Mark Friesen (Die Unternehmung, Vol. 74, No. 4, pp. 403-425)
This paper investigates the concept of perceived price fairness and its dynamic alteration along the customer buying cycle. Today, variable pricing is widespread in many service industries. Besides the current sales price, customers are extensively exposed to varying external reference prices (for example, advertised prices).
To better capture the dynamics, this study conducted a scenario-based experiment with 459 airline customers encompassing repeated measures. The results provide evidence that the perception of distributive and procedural fairness significantly varies along the buying cycle. Therefore, marketers should be cautious regarding price variations and advertised prices.