The potential impact of service quality uncertainty and retail pricing strategies on consumer purchase intention

Abstract

Purpose - Because it is not possible to assess the quality of service products before experiencing them, one feature of a service product is quality uncertainty; hence consumers may react sensitively to pricing. It is necessary to investigate how different pricing strategies affect consumer purchase intention depending on the level of service quality uncertainty. Research design, data, and methodology - The authors have investigated the potential impact of the level of service quality uncertainty, price discount rate and presentation method on consumer purchase intention. A play was selected as an experimental stimulus, and Vietnamese consumers were surveyed to verify the hypotheses. Results - When uncertainty regarding service quality is low, consumer purchase intention is higher when the price discount rate is high or when the price is low. When uncertainty regarding service quality is high, if the normal price, discount rate, and discounted price are presented simultaneously, consumer purchase intention is higher when the price discount rate is low, but when only the discounted price is presented, purchase intention is higher when the price discount rate is high. Conclusions - The results of this study can provide valuable practical implications for pricing for service products with quality uncertainty.