IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v71y2025i6p5376-5395.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Narratives and Valuations

Author

Listed:
  • Dor Morag

    (Department of Economics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260)

  • George Loewenstein

    (Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213)

Abstract

Although the significance of narrative thinking has been increasingly recognized by social scientists, very little empirical research has documented its consequences for economically significant outcomes. The current paper addresses this gap in one important domain: valuations. In three experiments, participants were given the opportunity to sell an item they owned (mug in Study 1, hat in Studies 2 and 3) using an incentive-compatible procedure (multiple price list). Prior to making selling decisions, participants were randomly assigned to either a narrative treatment, in which they were asked to tell the story of their item, or a list treatment, in which they were asked to list the characteristics of their item. The narrative treatment led to significantly higher selling prices and increased rates of participants refusing all offered prices. We further explore potential mechanisms, and the impact of different types of narratives, by analyzing self-reported classifications of, and employing natural language processing techniques on, participants’ narratives.

Suggested Citation

  • Dor Morag & George Loewenstein, 2025. "Narratives and Valuations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 71(6), pages 5376-5395, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:71:y:2025:i:6:p:5376-5395
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2023.01076
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.01076
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.2023.01076?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
    ---><---

    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:ormnsc:v:71:y:2025:i:6:p:5376-5395. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.