For a Better Use of Special Treatment: An Individual Approach

Abstract

Although increasingly used by firms, special treatment is tricky to use because it can both please and embarrass consumers. Its efficient use requires the adoption of an individual approach. In one qualitative study and six quantitative studies (Ntotal = 1304), the author defines the need for special treatment concept, identifies its underlying psychological foundations: the need for distinction, the need for play and the need for utility, builds a measurement scale for the construct, and assesses its validity and its reliability.