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...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 109; no. 19; p. 7236
Main Authors: Gneezy, Ayelet, Gneezy, Uri, Riener, Gerhard, Nelson, Leif D
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States 08.05.2012
Subjects:
Charities - economics
Charities - statistics & numerical data
Commerce - economics
Commerce - statistics & numerical data
Consumer Behavior - economics
Consumer Behavior - statistics & numerical data
Humans
Motivation
Self Concept
ISSN:1091-6490, 1091-6490
Online Access:Get more information
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary: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.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:1091-6490
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1120893109