The Effect of Regulatory Focus on Price Information Search and Evaluations

Drawing on self-regulatory focus literature and reference price literature, this research examines the effect of self-regulatory focus on consumers’ price evaluations and further price search intention at the presence of multiple reference prices. Specifically, we demonstrate that the consistency of multiple reference prices may highlight either a gain or a loss situation. As a result, when a promotion goal is activated, consumers indicate higher price search intention when existing internal and external reference prices suggest consistently in the current price evaluations. When a prevention goal is activated, however, consumers indicate higher search intention when multiple reference prices suggest inconsistently.

Citation:

Cathy Yi Chen and Song-Oh Yoon (2007) ,"The Effect of Regulatory Focus on Price Information Search and Evaluations", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8, eds. Stefania Borghini, Mary Ann McGrath, and Cele Otnes, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research.