Do Economic and Social Satisfaction Matter Equally in Sustainable Business? Hotel Membership Types and Sales Promotions

Abstract

Customer responses to economic and social satisfaction are important in business-to-business transactions; however, these responses can vary when customer segments and sales promotions are combined. This study investigates the roles of two satisfaction types by demonstrating three-way interactions with two moderators: memberships and promotion levels. Using survey data on paid hotel memberships in Korea, this study focuses on the moderated moderation effects of hotel membership type and sales promotions. The authors find that sales promotions positively affect members’ behavioral intentions when they are economically or socially satisfied, regardless of the membership type. In particular, when social satisfaction is positive, the impact of sales promotions on paid membership renewal intentions increases dramatically regardless of the membership type. Meanwhile, lower-tiered members respond more positively to price discounts, increasing their paid membership renewal intentions. In contrast, premium members prefer coupons over price discounts. However, the slope of customer responses is steeper for social satisfaction than economic satisfaction, highlighting that the impact of sales promotions differs by membership type.