I Paid More Than You (Before)?! The Effect of Self-Construal and Comparison Target on Unfairness Perceptions and Willingness to Pay

The present research explores how self-construal interacts with social versus temporal comparison target in shaping consumer perceptions of price unfairness and willingness to pay. Three experiments find that independent consumers perceive stronger price unfairness when paying more than other consumers do, whereas interdependent consumers perceive stronger unfairness when paying more than they themselves paid in previous transactions. These effects occur because consumers are differentially sensitive to social versus temporal comparisons in their self-appraisal as a function of their self-construal. The sensitivity to social (temporal) comparison among independent (interdependent) consumers also affects their willingness to pay. These results show that self-construal affects consumers’ respective means for maintaining their self-appraisal and alters the relevance of different comparison targets.