general brand, TX550. After a pretest was conducted to select extensions, toothpaste was used as the original product and electronic toothbrush was selected as an similar extension. Sunglasses and Wristwatch were selected as dissimilar extensions. 120 of undergraduates participated in the experiment and they were randomly assigned to the conditions. Then participants were asked to evaluate attitudes toward the products with three items on seven-point scales. To test the hypothesis, the research used 2(extension: similar vs. dissimilar) x 2(brand: superstitious vs. general) between-subjects design with two dissimilar extensions. First, participants in the superstitious brand condition expressed more favorable product attitude than those in the general brand condition. Next, for the hypothesis, in similar extension, no difference was found in product attitude between the superstitious brand(TX770) and general brand(TX550). However, in dissimilar extension, there was a difference between the superstitious brand and general brand condition. Specifically, participants in the superstitious brand condition evaluated the products(e.g., sunglasses and wrist watch) more favorably than those in the general brand condition. Thus, the influence of superstitious brand was emerged in dissimilar extension, not in similar extension. Regulatory focus theory suggested that there were two distinct sorts of goal orientation; promotion focus vs. prevention focus. Promotion focus is geared to motivate to attain advancement and achievement by approaching matched to desired end states. A prevention focus, by contrast, is geared to motivate people to achieve safety and protection by avoiding mismatches to desired end states. These distinct goals can be served by different strategic means. That is, promotion focus uses an approach strategy to goal attainment, whereas prevention focus uses an avoidance strategy to goal attainment. Based on this theory, it is assumed that prevention focus was more sensitive to superstitious belief than promotion focus. With this assumption, Experiment 3 examined the influence of superstitious belief on the attitude of dissimilar product by adopting regulatory focus. For the dissimilar extensions, TX770 sunglasses and TX550 sunglasses were used in the experiment. 100 of undergraduates participated in the experiment and were randomly assigned to each condition of the experiment. To test the hypothesis, the research used 2(regulatory focus: promotion vs. prevention) x 2(brand: superstitious vs. general) between- subjects design. The result showed that in the promotion focus condition, no difference of product attitude was found between the superstitious brand and general brand condition. However, in the prevention focus condition, participants in the superstitious brand condition evaluated the product more favorably than those in the general brand condition.