Production Enjoyment Asymmetrically Impacts Buyers’ Willingness to Pay and Sellers’ Willingness to Charge
(A2023-114382)

AUTHORS

Anna Paley, Tilburg University; Robert Smith, Tilburg University; Daniel Zane, University of Miami; Jake Teeny, Ohio State University

ABSTRACT

Buyers and sellers often possess information about how enjoyable a product or service is to produce. The current research demonstrates that this novel marketplace cue, production enjoyment, asymmetrically influences buyers’ and sellers’ pricing judgments. Specifically, the perception that a seller enjoys the process of producing a product or service increases buyers’ willingness to pay and lowers sellers’ willingness to accept and their charging prices. With six studies that use over 100 different jobs, a variety of operationalizations of production enjoyment, as well as actual buyers and sellers, the current research explores a novel and impactful cue to which buyers and sellers respond differently. These findings carry a variety of implications for both theory and practice, providing actionable advice for sellers’ pricing and messaging strategies.