그간 감동의 경험을 창출할 수 있는 마케팅 전략에 대한 중요성은 많은 실무자들에 의해 주장되었다. 그러나 실제 구체적인 전략을 수립하는데 있어 과학적인 뒷받침이 될 수 있는 실증 연구는 현재 매우 미흡한 실정이며 감동의 개념을 측정할 수 있는 도구나 체계적인 지수 개발 연구도 부족한 실정이다. 본 연구에서는 향후 감동에 관한 실증 연구의 기반을 마련하기 위해 그 개념을 명확히 정의하고 효과적으로 측정할 수 있는 기틀을 마련하고자 하였다. 연구결과 감동은 기존의 학자들의 주장과는 달리 다양한 감정들(고마움, 놀라움, 즐거움, 황홀함 등)의 복합체이며 15가지의 감정요소들로 구성되었다는 것을 발견하였다. 개발된 감동 측정 항목들은 네 단계의 조사를 거쳐 타당성과 신뢰성을 검증하였다.
Effects of satisfaction on loyalty have been argued in several past literature. A weak linkage between satisfaction and loyalty was reported. Loyalty may not be directly influenced by satisfaction. Switching costs including time, money, and effort, personal traits of enjoying switching, or purchase decisions influenced by promotional elements (e.g., store coupons) may be the primary factors that influence loyalty. Delight involves surprise and joy beyond satisfaction. Whereas satisfaction results from meeting expectations, delight occurs when a service is provided more than expected. Although the power of delight on repurchase intention or loyalty has been addressed by practitioners, academic evidence is currently limited. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to define the concept of delight and develop a scale to assess delight in order to provide a grounded framework for future research. Following Nunnally(1967), Gerbing and Anderson(1988), and Churchill(1979), a stepwise procedure for scale development was considered. Four studies involved both qualitative and quantitative approaches were conducted to examine the validity and reliability of the developed delight scale. Study 1 was designed to extract descriptors of delight. In the first study, literature review, focus group interview, in-depth interview, and expert interview were conducted. All retrieved delight items were then recategorized by nine items of cause (e.g., I felt he/she was thinking of me), three items of situation (e.g., I did not expect this service/situation), and seventeen items of affect (e.g., thankful, fascinated, surprise). Considering delight as affect, further analyses focused on seventeen items of affect. Study 2 was conducted to purify seventeen delight affect items identified in study 1. A total of 200 college students participated and responded to a questionnaire with a delight scenario. After reading a given scenario, respondents were asked to rate their feelings on seventeen items using a 7-point Likert-type scale (1-strongly disagree, 7-strongly agree). An exploratory factor analysis revealed fifteen items adequately explain delight and excluded two initial items of `joy welling up in my heart` and `almost cry with happiness.` Also, two dimensions of joy and warmth explained the delight construct. Joy includes ten items of `my heart was full,` `flying,` `excited,` `enthusiastic,` `pleasurable,` `fascinated,` `happy,` `feel a lump,` `magnificent,` and `joy.` Warmth consisted of five items including `thankful,` `warm,` `heart touching,` `choke with emotion,` and `surprise.` To confirm fifteen items of delight, study 3 was conducted. To achieve external validity, sample compositions were extended from study 2. A total of 226 individuals from three large cities in Korea participated in study 3. Scenarios were given to evoke delight feelings. Different from study 1, the delight experience in the store was drawn. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the relation of the scale items to the delight construct. Model 1 assumed all fifteen items were exclusive and loaded on a single delight construct, whereas model 2 and model 3 assumed two dimensions of joy and warmth explained a delight construct. Model 2 described two dimensions that are equally weighted as first-ordered latent factors. Model 3 assumed a correlation between two first-ordered latent factors for delight. Using confirmatory factor analyses, three models were tested. Results revealed that model 1 and model 3 fit the data well. Multiple affect items explained delight better than two dimensions of joy and warmth. Also, when a correlation between joy and warmth was assumed, a delight scale was explained better. In study 4, the discriminant validity of a delight scale was assessed. Among seven items of a satisfaction scale developed by Crosby and Stephens(1987), Eroglu and Machleit(1990), and Spreng et al.(1996), two items that were duplicated with delight items or similar in meaning were excluded for the discriminant validity test. A total of 167 college students participated in study 4. Dissimilar to study 2 and study 3, respondents were asked to recall and describe their recent shopping experience that evoked delight or satisfaction. Ninety one respondents recalled delight experiences and 76 respondents illustrated satisfaction experiences. A separate exploratory factor analysis was performed independently for the total respondents, delight-experienced respondents, and satisfaction-experienced respondents in order to discriminate delight and satisfaction items in all conditions. Results revealed that delight was a separate factor of satisfaction in all analyses. Past research has been limited to define delight from the satisfaction paradigm. In this study, delight was identified as a separate concept of satisfaction. Also, delight was explained not by a single affect, but by multiple modes of affect. A delight scale can be a valuable tool for practitioners to examine the effects of marketing strategies executed by the firm on delight and predicts future repurchase or revisit intentions. In academic research, delight can be assessed and measured in a scientific way and further examined for effects.