Determinants in Pay-What-You-Want Pricing Decisions—A Cross-Country Study

Abstract

Pay-what-you-want (PWYW) pricing has attracted much attention recently. Current research focused on influencing factors and their power across social contexts and countries. This article empirically examines a comprehensive list of 10 empirically tested factors that influence individual price-setting but never have been investigated holistically. Results indicate: (1) some previously assumed influencing factors have stronger moderating effects than do others, and (2) these influences must be interpreted as influential clusters rather than individually, as not all constructs are of significantly differing influence on an individual’s pricing decision. Satisfaction (Cluster 1), price consciousness, and fairness (both Cluster 2) constitute the most crucial moderators, regardless of context. Four country contexts (i.e., Australia, Germany, Poland, United States) revealed further insights about the intercultural perspective of PWYW pricing: Whereas most of the influencing factors/clusters are of comparable importance across the tested countries, loyalty and reputation (Cluster 6) significantly differed in importance depending on country.