Studying the effects of negative and positive perceptions of price on price mavenism

Abstract

Despite the importance of price mavens, little empirical research exists on understanding its theoretical and marketing drivers; especially in different cultural contexts Buyers in Iran often communicate positive and negative purchasing experiences through Word-of-Mouth (WOM), which creates special problems and opportunities for marketers. Price mavenism, which is associated with price-information searching and price-sharing behavior, is often considered as negative dimension of price. The purpose of this study, however, is to propose price mavenism as an outcome variable arising from both positive perceptions of price (prestige sensitivity) and negative perceptions (price and value consciousness). For this purpose structured questionnaire was developed to collect data and totaling 206 questionnaires of Iranian consumers were analyzed. The conceptual model was tested using structural equation modeling. This study found that prestige sensitivity, price consciousness and value consciousness shaped price mavenism among the Iranians, supporting the idea that price mavenism arises from both positive and negative perceptions of price. © Maxwell Scientific Organization, 2013.