“Says Who?!” how the Source of Price Information and Affect Influence Perceived Price (Un)fairness

Abstract

Three experiments show that the source of price change information⎯whether human or nonhuman⎯moderates the effect of price change on perceptions of price fairness. Both inferences of the marketer's motive and stimulus-induced affect mediate the effects of the source and price change. Opportunity and motivation to process also affect the relative influence of inferred motive and affect. This research demonstrates antecedent roles of both price source and affect.

Unfairness in consumer services: Outcomes of differential treatment of new and existing clients

“…Thus, without careful consideration of differential treatment of customers, firms' marketing efforts may be incur the risk of long-term failure (Nguyen, 2012). However, research remains fragmented (Campbell, 2007;Nguyen and Klaus, 2013) and this "dysfunctional" form of customer management has been neglected in the marketing literature (Frow et al, 2011).…”

The dark side of customer relationship management: Exploring the underlying reasons for pitfalls, exploitation and unfairness

“…Hence, it is not always in the interest of the customer to provide data to these fi rms, especially if they begin to consider that fi rms are using them to make excessive profi ts. 60 This is supported by the theory of Schemer ' s Schema, 57 which maintains that customers hold intuitive beliefs about marketers ' infl uence tactics and acts, or modify their behaviour accordingly if they dislike what they see or experience.…”

Is Profit Evil? Associations of Profit with Social Harm

“…While prior research has examined the implications of the concept of money on social behavior (Dunn et al 2008, Vohs et al 2008, or on perceptions of price fairness in specific scenarios (Bolton et al 2003, Campbell 2007, Kahneman et al 1986), lay perceptions of business profit remain largely unstudied.…”

“…This view implies that markets are persistently dysfunctional and perversely reward the most harmful actors, and that supply and demand do not usually determine prices. In other words, this worldview treats firms as "monopolists of varying altriusm" (Caplan 2007, p. 35) whose levels of profit reflect only the selfishness of their motives (Bolton et al 2003, Campbell 2007). …”

“…We contribute to the notion that consumer judgments of firms are driven by beliefs drawn from social contexts. For instance, firm judgments are subject to interpersonal stereotypes along dimensions of warmth and competence (Aaker et al 2010), and inferences about firm motives may govern a range of such judgments (Campbell 2007). Such inferences may shed light on larger questions, such as what makes some firms (even those that are high-profit) more "bulletproof" in terms of consumer perceptions.…”