IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/20275.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Perceptions of price fairness: An empirical research

Author

Listed:
  • Gielissen, R.
  • Dutilh, C.E.
  • Graafland, J.J.

Abstract

This paper researches factors that influence price fairness judgements. The empirical literature suggests several factors: reference prices, the costs of the seller, a self-interest bias and the perceived motive of sellers. Using a Dutch sample, we find empirical evidence that these factors significantly affect perceptions of fair prices. In addition, we find that the perceived fairness of prices is also influenced by other distributional concerns that are independent of the transaction. In particular, price increases are judged to be fairer if they benefit poor people or small organisations rather than benefiting rich people or big organisations.

Suggested Citation

  • Gielissen, R. & Dutilh, C.E. & Graafland, J.J., 2008. "Perceptions of price fairness: An empirical research," MPRA Paper 20275, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:20275
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/20275/1/MPRA_paper_20275.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maxwell, Sarah, 2002. "Rule-based price fairness and its effect on willingness to purchase," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 191-212, April.
    2. Richard H. Thaler, 2008. "Mental Accounting and Consumer Choice," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 15-25, 01-02.
    3. Kahneman, Daniel & Knetsch, Jack L & Thaler, Richard, 1986. "Fairness as a Constraint on Profit Seeking: Entitlements in the Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(4), pages 728-741, September.
    4. Bougie, J.R.G. & Pieters, R. & Zeelenberg, M., 2003. "Angry customers don't come back, they get back : The experience and behavioral implications of anger and dissatisfaction in services," Other publications TiSEM 1708fb71-fd68-41d9-b870-e, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. Amartya Sen, 1997. "Maximization and the Act of Choice," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(4), pages 745-780, July.
    6. Frey, Bruno S. & Pommerehne, Werner W., 1993. "On the fairness of pricing -- An empirical survey among the general population," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 295-307, April.
    7. George A. Akerlof, 1982. "Labor Contracts as Partial Gift Exchange," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 97(4), pages 543-569.
    8. Graafland, J.J., 2002. "Sourcing ethics in the textile sector: The case of C&A," MPRA Paper 20769, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Dickson, Peter R. & Kalapurakal, Rosemary, 1994. "The use and perceived fairness of price-setting rules in the bulk electricity market," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 427-448, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hayuni, M & Lukman, Z.M. & Norshahira, O, 2023. "Management Practices and Perceived Training needs of Small Ruminant Farmers in Terengganu, Malaysia," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(9), pages 812-822, September.
    2. Nur’Hidayah Che Ahmat & Salleh Mohd Radzi & Mohd Salehuddin Mohd Zahari & Rosmaliza Muhammad & Azdel Abdul Aziz & Nor Azmi Ahmad, 2011. "The Effect Of Factors Influencing The Perception Of Price Fairness Towards Customer Response Behaviors," Journal of Global Management, Global Research Agency, vol. 2(1), pages 22-38, July.
    3. Lim, Weng Marc, 2020. "An equity theory perspective of online group buying," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    4. Sandra Rothenberger, 2015. "Fairness through Transparency: The Influence of Price Transparency on Consumer Perceptions of Price Fairness," Working Papers CEB 15-008, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    5. Campbell, Colin L. & Heinrich, Daniel & Schoenmüller, Verena, 2015. "Consumers' reaction to fair trade motivated price increases," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 79-84.
    6. Gedas Kucinskas & Indrė Pikturnienė, 2021. "Willingness to Buy Digital and Physical Books: Impact of Price Fairness Perceptions on Different Price Levels and Content of Books," Tržište/Market, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, vol. 33(SI), pages 29-46.
    7. Nur’Hidayah Che Ahmat Author_Email: nurhidayahcheahmat@gmail.com & Salleh Mohd Radzi & Mohd Salehuddin Mohd Zahari & Rosmaliza Muhammad, 2011. "The Effect Of Factors Influencing The Perception Of Price Fairness Towards Customer Response Behaviors," 2nd International Conference on Business and Economic Research (2nd ICBER 2011) Proceeding 2011-169, Conference Master Resources.
    8. Choongbeom Choi & Miyoung Jeong, 2020. "The Impact of Service Firm’s Environmentally Friendly Reputation in the Context of Revenue Management," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-12, August.
    9. Pick, Doreén & Zielke, Stephan, 2015. "How electricity providers communicate price increases – A qualitative analysis of notification letters," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 303-314.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jodie Ferguson & Pam Ellen & William Bearden, 2014. "Procedural and Distributive Fairness: Determinants of Overall Price Fairness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 121(2), pages 217-231, May.
    2. Bechwati, Nada Nasr & Sisodia, Rajendra S. & Sheth, Jagdish N., 2009. "Developing a model of antecedents to consumers' perceptions and evaluations of price unfairness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(8), pages 761-767, August.
    3. Choi, Sungchul & Park, Sang-June & Qiu, Chun (Martin) & Stanyer, Mike, 2013. "The discount is unfair: Egocentric fairness in risky discounts," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 32-43.
    4. Huang, Jen-Hung & Chang, Ching-Te & Chen, Cathy Yi-Hsuan, 2005. "Perceived fairness of pricing on the Internet," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 343-361, June.
    5. Dolan, Paul & Edlin, Richard & Tsuchiya, Aki & Wailoo, Allan, 2007. "It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it: Characteristics of procedural justice and their importance in social decision-making," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 157-170, September.
    6. Andreas Leibbrandt, 2016. "Behavioral Constraints on Pricing: Experimental Evidence on Price Discrimination and Customer Antagonism," CESifo Working Paper Series 6214, CESifo.
    7. Hyun Joung Jin & Eun Young You, 2019. "Do Discounts in Ticket Prices Induce Sustainable Profit to Performing Arts Suppliers?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-12, July.
    8. Ernst Fehr & Urs Fischbacher, "undated". "Why Social Preferences Matter - The Impact of Non-Selfish Motives on Competition," IEW - Working Papers 084, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    9. Thomas Wagner, 1998. "Reciprocity And Efficiency," Rationality and Society, , vol. 10(3), pages 347-375, August.
    10. Pascal Courty & Mario Pagliero, 2008. "Do Consumers Care about how Prices are Set?," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 27-43.
    11. Konow, James, 1996. "A positive theory of economic fairness," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 13-35, October.
    12. Frank Huber & Frederik Meyer & Kai Vollhardt & Tobias Heußler, 2011. "Die Bedeutung von Emotionen für die wahrgenommene Fairness bei Preiserhöhungen," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 63(4), pages 404-426, June.
    13. Rabin, Matthew, 1993. "Incorporating Fairness into Game Theory and Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1281-1302, December.
    14. Hatime Kamilcelebi, 2019. "Framing Effect and Decision-Making in the Market: A Research on Profit-Seeking and Religiousness in Turkey," International Journal of Asian Social Science, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 9(7), pages 417-425, July.
    15. Anna Kukla-Gryz & Joanna Tyrowicz & Michał Krawczyk, 2021. "Digital piracy and the perception of price fairness: evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 45(1), pages 105-131, March.
    16. Sojin Jung & Hyeon Jeong Cho & Byoungho Ellie Jin, 2020. "Does effective cost transparency increase price fairness? An analysis of apparel brand strategies," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(5), pages 495-507, September.
    17. Nathan Chubaka Mushagalusa & Eddy Balemba Kanyurhi & Deogratias Bugandwa Mungu Akonkwa & Patrick Murhula Cubaka, 2022. "Measuring price fairness and its impact on consumers’ trust and switching intentions in microfinance institutions," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(2), pages 111-135, June.
    18. Azar, Ofer H., 2013. "Competitive strategy when consumers are affected by reference prices," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 327-340.
    19. Choongbeom Choi & Miyoung Jeong, 2020. "The Impact of Service Firm’s Environmentally Friendly Reputation in the Context of Revenue Management," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-12, August.
    20. Hendrik Sonnabend, 2016. "Fairness constraints on profit-seeking: evidence from the German club concert industry," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 40(4), pages 529-545, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fair price; justice; fair trade; reference price;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
    • D49 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Other
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:20275. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.