Motivation, Incentives, and Experiential vs. Material Rewards: COB Research Seminar Presentation March 10th

The Office of Research would like to highlight the March 10, 2023 Research Seminar hosted by the College of Business. Any interested faculty are welcome to attend the seminar.

Ayalla Ruvio, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Marketing, Broad College of Business, Michigan State University.

Title: “How Rewarding is Your Rewards Program? The Differential Effects of Experiential and Material Rewards”

Abstract: We contribute to and extend a recent theoretical framework about loyalty programs by presenting a comprehensive examination of how experiential rewards impact customers’ attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. Five lab studies and a longitudinal field study establish that experiential versus material rewards lead to greater attitudinal loyalty, more redemptions, and more spending when pursuing a reward and after redeeming them. These effects are driven by a greater perceived value of experiential versus material rewards, even when they have the same monetary value. Additionally, we demonstrate that a small experiential reward is as effective as a large material reward.  A large experiential reward does not provide additional benefits, suggesting a boundary condition of our findings. However, the promise of a large experiential reward can prompt customers to forgo immediate rewards to pursue it. These results provide robust evidence as to how firms can improve the impact of their rewards programs by integrating experiential rewards.

Time and location: 10:00-11:15 am, 19000 Hubbard Drive, Room 120/121, Fairlane Center North, Dearborn, MI 48126