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How Power States Influence Consumers' Perceptions of Price Unfairness

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  • Liyin Jin
  • Yanqun He
  • Ying Zhang

Abstract

The present research explores how the power state interacts with comparative references in shaping consumer perceptions of price unfairness. Five experiments found that high-power consumers perceive stronger price unfairness when paying more than other consumers do, whereas low-power consumers perceive stronger unfairness when paying more than they themselves paid in previous transactions. The distinction occurs because consumers experience a threat to their self-importance from different types of disadvantaged comparisons depending on their power states. These results show that the state of power determines consumers' respective channels for maintaining their self-importance and alters the relevance of different comparative standards.

Suggested Citation

  • Liyin Jin & Yanqun He & Ying Zhang, 2014. "How Power States Influence Consumers' Perceptions of Price Unfairness," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 40(5), pages 818-833.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jconrs:doi:10.1086/673193
    DOI: 10.1086/673193
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    Cited by:

    1. Krista J. Li & Sanjay Jain, 2016. "Behavior-Based Pricing: An Analysis of the Impact of Peer-Induced Fairness," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(9), pages 2705-2721, September.
    2. Wenjing Dou & Wei Lu & Dian Wang & Brady Hodges & Haipeng (Allan) Chen, 2020. "I Paid More than You (Before)?! The Effects of Self-Construal and Comparison Target on Price Unfairness Perceptions," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 7(1), pages 12-18, June.
    3. Ham, Sung H. & He, Chuan & Zhang, Dan, 2022. "The promise and peril of dynamic targeted pricing," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 1150-1165.
    4. Yong Zhang & Jiayu Ao & Jiayue Deng, 2019. "The Influence of High–Low Power on Green Consumption: The Moderating Effect of Impression Management Motivation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-16, August.
    5. Wang, Wangshuai & Raghunathan, Rajagopal & Gauri, Dinesh K., 2022. "Powerlessness, variety-seeking, and the mediating role of need for autonomy," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(4), pages 706-723.
    6. Zhang, Ke & Hou, Yuansi & Li, Gang, 2020. "Threat of infectious disease during an outbreak: Influence on tourists' emotional responses to disadvantaged price inequality," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    7. He, X. & Reiner, D., 2018. "Consumer Engagement in Energy Markets: The Role of Information and Knowledge," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1867, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    8. Alexander Erlei & Mattheus Brenig & Nils Engelbrecht, 2024. "Consumer Behavior under Benevolent Price Discrimination," Papers 2404.03581, arXiv.org.
    9. Nicole Koschate-Fischer & Katharina Wüllner, 2017. "New developments in behavioral pricing research," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(6), pages 809-875, August.
    10. Isabel P. Riquelme & Sergio Román, 2023. "Personal antecedents of perceived deceptive pricing in online retailing: the moderating role of price inequality," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 739-783, June.
    11. Isabella, Giuliana & Mazzon, José Afonso & Dimoka, Angelika, 2017. "Impacts of product type and representation type on the perception of justice and price fairness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 203-211.

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