Social Pricing - Image Management, Social Preferences and Pay-What-You-Want

在这个项目中，首席调查员将研究一种挑战传统经济理论的相对较新的定价机制。在Pay-What-You-Want(PWYW)下，客户决定为商品支付多少钱(通常包括0美元)。在之前的研究中，PI发现相当一部分客户选择支付商品费用，并提出这种行为至少在一定程度上是由形象管理方面的担忧推动的。目前的项目重点是自我和社会形象考虑在PWYW购买中所起的作用。我们将进行一系列实验，系统地操纵买卖关系和互动类型的特征，以确定预测PWYW策略成败的参数，并阐明自我和社会形象担忧在PWYW决策中的各自角色。从更广泛的影响来看，本研究将揭示非标准动机在市场中的作用。在这个过程中，它将确定行业可以使用PWYW定价保持长期利润的条件，建议公司可能希望如何修改其定价模型，并根据使PWYW成为有利可图的价格机制的驱动因素，建议可能是最佳的其他非PWYW定价策略。

In this project the Principal Investigators will study a relatively new pricing mechanism that challenges traditional economic theories. Under Pay-What-You-Want (PWYW) the customer determines how much to pay for the good (often including $0). In prior research the PI has found that a considerable portion of customers choose to pay something for goods and has proposed that this behavior is driven, at least in part, by image management concerns. The current project focuses on the role self and social image considerations have in PWYW purchases. A series of experiments will be conducted in which features of the seller-buyer relationship and type of interaction are systematically manipulated to identify the parameters that predict the success (and failure) of PWYW strategies and clarify the respective roles of self and social image concerns in PWYW decisions.In terms of broader impact, this research will shed light regarding the role of non-standard motivations in the marketplace. In the process it will identify the conditions under which industries can sustain long-term profits using PWYW pricing, suggest how firms might want to go about modifying their pricing models, and suggest still other non-PWYW pricing strategies that might be optimal in light of the drives that make PWYW a profitable price mechanism.