IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/fan/mcmcmc/vhtml10.3280-mc2018-001005.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

To buy or to rent? An experimental study on the antecedents of consumers? acquisition-mode decisions

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Pichierri
  • Daniele Scarpi
  • Gabriele Pizzi

Abstract

Renting is a widely used mode of gaining access to goods, yet research on how consumers decide whether to buy or rent a good is still limited, leaving unclear whether a buy-or-rent choice is driven by situational (i.e., context-related) or dispositional (i.e., personality-related) factors. This research jointly addresses the role of situational and dispositional factors on the rent-or-buy decision, to shed light on what actually drives consumers? preference for one or the other acquisition mode. Results of an experimental study, conducted using a real-life choice situation involving a leading automotive brand, show that overall consumers strongly prefer buying to renting, regardless of the quality of the alternatives they are evaluating. This evidence challenges the commonly held idea that through rental consumers can enjoy superior-quality goods that they could otherwise not afford. Furthermore, results show that specific situational (time horizon) and dispositional (importance of possession, locus of control, convenience orientation) factors may affect individuals? intention to buy or rent. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Pichierri & Daniele Scarpi & Gabriele Pizzi, 2018. "To buy or to rent? An experimental study on the antecedents of consumers? acquisition-mode decisions," MERCATI & COMPETITIVIT?, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(1), pages 63-92.
    • Handle: RePEc:fan:mcmcmc:v:html10.3280/mc2018-001005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=61240&Tipo=ArticoloPDF
    Download Restriction: Single articles can be downloaded buying download credits, for info: https://www.francoangeli.it/DownloadCredit
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Belk, Russell W, 1985. "Materialism: Trait Aspects of Living in the Material World," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 12(3), pages 265-280, December.
    2. Tian, Kelly Tepper & Bearden, William O & Hunter, Gary L, 2001. "Consumer's Need for Uniqueness: Scale Development and Validation," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 28(1), pages 50-66, June.
    3. Belk, Russell W, 1988. "Possessions and the Extended Self," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 15(2), pages 139-168, September.
    4. Fleura Bardhi & Giana M. Eckhardt, 2012. "Access-Based Consumption: The Case of Car Sharing," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 39(4), pages 881-898.
    5. Lawson, Stephanie J. & Gleim, Mark R. & Perren, Rebeca & Hwang, Jiyoung, 2016. "Freedom from ownership: An exploration of access-based consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 2615-2623.
    6. Dilip Soman & George Ainslie & Shane Frederick & Xiuping Li & John Lynch & Page Moreau & Andrew Mitchell & Daniel Read & Alan Sawyer & Yaacov Trope & Klaus Wertenbroch & Gal Zauberman, 2005. "The Psychology of Intertemporal Discounting: Why are Distant Events Valued Differently from Proximal Ones?," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 347-360, December.
    7. Amy Moore & Michael Taylor, 2009. "Why buy when you can rent? A brief investigation of differences in acquisition mode based on duration," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(12), pages 1211-1213.
    8. Belk, Russell, 2014. "You are what you can access: Sharing and collaborative consumption online," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(8), pages 1595-1600.
    9. Lastovicka, John L, et al, 1999. "Lifestyle of the Tight and Frugal: Theory and Measurement," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 26(1), pages 85-98, June.
    10. Richins, Marsha L, 1994. "Special Possessions and the Expression of Material Values," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 21(3), pages 522-533, December.
    11. Read, Daniel & Read, N. L., 2004. "Time discounting over the lifespan," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 22-32, May.
    12. Paul A. Samuelson, 1937. "A Note on Measurement of Utility," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 4(2), pages 155-161.
    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. Kalka, Regine & Leven, Mats, "undated". "Abo-Modelle in der Automobilbranche aus Kundensicht [Consumer Perception of Subscription Models in the Automotive Industry]," Duesseldorf Working Papers in Applied Management and Economics 55, Duesseldorf University of Applied Sciences.

    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. Loussaïef, Leïla & Ulrich, Isabelle & Damay, Coralie, 2019. "How does access to luxury fashion challenge self-identity? Exploring women's practices of joint and non-ownership," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 263-272.
    2. Ni, Shaowen, 2021. "Collaborative consumption in China: An empirical investigation of its antecedents and consequences," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    3. Giovanna Magnani & Beatrice Re, 2020. "Lived experiences about car sharing in young adults: Emerging paradoxes," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 2020(2), pages 207-229, September.
    4. Giovanna Magnani & Beatrice Re, 0. "Lived experiences about car sharing in young adults: Emerging paradoxes," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-23.
    5. M. Joseph Sirgy & Eda Gurel-Atay & Dave Webb & Muris Cicic & Melika Husic-Mehmedovic & Ahmet Ekici & Andreas Herrmann & Ibrahim Hegazy & Dong-Jin Lee & J. Johar, 2013. "Is Materialism All That Bad? Effects on Satisfaction with Material Life, Life Satisfaction, and Economic Motivation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(1), pages 349-366, January.
    6. Kang, Jingoo & Kang, Minwook, 2022. "Durable goods as commitment devices under quasi-hyperbolic discounting," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    7. Gurzki, Hannes & Woisetschläger, David M., 2017. "Mapping the luxury research landscape: A bibliometric citation analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 147-166.
    8. Francesco Pasimeni, 2020. "The Origin of the Sharing Economy Meets the Legacy of Fractional Ownership," SPRU Working Paper Series 2020-19, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    9. Sarunnoud Phuphisith & Kiyo Kurisu, 2022. "Understanding the Determinants and Motivations for Collaborative Consumption in Laundromats," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-20, September.
    10. Lawson, Stephanie J. & Gleim, Mark R. & Perren, Rebeca & Hwang, Jiyoung, 2016. "Freedom from ownership: An exploration of access-based consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 2615-2623.
    11. Guillard, Valérie, 2009. "La tendance de certains consommateurs à tout garder," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/5480 edited by Pinson, Christian.
    12. Chan, Wing Yin & To, Chester K.M. & Chu, Wai Ching, 2015. "Materialistic consumers who seek unique products: How does their need for status and their affective response facilitate the repurchase intention of luxury goods?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 1-10.
    13. Wei, Xiaoyong & Lo, Chris.K.Y. & Jung, Sojin & Choi, Tsan-Ming, 2021. "From co-consumption to co-production: A systematic review and research synthesis of collaborative consumption practices," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 282-294.
    14. Akbar, Payam & Mai, Robert & Hoffmann, Stefan, 2016. "When do materialistic consumers join commercial sharing systems," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 4215-4224.
    15. Małecka, Agnieszka & Mitręga, Maciej & Mróz-Gorgoń, Barbara & Pfajfar, Gregor, 2022. "Adoption of collaborative consumption as sustainable social innovation: Sociability and novelty seeking perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 163-179.
    16. Benoit, Sabine & Baker, Thomas L. & Bolton, Ruth N. & Gruber, Thorsten & Kandampully, Jay, 2017. "A triadic framework for collaborative consumption (CC): Motives, activities and resources & capabilities of actors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 219-227.
    17. Küper, Inken & Edinger-Schons, Laura Marie, 2020. "Is sharing up for sale? Monetary exchanges in the sharing economy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 223-234.
    18. Lutz, Christoph & Newlands, Gemma, 2018. "Consumer segmentation within the sharing economy: The case of Airbnb," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 187-196.
    19. Ostovan, Nima & Khalili Nasr, Arash, 2022. "The manifestation of luxury value dimensions in brand engagement in self-concept," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    20. Liselot Hudders & Mario Pandelaere, 2012. "The Silver Lining of Materialism: The Impact of Luxury Consumption on Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 411-437, June.

    More about this item

    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:fan:mcmcmc:v:html10.3280/mc2018-001005. 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: Stefania Rosato (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/sommario.aspx?IDRivista=210 .

    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.