Pay-what-you-want, identity, and self-signaling in markets
We investigate the role of identity and self-image consideration under "pay-what-you-want" pricing. Results from three field experiments show that often, when granted the opportunity to name the price of a product, fewer consumers choose to buy it than when the price is fixed and low. We s...
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| Published in: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 109; no. 19; p. 7236 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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United States
08.05.2012
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| ISSN: | 1091-6490, 1091-6490 |
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| Abstract | We investigate the role of identity and self-image consideration under "pay-what-you-want" pricing. Results from three field experiments show that often, when granted the opportunity to name the price of a product, fewer consumers choose to buy it than when the price is fixed and low. We show that this opt-out behavior is driven largely by individuals' identity and self-image concerns; individuals feel bad when they pay less than the "appropriate" price, causing them to pass on the opportunity to purchase the product altogether. |
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| AbstractList | We investigate the role of identity and self-image consideration under "pay-what-you-want" pricing. Results from three field experiments show that often, when granted the opportunity to name the price of a product, fewer consumers choose to buy it than when the price is fixed and low. We show that this opt-out behavior is driven largely by individuals' identity and self-image concerns; individuals feel bad when they pay less than the "appropriate" price, causing them to pass on the opportunity to purchase the product altogether.We investigate the role of identity and self-image consideration under "pay-what-you-want" pricing. Results from three field experiments show that often, when granted the opportunity to name the price of a product, fewer consumers choose to buy it than when the price is fixed and low. We show that this opt-out behavior is driven largely by individuals' identity and self-image concerns; individuals feel bad when they pay less than the "appropriate" price, causing them to pass on the opportunity to purchase the product altogether. We investigate the role of identity and self-image consideration under "pay-what-you-want" pricing. Results from three field experiments show that often, when granted the opportunity to name the price of a product, fewer consumers choose to buy it than when the price is fixed and low. We show that this opt-out behavior is driven largely by individuals' identity and self-image concerns; individuals feel bad when they pay less than the "appropriate" price, causing them to pass on the opportunity to purchase the product altogether. |
| Author | Gneezy, Uri Nelson, Leif D Riener, Gerhard Gneezy, Ayelet |
| Author_xml | – sequence: 1 givenname: Ayelet surname: Gneezy fullname: Gneezy, Ayelet email: agneezy@ucsd.edu organization: Rady School of Management, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. agneezy@ucsd.edu – sequence: 2 givenname: Uri surname: Gneezy fullname: Gneezy, Uri – sequence: 3 givenname: Gerhard surname: Riener fullname: Riener, Gerhard – sequence: 4 givenname: Leif D surname: Nelson fullname: Nelson, Leif D |
| BackLink | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22529370$$D View this record in MEDLINE/PubMed |
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| Title | Pay-what-you-want, identity, and self-signaling in markets |
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