Cost Conscious? The Neural and Behavioral Impact of Price Primacy on Decision-Making
Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1509/jmr.13.0488Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Karmarkar, Uma R., Baba Shiv, and Brian Knutson. "Cost Conscious? The Neural and Behavioral Impact of Price Primacy on Decision-Making." Journal of Marketing Research (JMR) 52, no. 4 (August 2015): 467–481.Abstract
Price is a key factor in most purchases, but it can be presented at different stages of decision making prior to a purchase. We examine the sequence-dependent effects of price and product information on the decision-making process at both neural and behavioral levels. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, the price of a product was shown to participants either before or after the product itself was presented. Early exposure to price, or price primacy, altered the process of valuation, as seen via altered patterns of activity in medial prefrontal cortex immediately prior to purchase decisions. Specifically, whereas viewing products first resulted in evaluations strongly related to products' attractiveness or desirability, viewing prices first appeared to promote overall evaluations related to products' monetary worth. Consistent with this framework, we show that price primacy can increase purchase of bargain priced products when their worth is easily recognized. Together, these results suggest that price primacy highlights considerations of product worth and can thereby influence purchasing.Terms of Use
This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Open Access Policy Articles, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of-use#OAPCitable link to this page
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:28548032
Collections
- HBS Scholarly Articles [771]
Contact administrator regarding this item (to report mistakes or request changes)