디지털 콘텐츠 구독서비스 품질요인이 지불공정성과 서비스만족에 미치는 영향: 서비스 프로세스 접근을 중심으로

Unlike traditional business models that transfer ownership through one-time sales of products or services, subscription business models are based on continuous and recurring payments from consumers. Given the nature of subscription services, payment equity consumers' perception that the costs they pay are fair and reasonable in light of the service experience they receive is expected to play a crucial role. However, research on this topic has been relatively limited. This study focuses on this research gap by identifying the antecedents of payment equity in subscription services and examining its impact on service satisfaction. Digital content subscription services, in particular, involve automated processes throughout the entire customer journey from service registration, usage, billing, cancellation, to resubscription–with each stage becoming a subject of consumers' repeated evaluation. Therefore, it is necessary to approach service quality factors from a process perspective that encompasses the overall customer experience. Differentiating from previous subscription economy research that focused primarily on outcome quality, this study categorizes subscription service quality factors into outcome quality as well as process quality components, specifically billing and payment quality, and cancellation quality, and empirically examines their relative effects. The analysis results show that outcome quality, billing and payment quality, and cancellation quality all have significant positive effects on payment equity. Additionally, payment equity was found to have a significant positive impact on service satisfaction. These findings theoretically contribute to the research field that approaches service quality from a customer experience management perspective, while providing practical implications for companies seeking to analyze stage-specific quality to determine the scope and priorities for improvement.