行銷硏究 : Marketing research

Recent news coverage on pricing portrays the importance of price fairness. This article conceptually integrates the theoretical foundations of fairness perceptions and summarizes empirical findings on price fairness. The authors identify research issues and gaps in existing knowledge on buyers’ perceptions of price fairness. The article concludes with guidelines for managerial practice.

The Price Is Unfair! A Conceptual Framework of Price Fairness Perceptions

Conflict and Conflict Management.

This paper synthesizes the results, methodology, and research conducted concerning the K-means clustering method over the last fifty years. The K-means method is first introduced, various formulations of the minimum variance loss function and alternative loss functions within the same class are outlined, and different methods of choosing the number of clusters and initialization, variable preprocessing, and data reduction schemes are discussed. Theoretic statistical results are provided and various extensions of K-means using different metrics or modifications of the original algorithm are given, leading to a unifying treatment of K-means and some of its extensions. Finally, several future studies are outlined that could enhance the understanding of numerous subtleties affecting the performance of the K-means method.

K‐means clustering: A half‐century synthesis

This article tests how well the information economics view of brand equity explains consumer brand choice in countries that represent different cultural dimensions. In this empirical analysis, the authors use survey and experimental data on orange juice and personal computers collected from respondents in Brazil, Germany, India, Japan, Spain, Turkey, and the United States. The results provide strong empirical evidence across countries for the role of brands as signals of product positions. In addition, the positive effect of brand credibility on choice is greater for consumers who rate high on either collectivism or uncertainty avoidance. Credible brands provide more value to collectivist consumers because such consumers perceive these brands as being of higher quality (i.e., reinforcing group identity). Credible brands provide more value to high-uncertainty-avoidance consumers because such brands have lower perceived risk and information costs.

http://www.ana-valenzuela.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/paper-7.pdf

Brands as Signals: A Cross-Country Validation Study:

Rule-based price fairness and its effect on willingness to purchase

Consumer response to norm-breaking pricing events in e-commerce

Although cluster analysis is the procedure most frequently used to define data-based market segments, it is not without problems. This research addresses one of its major problems: the selection of...

HINoV: A New Model to Improve Market Segment Definition by Identifying Noisy Variables:

In this study, the homogeneity versus heterogeneity of global consumption is tested in a cross‐cultural price/brand effect model. Middle‐class consumers in two countries are compared: the USA, an established consumer society, and India, a recently developing consumer society. Focus groups demonstrate the tremendous importance of brands in India, but survey data suggest that, compared to Americans, Indians actually have a lower perception of brand quality. They need to be convinced of standardized quality. Indians are, in addition, more positive than Americans about economizing. This implies that they feel guilty about consumption. These differences between Americans and Indians influence how price and brand affect their different purchase decisions: the Indian is a much tougher consumer to whom to sell. The results suggest that consumption, while it is becoming global, is still heterogeneous. It is being interpreted and implemented differently in different cultures.

An expanded price/brand effect model ‐ A demonstration of heterogeneity in global consumption

This research demonstrates that, by priming a consideration for fairness, a seller can increase a buyer's satisfaction without sacrificing profit. In simulated negotiations, participants primed to consider fairness demonstrated more cooperative behavior, making greater concessions that led to faster agreement. Fairness-primed buyers consequently had a more positive attitude toward the seller and expressed significantly greater positive subjective disconfirmation of their expectations. These results show how self-interest and social utility can work in concert once a concern for fairness is activated. The results support the Models of Social Utility and Group Identification and confirm the Expectancy Disconfirmation Model of Negotiations. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Sarah Maxwell

Papers

Rule-based price fairness and its effect on willingness to purchase

Consumer response to norm-breaking pricing events in e-commerce

HINoV: A New Model to Improve Market Segment Definition by Identifying Noisy Variables:

An expanded price/brand effect model ‐ A demonstration of heterogeneity in global consumption

Less pain, same gain: The effects of priming fairness in price negotiations