The impact of customer boredom on the efficacy of a rewards program

In this paper, we study utilizing a game theoretic model, how variety seeking triggered by customer boredom may affect a firm’s rewards program, pricing strategy and profits. Customer Boredom is conceptualized as a utility loss resulting from the purchase of a previously consumed brand. We analyze a...

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Main Authors: Axel Stock, Minoo Talebi Ashoori
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2025-11-01
Series:Journal of Economy and Technology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949948825000095
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author Axel Stock
Minoo Talebi Ashoori
author_facet Axel Stock
Minoo Talebi Ashoori
author_sort Axel Stock
collection DOAJ
description In this paper, we study utilizing a game theoretic model, how variety seeking triggered by customer boredom may affect a firm’s rewards program, pricing strategy and profits. Customer Boredom is conceptualized as a utility loss resulting from the purchase of a previously consumed brand. We analyze a two period model where two firms compete for a market of forward looking consumers by selling horizontally differentiated brands. When making the purchase decision in the second period, consumers trade off the utility loss from boredom with the benefits from obtaining the reward offered. In our analysis, we interestingly find that depending on consumers’ discount factor, firm profits either strictly increase or follow a u-shaped relationship with customer boredom. We also consider the case when brands differ in quality and show that under some conditions the high-quality firm’s profits decline while the low quality firm benefits when variety seeking due to boredom increases.
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publishDate 2025-11-01
publisher KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
record_format Article
series Journal of Economy and Technology
spelling doaj-art-6fe2e11e27c546d5bc7dc44eaa30a9c22025-08-20T02:39:31ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Journal of Economy and Technology2949-94882025-11-01329931310.1016/j.ject.2025.04.001The impact of customer boredom on the efficacy of a rewards programAxel Stock0Minoo Talebi Ashoori1Marketing Department, College of Business Administration, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, United States; Corresponding author.Marketing Department, College of Business Administration, California State University San Marcos, San Marcos, CA 92096, United StatesIn this paper, we study utilizing a game theoretic model, how variety seeking triggered by customer boredom may affect a firm’s rewards program, pricing strategy and profits. Customer Boredom is conceptualized as a utility loss resulting from the purchase of a previously consumed brand. We analyze a two period model where two firms compete for a market of forward looking consumers by selling horizontally differentiated brands. When making the purchase decision in the second period, consumers trade off the utility loss from boredom with the benefits from obtaining the reward offered. In our analysis, we interestingly find that depending on consumers’ discount factor, firm profits either strictly increase or follow a u-shaped relationship with customer boredom. We also consider the case when brands differ in quality and show that under some conditions the high-quality firm’s profits decline while the low quality firm benefits when variety seeking due to boredom increases.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949948825000095Game TheoryCompetitive AnalysisRewards ProgramsCustomer Boredom
spellingShingle Axel Stock
Minoo Talebi Ashoori
The impact of customer boredom on the efficacy of a rewards program
Journal of Economy and Technology
Game Theory
Competitive Analysis
Rewards Programs
Customer Boredom
title The impact of customer boredom on the efficacy of a rewards program
title_full The impact of customer boredom on the efficacy of a rewards program
title_fullStr The impact of customer boredom on the efficacy of a rewards program
title_full_unstemmed The impact of customer boredom on the efficacy of a rewards program
title_short The impact of customer boredom on the efficacy of a rewards program
title_sort impact of customer boredom on the efficacy of a rewards program
topic Game Theory
Competitive Analysis
Rewards Programs
Customer Boredom
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949948825000095
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