Abstract
Recent developments in database management have allowed organisations to finely tune their price/product offer to individual customers. However, this may lead to the perception by customers of unfavourable treatment where, in discussion with others they discover that the price that they have paid is perceived as less favourable than the best price being offered by the company. Trust is at the heart of most theories of relationship marketing but it is based on is an assumption of privacy of dialogue between buyer and seller. The effect of variable pricing on the level of consumer trust remains under-researched and is the subject of this paper. Theoretical reasons underlying the apparent conflict between variable pricing and relationship trust are discussed. The interim results of an ongoing experimental longitudinal study of the effects of variable pricing on trust are reported.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Conference |
| Place of Publication | Middlesex |
| Publisher | Middlesex University London |
| Pages | 321-333 |
| ISBN (Print) | ISBN 1 904750 49 4 |
| Publication status | Published (in print/issue) - 2006 |