TY - CHAP

T1 - Biased consumers' hypotheses on price-quality-relationships: Influences of numerical anchors

AU - Molz, Günter

AU - Gielnik, Michael

AU - Stephan, Ekkehard

PY - 2009

Y1 - 2009

N2 - Product prices are often considered to be an indicator of quality. Low prices suggest low quality, high prices premium quality. In some situations prices in terms of indexlinked currency remain constant but the numbers on price label change. This may result from currency changeovers or rapid inflation processes. In this chapter we reanalyze data from experiments conducted during the Euro introduction in Germany. All of a sudden the numbers on price tags were divided by about 2, i.e. premium products might have been considered as "cheaper" in Euro prices (low numbered) than before in German Mark prices (high numbered). In terms of the psychology of judgment such a result can be attributed to an effect caused by a numerical anchor (on the price tag). We tested if there actually was a corresponding decline in perceived product quality. Results suggested that the currency changeover had an impact on perceived quality which might be explained by numerical anchoring. The impact of the effect was dependent on product category. In case of products which are selected in less rational and low involvement decision processes (beer) this effect was stronger than in case of more rational and high involvement purchases (family car). Besides numerical anchoring, additional explanations for these results are discussed.

AB - Product prices are often considered to be an indicator of quality. Low prices suggest low quality, high prices premium quality. In some situations prices in terms of indexlinked currency remain constant but the numbers on price label change. This may result from currency changeovers or rapid inflation processes. In this chapter we reanalyze data from experiments conducted during the Euro introduction in Germany. All of a sudden the numbers on price tags were divided by about 2, i.e. premium products might have been considered as "cheaper" in Euro prices (low numbered) than before in German Mark prices (high numbered). In terms of the psychology of judgment such a result can be attributed to an effect caused by a numerical anchor (on the price tag). We tested if there actually was a corresponding decline in perceived product quality. Results suggested that the currency changeover had an impact on perceived quality which might be explained by numerical anchoring. The impact of the effect was dependent on product category. In case of products which are selected in less rational and low involvement decision processes (beer) this effect was stronger than in case of more rational and high involvement purchases (family car). Besides numerical anchoring, additional explanations for these results are discussed.

KW - Management studies

KW - Business psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84892087864&partnerID=8YFLogxK

M3 - Chapter

SN - 1606923943

SN - 9781606923948

SP - 197

EP - 211

BT - Consumer Behavior

A2 - Saito, Felix

PB - Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

CY - Hauppauge

ER -