빵 시장의 가격 공정성 지각: 세 하위 시장의 비교

Against the backdrop of the recent social controversy over salt bread prices, this study used the Korea Consumer Markets Evaluation Indicators data from the Korea Consumer Agency to examine antecedent factors influencing perceptions of bread price fairness. Based on available literature and data, we identified antecedent factors that could influence price fairness perceptions and examined their relative influences. We compared antecedent factors across the entire market and three submarkets (independent bakeries, franchises, and mass-produced bread). These antecedent factors included price comparison (payment amount minus expected price), price fluctuations (perceived price fluctuations, reasonableness of price fluctuations, causes of price fluctuations), trust (reliability of price information, seller trustworthiness), buyer vulnerability (average monthly household income, number of purchases, average monthly expenditure, and purchase purpose), and price transparency (sufficiency of price information, ease of price comparison). Hierarchical regression analysis of the overall market data revealed that, in a model incorporating all antecedent factors, the influence of reasonableness of price fluctuations, seller trustworthiness, reliability of price information, causes of price fluctuations, and ease of price comparison were significant, in that order. However, there were slight differences across the three submarkets. The study found that the main influence on perceptions of price fairness was not the price itself, but rather the fact that prices changed to a reasonable level for a valid reason. Perceptions of price fairness in the bread market appear to be somewhat low, requiring efforts to improve this. Efforts focused on variables with significant influence are expected to be effective.