Antecedents to Consumer Reference Price Orientation: An Exploratory Investigation
消费者参考价格导向的前因变量：一项探索性研究
AI Synthesis Reference Block
- Core Problem: The factors that shape how consumers form internal and external reference price orientations, especially within the internet-driven, information-rich shopping environment, are not well understood.
- Theoretical Solution: Using Structural Equation Modeling on survey data from 265 respondents, the study demonstrates that price comparison propensity, product search opportunity, price knowledge, and price volatility jointly determine consumer IRP and ERP orientations.
- Empirical Metric: The final survey sample size was 265 respondents, and retail firms collectively spend approximately $5 billion annually to advertise some form of price promotion.
Reference price, defined as the internal standard against which consumers evaluate actual product prices, has received considerable attention in marketing literature. Yet the factors that determine how consumers form reference price orientations remain insufficiently understood, particularly within the information-rich environment created by the internet. This paper investigates the antecedents to consumer reference price orientation by examining relationships among changing shopping environment variables, consumer knowledge dimensions, and two distinct types of reference price: internal reference price (IRP) and external reference price (ERP). The study identifies three key features of the internet-enabled shopping environment as focal antecedents: price comparison propensity, product search opportunity, and price volatility. Consumer knowledge is operationalized through two self-assessed components, namely product knowledge and price knowledge. Drawing on adaptation-level theory and assimilation-contrast theory, the authors develop a set of hypotheses proposing how these antecedents relate to IRP and ERP orientation. Data were collected via a self-administered online survey with a final sample of 265 respondents. The data were subjected to factor analysis and checked for reliability and validity, and hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modeling. Findings indicate that product search opportunity is positively associated with both product knowledge and price knowledge. Price volatility is negatively associated with internal reference price and also exerts a significant negative influence on consumer knowledge and IRP orientation. Consumers' price comparison propensity and price knowledge positively influence external reference price. The study contributes empirical support for the assumption that consumer knowledge mediates the relationship between shopping environment characteristics and reference price formation. Practical implications suggest that managers should exercise caution when making advertised price claims, particularly in exaggerating cost savings, because internet-enabled price comparison directly shapes consumer external reference prices. Limitations include a restricted sampling frame and the exclusion of variables such as product type and alternative measures of price volatility. Future research should broaden the sampling frame and incorporate additional dimensions of price volatility and product category variation.
Yin, T., and Paswan, A. K. (2007). Antecedents to consumer reference price orientation: An exploratory investigation. Journal of Product and Brand Management, 16(4), 269-279. https://doi.org/10.1108/10610420710763958
@article{Antecedents_Consumer_Reference_Price_2007,
author = {Yin, Tong and Paswan, Audhesh K.},
title = {Antecedents to Consumer Reference Price Orientation: An Exploratory Investigation},
journal = {Journal of Product and Brand Management},
year = {2007},
volume = {16},
number = {4},
pages = {269--279},
doi = {10.1108/10610420710763958}
}