How Customer Perceptions of Price Fairness and Idiosyncratic Fit Affect Tariff Choice: The Moderating Role of Customer Characteristics and Context

摘要

In many industries, service providers offer a wide range of alternative tariff options. Given the wide array of options to design these tariffs, it is important to understand the underlying psychological processes of how customers perceive and react to different tariffs in diverse service contexts. However, there are alternative explanations regarding the major drivers of consumer preferences for different tariffs in different industries. First, consumers may evaluate a tariff based on their perceived price fairness. Second, consumers may rely on their perceived fit of the tariff with their own preferences, that is, their idiosyncratic fit with the offer. Moreover, the role of both concepts in consumer judgment should be moderated by customer and context characteristics. Accordingly, we (1) develop a comprehensive framework of the determinants and outcomes of price fairness and idiosyncratic fit in tariff choice, we (2) address how customer and context characteristics moderate these relationships, and we (3) consider alternative tariff frames in a multiple-industry approach.