Trends and Changes in Price Fairness in Marketing Research

Abstract

This paper is a review of research focusing on price fairness or perceptions of price fairness, which have attracted attention in the marketing and consumer behavior fields. Using articles from major marketing journals, the review focuses on factors that influence price fairness perceptions. A review of these factors was conducted based on the framework of Xia, Monroe, and Cox (2004) to capture research trends and identify areas of deficiency. We also briefly summarize studies of the consequences of pricing strategies implemented by firms using game models and other methods that assume a situation in which consumers perceive a sense of price fairness. This review revealed that factors that influence price fairness tend to be dominated by specific categories of studies and that these trends have changed over time. The purpose of this study is to examine consumer reactions to price discrimination and personalized pricing using personal information of consumers, which has become increasingly prevalent in recent years, and the benefits they bring to firms.

Keywords

• price fairness
• price discrimination
• personalized pricing
• pricing