IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ordeca/v7y2010i1p123-136.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring Risk Aversion in a Name-Your-Own-Price Channel

Author

Listed:
  • Ali E. Abbas

    (Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana--Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61820)

  • Il-Horn Hann

    (Decision, Operations and Information Technologies, Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742)

Abstract

This paper measures the risk aversion coefficients exhibited by online customers at a name-your-own-price (NYOP) intermediary that allowed the submission of subsequent offers. We present a decision analytic model to determine the optimal sequence of offers for a decision maker with a constant risk aversion coefficient. We show how the optimal sequence of offers can be determined by simple sensitivity analysis. We then discuss the inverse problem of estimating the risk aversion coefficient from a sequence of offers placed by a customer. We provide a direct expression for the risk aversion coefficient in terms of the increments between each two successive offers. This expression separates the estimation of the risk aversion from the remaining model parameters and enables its calculation directly by observing a sequence of offers from a customer. We then use field data from an NYOP firm to estimate the risk aversion that is exhibited throughout the online process. We find that customers exhibit relatively high risk aversion coefficients on Internet sites. Based on three different product groups, we also find that risk aversion is a significant variable in the offer strategy of the customers. To our knowledge, this is the first work that empirically examines risk aversion in a nonexperimental Internet-based NYOP setting.

Suggested Citation

  • Ali E. Abbas & Il-Horn Hann, 2010. "Measuring Risk Aversion in a Name-Your-Own-Price Channel," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 7(1), pages 123-136, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ordeca:v:7:y:2010:i:1:p:123-136
    DOI: 10.1287/deca.1100.0173
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/deca.1100.0173
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/deca.1100.0173?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Uri Gneezy & Jan Potters, 1997. "An Experiment on Risk Taking and Evaluation Periods," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(2), pages 631-645.
    2. Richard Engelbrecht-Wiggans & Elena Katok, 2009. "A Direct Test of Risk Aversion and Regret in First Price Sealed-Bid Auctions," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 6(2), pages 75-86, June.
    3. Shmuel S. Oren & Michael H. Rothkopf, 1975. "Optimal Bidding in Sequential Auctions," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(6), pages 1080-1090, December.
    4. Alma Cohen & Liran Einav, 2007. "Estimating Risk Preferences from Deductible Choice," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(3), pages 745-788, June.
    5. Keith Waehrer & Ronald M. Harstad & Michael H. Rothkopf, 1998. "Auction Form Preferences of Risk-Averse Bid Takers," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 29(1), pages 179-192, Spring.
    6. Joost M. E. Pennings & Ale Smidts, 2003. "The Shape of Utility Functions and Organizational Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(9), pages 1251-1263, September.
    7. Richard H. Thaler & Eric J. Johnson, 1990. "Gambling with the House Money and Trying to Break Even: The Effects of Prior Outcomes on Risky Choice," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(6), pages 643-660, June.
    8. Michael H. Rothkopf, 2007. "Decision Analysis: The Right Tool for Auctions," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 4(3), pages 167-172, September.
    9. Charles A. Holt & Susan K. Laury, 2002. "Risk Aversion and Incentive Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1644-1655, December.
    10. Metrick, Andrew, 1995. "A Natural Experiment in "Jeopardy!"," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(1), pages 240-253, March.
    11. Utpal M. Dholakia & Itamar Simonson, 2005. "The Effect of Explicit Reference Points on Consumer Choice and Online Bidding Behavior," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(2), pages 206-217, October.
    12. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    13. Oliver Hinz & Martin Spann, 2008. "The Impact of Information Diffusion on Bidding Behavior in Secret Reserve Price Auctions," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 351-368, September.
    14. Christian Terwiesch & Sergei Savin & Il-Horn Hann, 2005. "Online Haggling at a Name-Your-Own-Price Retailer: Theory and Application," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(3), pages 339-351, March.
    15. Robert Gertner, 1993. "Game Shows and Economic Behavior: Risk-Taking on "Card Sharks"," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(2), pages 507-521.
    16. Ali E. Abbas & James E. Matheson & Robert F. Bordley, 2009. "Effective utility functions induced by organizational target-based incentives," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(4), pages 235-251.
    17. Ronald A. Howard, 1988. "Decision Analysis: Practice and Promise," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(6), pages 679-695, June.
    18. Michael H. Rothkopf & Ronald M. Harstad, 1994. "Modeling Competitive Bidding: A Critical Essay," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(3), pages 364-384, March.
    19. Scott Fay, 2004. "Partial-Repeat-Bidding in the Name-Your-Own-Price Channel," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(3), pages 407-418, February.
    20. Min Ding & Jehoshua Eliashberg & Joel Huber & Ritesh Saini, 2005. "Emotional Bidders---An Analytical and Experimental Examination of Consumers' Behavior in a Priceline-Like Reverse Auction," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(3), pages 352-364, March.
    21. Il-Horn Hann & Christian Terwiesch, 2003. "Measuring the Frictional Costs of Online Transactions: The Case of a Name-Your-Own-Price Channel," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(11), pages 1563-1579, November.
    22. Tuo Wang & Esther Gal-Or & Rabikar Chatterjee, 2009. "The Name-Your-Own-Price Channel in the Travel Industry: An Analytical Exploration," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(6), pages 968-979, June.
    23. Wilfred Amaldoss & Sanjay Jain, 2008. "Joint Bidding in the Name-Your-Own-Price Channel: A Strategic Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(10), pages 1685-1699, October.
    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. Scott Fay & Robert Zeithammer, 2017. "Bidding for Bidders? How the Format for Soliciting Supplier Participation in NYOP Auctions Impacts Channel Profit," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(12), pages 4324-4344, December.
    2. Jianbin Li & Qifei Wang & Hong Yan & Stuart X. Zhu, 2016. "Optimal Remanufacturing and Pricing Strategies Under Name-Your-Own-Price Auctions and Stochastic Demand," Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research (APJOR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 33(01), pages 1-22, February.
    3. L. Robin Keller, 2010. "From the Editor..," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 7(3), pages 235-237, September.
    4. Krämer, Florentin & Schmidt, Klaus M. & Spann, Martin & Stich, Lucas, 2017. "Delegating pricing power to customers: Pay What You Want or Name Your Own Price?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 125-140.
    5. L. Robin Keller, 2011. "From the Editor ---Multiattribute and Intertemporal Preferences, Probability, and Stochastic Processes: Models and Assessment," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 8(3), pages 165-169, September.
    6. Jason Shachat & Lijia Wei, 2012. "Procuring Commodities: First-Price Sealed-Bid or English Auctions?," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(2), pages 317-333, March.
    7. Robert F. Bordley & Elena Katok & L. Robin Keller, 2010. "Honoring Michael H. Rothkopf's Legacy of Rigor and Relevance in Auction Theory: From the Editors," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 7(1), pages 1-4, March.
    8. L. Robin Keller & Kelly M. Kophazi, 2011. "From the Editors---Deterrence, Multiattribute Utility, and Probability and Bayes' Updating," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 8(2), pages 83-87, June.
    9. L. Robin Keller & Kelly M. Kophazi, 2010. "From the Editors..," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 7(2), pages 151-154, June.
    10. Chen, Yahong & Li, Jinlin & Huang, He & Ran, Lun & Hu, Yusheng, 2017. "Encouraging information sharing to boost the name-your-own-price auction," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 479(C), pages 108-117.

    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. Krämer, Florentin & Schmidt, Klaus M. & Spann, Martin & Stich, Lucas, 2017. "Delegating pricing power to customers: Pay What You Want or Name Your Own Price?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 125-140.
    2. Chen, Yahong & Li, Jinlin & Huang, He & Ran, Lun & Hu, Yusheng, 2017. "Encouraging information sharing to boost the name-your-own-price auction," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 479(C), pages 108-117.
    3. Martin Spann & Robert Zeithammer & Gerald Häubl, 2010. "Optimal Reverse-Pricing Mechanisms," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(6), pages 1058-1070, 11-12.
    4. Scott Fay & Robert Zeithammer, 2017. "Bidding for Bidders? How the Format for Soliciting Supplier Participation in NYOP Auctions Impacts Channel Profit," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(12), pages 4324-4344, December.
    5. Martin Spann & Robert Zeithammer & Marco Bertini & Ernan Haruvy & Sandy D. Jap & Oded Koenigsberg & Vincent Mak & Peter Popkowski Leszczyc & Bernd Skiera & Manoj Thomas, 2018. "Beyond Posted Prices: the Past, Present, and Future of Participative Pricing Mechanisms," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 5(1), pages 121-136, March.
    6. Huang, Ching-I & Chen, Jong-Rong & Lee, Chiu-Yu, 2013. "Buyer behavior under the Best Offer mechanism: A theoretical model and empirical evidence from eBay Motors," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 11-33.
    7. Tuo Wang & Esther Gal-Or & Rabikar Chatterjee, 2009. "The Name-Your-Own-Price Channel in the Travel Industry: An Analytical Exploration," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(6), pages 968-979, June.
    8. Gérard P. Cachon, 2020. "A Research Framework for Business Models: What Is Common Among Fast Fashion, E-Tailing, and Ride Sharing?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(3), pages 1172-1192, March.
    9. Scott Fay & Juliano Laran, 2009. "Implications of Expected Changes in the Seller's Price in Name-Your-Own-Price Auctions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(11), pages 1783-1796, November.
    10. Dmitry Shapiro, 2011. "Profitability of the Name-Your-Own-Price Channel in the Case of Risk-Averse Buyers," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(2), pages 290-304, 03-04.
    11. Joo, Mingyu & Mazumdar, Tridib & Raj, S.P., 2012. "Bidding Strategies and Consumer Savings in NYOP Auctions," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 180-188.
    12. Shapiro, Dmitry & Zillante, Arthur, 2009. "Naming your own price mechanisms: Revenue gain or drain?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 725-737, November.
    13. Robert Zeithammer, 2015. "Optimal selling strategies when buyers name their own prices," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 135-171, June.
    14. Hong Chao & Chun-Yu Ho & Xiangdong Qin, 2017. "Risk taking after absolute and relative wealth changes: The role of reference point adaptation," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 157-186, April.
    15. Robert Zeithammer, 2015. "Optimal selling strategies when buyers name their own prices," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 135-171, June.
    16. Klemens Keldenich & Marcus Klemm, 2014. "Double or nothing?! Small groups making decisions under risk in “Quiz Taxi”," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 77(2), pages 243-274, August.
    17. Spann, Martin & Häubl, Gerald & Skiera, Bernd & Bernhardt, Martin, 2012. "Bid-Elicitation Interfaces and Bidding Behavior in Retail Interactive Pricing," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 131-144.
    18. Rachel R. Chen & Esther Gal-Or & Paolo Roma, 2014. "Opaque Distribution Channels for Competing Service Providers: Posted Price vs. Name-Your-Own-Price Mechanisms," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 62(4), pages 733-750, August.
    19. Wilfred Amaldoss & Sanjay Jain, 2008. "Joint Bidding in the Name-Your-Own-Price Channel: A Strategic Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(10), pages 1685-1699, October.
    20. Robert Brooks & Robert Faff & Daniel Mulino & Richard Scheelings, 2009. "Deal or No Deal, That is the Question: The Impact of Increasing Stakes and Framing Effects on Decision‐Making under Risk," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 9(1‐2), pages 27-50, March.

    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:inm:ordeca:v:7:y:2010:i:1:p:123-136. 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: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.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.