제품의 디자인이 성능 추론에 미치는 영향: 디자인 전형성과 제품 유형의 차이를 중심으로

In the face of fierce competition between products, product design can act as an important means of differentiation, while also serving as an important criterion of judgment that allows one to infer the functionality of a product. At present, scholars are undertaking research to investigate how product design affects consumer attitudes. However, few studies have investigated inference on functionality as a dependent variable. In addition, prior studies of the effects of product design have often been conducted without distinction of the product type. Therefore, the present study analyzes the relationship between designs and the consumers’ inferences of functionality, which can vary across specific product categories (i.e., a utilitarian product vs. a hedonic product). Some of the key findings include the following. First, the aesthetic and symbolism associated with evaluations of good and bad designs have been found to have a positive effect on inference on functionality. In this regard, positive evaluations of product design play an important role with regard to inference on functionality. Second, interaction effects of typicality and product type were identified under good design conditions. For utilitarian products, inferences of functionality for products with high typicality are more favorable, whereas for hedonic products, when the design is far from typical, consumers tend to evaluate the functionality of a product positively. It is certain that the reliability and stability that typical designs of utilitarian products cause have a positive impact on inferences of functionality. However, for hedonic products, an atypical appearance brings about a positive impression because emotional usefulness is very important with regard to hedonic products.