薪酬是企业吸引、激励和保持员工的重要途径。然而,企业支付给员工的薪酬数量是否为员工所客观感知,直接关系到企业薪酬的支付效率。本文从心理账户的理论视角构建了员工薪酬的心理账户结构,并通过对10家企业共338名员工主客观薪酬数据的整合研究,揭示了员工对薪酬感知收入的心理折扣现象,及其在不同所有制形式企业中的差异。研究结果表明：在工资、奖金、法定社保和企业自主福利四类薪酬心理账户中,员工对企业自主福利的心理折扣最大;与外资企业员工相比,国有企业员工对工资和企业自主福利的心理折扣程度都明显更大。本文对企业薪酬支付效率问题的探讨不仅丰富了薪酬领域的理论研究,对企业如何在相同人工成本下提高薪酬的激励效果也有重要实践指导意义。

Prelec and Loewenstein (1998) introduced a “double-entry” mental accounting theory, in which one set of entries recorded the “net” utility derived from consumption after subtracting the disutility of associated payments, and the other set recorded the "net" disutility of payments after subtracting the utility of associated consumption. The mental coupling of payment and consumption increased the pain of paying and reduced the pleasure of consumption, indicating a big coefficient of pleasure attenuation (a). While the mental decoupling of payment and consumption reduced the perceived cost of the activity and therefore boosted the likelihood of enjoying the consumption, indicating a big coefficient of pain buffering (b). Several findings are summarized: a small coefficient of pleasure attenuation (a) is perceived when consumption is after payment, while a small coefficient of pain buffering (b) is perceived when payment is after consumption. It is also found that luxury has a big coefficient of pleasure attenuation (a), while necessity has a big coefficient of pain buffering (b). The tightwad has a big coefficient of pleasure attenuation (a) and the spendthrift has a big coefficient of pain buffering (b). Additionally, the psychological mechanism of coupling, such as debt aversion and negative time preference, payment depreciation etc., and the advices to behavior decision are discussed. And meanwhile, new perspective and research subject on consumer behavior decision are proposed.

Mental accounting is the set of cognitive operations used by individuals and households to organize, evaluate, and keep track of financial activities. Mental accounting proposes that people utilize a set of cognitive labels to evaluate their financial activities, each of which is associated with different preferences to consume (Levav & McGraw, 2009; Kahneman & Tversky 1984; Thaler 1985, 1990). Mental accounting researchers have shown that windfall gains are spent more readily and frivolously than ordinary income. Consumers prefer to spend their windfall gains on hedonic consumptions but spend their ordinary incomes on utilitarian consumptions. Levav and McGraw (2009) suggested that emotional accounting, including people feelings about money, also influences consumer choices. When people have negative feelings toward windfall, they opt to make utilitarian expenditures. However, the process of how cognitive (windfall or ordinary income) and affective (positive or negative emotion) tags interact in consumer behavior was not explored. This study proposes that both cognitive tag and affective tags in mental accounting affect consumer decision making. The objective of this study is to explore the interactive effect of cognitive and affective tags in mental accounting on consumer decision through four studies. In studies 1a and 1b, the effect of cognitive and affective tags in mental accounting on consumer decision making behavior was measured. Study 1a showed that the positive tag of windfall income is preferred for hedonic consumption, whereas the negative tag of windfall income is preferred for utilitarian consumption. Both positive and negative tags of ordinary income are preferred for utilitarian consumption. Study1b utilized a field study to examine actual consumption behavior. The results showed that when people received 15 Yuan RMB as ordinary income, they prefer to spend it on utilitarian consumption regardless of the positive or negative emotion they feel. However, they receive 15 Yuan RMB as windfall income, they prefer to use it for hedonic consumption in the positive emotion and for utilitarian consumption in the negative emotion. Studies 2a and 2b attempted to explore the reason of negative emotion can make windfall income turn from hedonic to utilitarian consumption. Study2a found that when people expect to feel guilty about spending windfall income on hedonic consumption, they would avoid hedonic consumption. Study2b found that when people felt guilty about windfall income, they tend to avoid hedonic consumption. Compared with the low guilt level group, the high guilt level group prefers to use windfall income for utilitarian consumption. These results suggest that cognitive and affective tags influence consumer behavior. The influence of cognitive tag on consumer decision presents the ognition match effect , whereas the influence of affective tag on consumer decision presents the ffect match effect . Both tags also have an interaction effect on consumer decision. Guilt may be a mechanism that results in the negative tag of windfall being preferred for utilitarian consumption.

“心理账户”是人们在心理上对结果（尤其是经济结果）的编码、分类和估价的过程,它揭示了人们在进行（资金）财富决策时的心理认知过程。心理账户的理论成果主要集中在“非替代性”的本质特征以及特殊的心理运算规则,心理账户在各个应用领域的研究成果主要包括：价格感知;行为资产组合理论;行为生命周期理论以及消费预算的研究。未来将在多元化研究方法的基础上,开展跨文化研究,对心理账户的内在心理机制和认知规律深入探讨。

改变薪酬的预期参照点,可以改变人们对同一结果的认知评价,从而达到不同的激励效果;人们在规避惩罚时更易激发出高水平的努力;低金额奖酬时人们倾向于选择物品,而高金额奖酬时人们倾向于选择现金。这些研究结论对人力资源管理实践有启示和借鉴意义。

心理预算是指个体对分配到不同心理账户中的资源设定预算,并对各项花费进行追踪的心理认知过程.心理预算包括预算设定、花费追踪和账户结算三个过程.与传统经济学的经济预算不同,心理预算受到花费类型、时间偏好、教育水平、收入水平和性别等因素的影响,具有准确性低、弹性小以及非理性的特点.

本文利用1994年对国家级贫困县划分的自然实验,运用断点回归(regression discontinuity design)的方法,在考虑转移支付内生性问题的因果推论框架下,使用1999—2009年县级面板数据,对中国财政转移支付造成"粘蝇纸效应"的大小重新进行估计。实证研究的结果表明,财政转移支付确实能够产生"粘蝇纸效应"。对于本文的研究样本,一般性转移支付占GDP的比重每提高1%,财政支出占GDP的比重平均将提高1.5%;专项转移支付占GDP的比重每提高1%,财政支出占GDP的比重平均将提高3.0%。在转移支付总量不变的前提下,提高一般性转移支付比重、压缩专项转移支付比重不会造成地方政府规模膨胀。

Because of their different weight in people's mind, various sources of wealth can lead to diverse attitudes and ways of consumption. By carrying out a series of experiments, predecessors have found out that windfall gains are spent more readily than hard-earned money. Base on the theory of implicit social cognition and mental account, use the implicit association test (IAT) and ERP technology to explore the difference made on people's mind by windfall gains and hard-earned gains, thus give an indirect test for its implicit attitudes and brain processing mechanism. The IAT result shows that windfall gains is more closely connected with easy consumption, while hard-earned money is more closely connected with the difficult consumption, which verifies the predecessors' conclusion in the implicit level; The ERP technology also found hard-earned money and windfall gains may base on different brain processing mechanism, and reflected in P3 and LPC composition, P3 could be the direct ERP’ components which reflects the hard-income group’s preference to consumer consumption patterns, while LPC components reflects people’s preference to consumption under an accidental income condition.

This paper examines whether information overload might partially explain why defined contribution plan participants tend to follow the "path of least resistance" (Choi et al. [2002]) In two experiments, we test how three common differences among defined contribution plans (the number of investment choices offered, the similarity of the choices, and the display of the choices) lead to varying degrees of information overload and the probability of opting for the default. Notably, we control for the financial aptitude of each individual. The findings suggest that the success of certain plan features depends strongly on the financial background of the participant. We find that low-knowledge individuals opt for the default allocation more often than high-knowledge individuals (experiment 1: 20% versus 2%). The results emphasize the importance of plan design, especially the selection of plan defaults, and the need to improve the financial literacy of participants.

We use field and natural experiments in online auctions to study the revenue effect of varying the level and disclosure of shipping charges. Our main findings are (1) disclosure affects revenues—for low shipping charges, a seller is better off disclosing; and (2) increasing shipping charges boosts revenues when these charges are hidden. These results are not explained by changes in the number of bidders.

No abstract is available for this item.

The interpretation of a percentage change often hinges on the base value to which it is attached. The authors identify a tendency among consumers to neglect bas

Consistent with mental accounting, we document that investors sometimes choose the asset allocation for one account without considering the asset allocation of their other accounts. The setting is a firm that changed its 401(k) matching rules. Initially, 401(k) enrollees chose the allocation of their own contributions, but the firm chose the match allocation. These enrollees ignored the match allocation when choosing their own-contribution allocation. In the second regime, enrollees simultaneously selected both accounts' allocations, leading them to mentally integrate the two. Own-contribution allocations before the rule change equal the combined own- and match-contribution allocations afterwards, whereas combined allocations differ sharply across regimes.

Affordable loss involves decision makers estimating what they might be able to put at risk and determining what they are willing to lose in order to follow a course of action. Using the entrepreneur's new venture plunge decision, this article combines insights from behavioral economics to develop a detailed analysis of the affordable loss heuristic. Specifically, we develop propositions to explain how individuals: (1) decide what they can afford to lose; and (2) what they are willing to lose in order to plunge into entrepreneurship. The article also discusses the implications of affordable loss for the economics of strategic entrepreneurship. Copyright 2009 Strategic Management Society.

We design and administer a financial literacy test tailored to a specific defined contribution plan. We find that participants show fairly good knowledge of the basic mechanics of the plan, but are unable to differentiate among various investment options. Knowledge is particularly low among women, low income and low education employees. We also find some evidence that personal contributions lead to more knowledge. These results support plan designs that have few investment options and encourage personal contributions.

Employees will usually say they would prefer cold cash rather than a noncash incentive. Interestingly, however, when employee productivity is evaluated using cash incentives versus noncash incentives, noncash incentives have proven to be effective at improving performance and employee satisfaction. This article discusses the issues and provides several broad suggestions for successful noncash incen-tive programs. 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Using data on all real estate transactions in the greater Helsinki area during 1987 2003 (about 80,000 apartment transactions with capital gains available), we find substantial support for loss realization aversion. Further, a disproportionate number of sales occurred exactly at the original purchase price. Reluctance to realize losses is weaker with pricier apartments, seasoned sellers, and apartments that are likely bought for investment purposes. Mortgage down payment requirements are unlikely to fully explain the results. On the whole the results are consistent with loss aversion and mental accounting.

61We gave cash and in-kind grants to microenterprises in urban Ghana.61For women with subsistence enterprises, we find no increase in profits.61For women with larger businesses, only in-kind grants increase profits.61The results for men also suggest lower cash impact, though this result is less robust.

ABSTRACT Prior studies demonstrate that tax considerations can influence a taxpayer investment decisions. By itself, this is not very surprising because the investment decisions in these studies resulted in either increasing or decreasing the tax refund or tax payment. The aim of the present study is to re-examine this relationship in order to isolate the possible psychological effects of year-end tax position. We do this by controlling the economic tax consequences of the investment decisions and by relying on theories of mental accounting for our predictions. Results of two experiments demonstrate that taxpayers are psychologically more likely to hold stocks when they owe a tax payment than when they receive a tax refund, despite the absence of economic tax consequences. Furthermore, this behavior generalizes to stocks with gains and to stocks with losses. The results are consistent with a mental accounting application of prospect theory in which risk preferences in one area (taxes) can potentially influence risk preferences in other areas (investments).

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0960982210015083

In the past two decades, pricing research has paid increasing attention to instances where a product's price is divided into a base price and one or more mandat

This paper reviews recent scholarship on the topic of consumer durables replacement behavior. Much of this research demonstrates the value of expanding a rational consumer decision-making perspective on replacement decisions to accommodate insights from consumer behavior. These insights are especially relevant for understanding voluntary replacement decisions that are not motivated strictly by economic trade-offs. Unfortunately, while broad in scope, this scholarship is limited in depth, and lacks a comprehensive model for portraying the relationships among the constructs that have been examined. This paper attempts to integrate the existing research base by offering a framework for conceptualizing the replacement decision process. Additionally, a suggested research agenda for validating and clarifying the hypothesized relationships in the framework is presented.

The basic paradigm of asset pricing is in vibrant flux. The purely rational approach is being subsumed by a broader approach based upon the psychology of investors. In this approach, security expected returns are determined by both risk and misvaluation. This survey sketches a framework for understanding decision biases, evaluates the a priori arguments and the capital market evidence bearing on the importance of investor psychology for security prices, and reviews recent models.

An important problem facing managers is how to enhance the credibility, or believability, of their earnings forecasts. In this paper, we experimentally test whether a characteristic of a management earnings forecast-namely, whether it is disaggregated-can affect its credibility. We also test whether disaggregation moderates the rela between managerial incentives and forecast credibility. Disaggregated forecasts include an earnings forecast as well as forecasts of other key line items comprising that earnings forecast. Our results indicate that disaggregated forecasts are judged to be more credible than aggregated ones and that disaggregation works to counteract the effect of high incentives. We also develop and test an original model that explains how disaggregation positively impacts three factors that, in turn, influence forecast credibility: perceived precision of management's beliefs, perceived clarity of the forecast, and perceived financial reporting quality. We show that forecast disaggregation works to remedy incentive problems only via its effect on perceived financial

Bundle offers consisting of two or more products often include a price discount. The impact of the price discount on the perceived attractiveness of the bundle has been shown to depend on which product is discounted. It has been argued that discounts are more effective when they are assigned to the product that will receive the most weight in the overall evaluation of the bundle. We propose that the perceived value of the discount may also depend on a referent specific to each product. Six studies are used to provide evidence that (1) price discount framing effects can be explained by reference dependence and (2) that reference dependence and product importance independently contribute to price discount framing effects.

Using data from 441 call center employees at a large North American financial services firm, we studied how the frequency of thinking about an incentive available for performance led to increased output on an important performance metric. We find that people think more frequently about noncash tangible incentives (merchandise and travel) than cash incentives and that as the frequency of thought increases, performance increases. This leads to a larger performance boost for tangible incentives compared to a cash incentive of equal purchasing power. These results show an additional benefit from the use of tangible incentives and help answer the question regarding the psychological processes which make incentives motivating.

Partitioned pricing is a widely used pricing strategy, but little is known about the buyer characteristics that influence its effectiveness. The current research contributes to the pricing literature by investigating the impact of regulatory focus on the perceived attractiveness of partitioned and combined pricing. In four studies, we hypothesized and found support for the idea that promotion focused individuals perceive partitioned prices to be more attractive than combined prices, while prevention focused individuals do not differentiate between the two pricing types. Our results also show that regulatory focus influences consumers' information processing style, which in turn leads to important differences in attitudes towards partitioned and combined pricing. Specifically, promotion focused consumers are more likely to engage in global processing and global processing is linked to preferences for partitioned (versus combined) prices.

Mental accounting posits that people track their expenditures using cognitive categories or "mental accounts." The authors propose that this cognitive process can be complemented by an approach that examines how feelings about a sum of money, or the money's "affective tag," influence its consumption. When people receive money under negative circumstances, this tag can include a negative affect component, which people aim to reduce by engaging in strategic consumption. The authors investigate two such strategies, laundering and hedonic avoidance, and demonstrate their effect on consumption of windfalls. The authors find that people avoid spending their negatively tagged money on hedonic expenditures and prefer to make utilitarian or virtuous expenditures to reduce, or "launder," their negative feelings about the windfall. The authors call this tagging process and strategic consumption "emotional accounting."

I test whether investors’ trading decisions are influenced by their preferences for framing gains and losses. I find that investors are more likely to bundle sales of losers than sales of winners on the same day, consistent with the hedonic editing hypothesis (Thaler ) that individuals prefer integrating losses and segregating gains. In addition, the extent to which mixed sales of winners and losers are consistent with the hedonic editing hypothesis is greater than what would be expected under random sales of stocks. These results suggest that mental accounting is likely to play a significant role in investors’ trading decisions.

Recent evidence indicates irrational behavior among retail investors. They hold onto losses and sell winners in a manner consistent with the disposition effect. Market professionals often use the term “discipline” to indicate trading strategies that minimize potential behavioral influences. We investigate the nature of trading discipline and whether professional traders are able to avoid the costly irrational behaviors found in retail populations. The full-time traders in our sample hold onto losses significantly longer than gains, but we find no evidence of costs associated with this behavior. The successful floor futures traders in our sample exhibit trading behavior characterized as rational and disciplined. Moreover, measures of relative trading discipline have predictive power for subsequent trading success.

Four experiments test predictions on endowment and mental accounting effects of a theoretical perspective that stresses the symbolic‐relational significance for consumer transactions and that posits the placement of qualitative boundaries on fungibility. Although people accepted proposals to buy objects acquired in market‐pricing relationships as routine, the same proposals in communal‐sharing, authority‐ranking, and equality‐matching relationships triggered distress and erratically high dollar valuations. Symbolic ownership history also moderated valuations in a purely market setting, and the effects of symbolic‐relational source of income extended even to spending decisions. Examination of the model’s ordinal predictions revealed stronger effects for equality‐matching than for authority‐ranking relationships.

We investigate how tax loss offset restrictions affect an investor's evaluation of risky investments under bounded rationality. We analytically identify behavioral tax effects for different levels of loss offset restrictions, tax rate and prospect theoretical biases (loss aversion, probability weighting and reference dependence) and find tax loss offset restrictions significantly bias investor perception, even more heavily than the tax rate. If loss offset restrictions are rather generous, investors are very loss averse or assign a huge weight to loss probabilities, taxation is likely to increase the preference value of risky investments (behavioral tax paradox). Surprisingly, the identified significant perception biases of tax loss offset restrictions occur under both high and low tax rates and thus are relatively insensitive to tax rate changes. Finally, we identify huge differences in behavioral tax effects across countries indicating that tax loss offset restrictions crucially determine the perceived tax quality of a country for risky investments. Our analysis is relevant for policy makers discussing future tax reforms as well as for investors assessing risky investment opportunities.

We study the effect of small windfalls on consumer spending decisions by comparing the purchases online grocery customers make when redeeming $10-off coupons with the purchases they make without coupons. Controlling for customer fixed effects and other variables, we find that grocery spending increases by $1.59 when a $10-off coupon is redeemed. The extra spending associated with coupon redemption is focused on groceries that a customer does not typically buy. These results are consistent with the theory of mental accounting but are not consistent with the standard permanent income or lifecycle theory of consumption. While the hypotheses we test are motivated by mental accounting, we also discuss some alternative psychological explanations for our findings.

In the standard economic account of consumer behavior the cost of a purchase takes the form of a reduction in future utility when expenditures that otherwise could have been made are forgone. The reality of consumer hedonics is different. When people make purchases, they often experience an immediate pain of paying, which can undermine the pleasure derived from consumption. The ticking of the taxi meter, for example, reduces one's pleasure from the ride. We propose a "double-entry" mental accounting theory that describes the nature of these reciprocal interactions between the pleasure of consumption and the pain of paying and draws out their implications for consumer behavior and hedonics. A central assumption of the model, which we call prospective accounting, is that consumption that has already been paid for can be enjoyed as if it were free and that the pain associated with payments made prior to consumption (but not after) is buffered by thoughts of the benefits that the payments will finance. Another important concept is coupling, which refers to the degree to which consumption calls to mind thoughts of payment, and vice versa. Some financing methods, such as credit cards, tend to weaken coupling, whereas others, such as cash payment, produce tight coupling. Our model makes a variety of predictions that are at variance with economic formulations. Contrary to the standard prediction that people will finance purchases to minimize the present value of payments, our model predicts strong debt aversion-that they should prefer to prepay for consumption or to get paid for work after it is performed. Such pay-before sequences confer hedonic benefits because consumption can be enjoyed without thinking about the need to pay for it in the future. Likewise, when paying beforehand, the pain of paying is mitigated by thoughts of future consumption benefits. Contrary to the economic prediction that consumers should prefer to pay, at the margin, for what they consume, our model predicts that consumers will find it less painful to pay for, and hence will prefer, flat-rate pricing schemes such as unlimited Internet access at a fixed monthly price, even if it involves paying more for the same usage. Other predictions concern spending patterns with cash, charge, or credit cards, and preferences for the earmarking of purchases. We test these predictions in a series of surveys and in a conjoint-like analysis that pitted our double-entry mental accounting model against a standard discounting formulation and another benchmark that did not incorporate hedonic interactions between consumption and payments. Our model provides a better fit of the data for 60% of the subjects; the discounting formulation provides a better fit for only 29% of the subjects (even when allowing for positive and negative discount rates). The pain of paying, we argue, plays an important role in consumer self-regulation, but is hedonically costly. From a hedonic perspective the ideal situation is one in which payments are tightly coupled to consumption (so that paying evokes thoughts about the benefits being financed) but consumption is decoupled from payments (so that consumption does not evoke thoughts about payment). From an efficiency perspective, however, it is important for consumers to be aware of what they are paying for consumption. This creates a tension between hedonic efficiency and what we call decision efficiency. Various institutional arrangements, such as financing of public parks through taxes or usage fees, play into this tradeoff. A producer developing a pricing structure for their product or service should be aware of these two conflicting objectives, and should try to devise a structure that reconciles them.

Abstract Research Summary: While it has long been recognized that the business model can be a source of performance heterogeneity, less is known about how the business model affects consumers' perceptions about a firm's products and services. By taking a demand-side perspective, I argue that business models create and capture value when the elements that compose a business model improve how consumers perceive a firm's products and better enable heterogeneous consumers to act on their willingness-to-pay. I develop theory on how the freemium business model competes with the premium business model and test hypotheses in the market for digital PC games. Results show that freemium games are played less and generate less revenues and that greater variety in games' menus of paid items is associated with higher revenues. Managerial Summary: Freemium business models are increasingly prevalent in the digital economy, yet very little is known about how freemium affects consumers' perceptions of value and their willingness-to-pay. In this article, I study how the freemium business model competes with the premium business model in the market for digital PC games. Results show that freemium games are played less and generate less revenues than premium games and that greater variety in games' menus of paid items is associated with higher revenues. This implies that in order to achieve competitive parity with firms operating the premium business model, firms operating the freemium business model need to create more value (e.g., through improved product quality, income from advertisements, or unlocking network externalities) or operate at lower costs.

Abstract The emotional content of stimuli influences cognitive performance. In two experiments, we investigated the time course and mechanisms of emotional influences on visual word processing in various tasks by recording event-related brain potentials (ERPs). The stimuli were verbs of positive, negative, and neutral valence. In Experiment 1, where lexical decisions had to be performed on single verbs, both positive and negative verbs were processed more quickly than neutral verbs and elicited a distinct ERP component, starting around 370 msec. In Experiment 2, the verbs were embedded in a semantic context provided by single nouns. Likewise, structural, lexical, and semantic decisions for positive verbs were accelerated, and an ERP effect with a scalp distribution comparable to that in Experiment 1 now started about 200 msec earlier. These effects may signal an automatic allocation of attentional resources to emotionally arousing words, since they were not modulated by different task demands. In contrast, a later ERP effect of emotion was restricted to lexical and semantic decisions and, thus, appears to indicate more elaborated, task-dependent processing of emotional words.

61We have synthesised ultra-high molecular weight copolymer based on acrylates.61Highest conversion efficiency of 3.22% at 1 Sun, and prolonged durability is attained.61It is not always true that copolymer with large molecular weight will obstruct electrochemical function.

Contrary to the premise of rational models, which suggests that investors’ aggregate portfolios are the appropriate informational asset for evaluating a file performance, we find, using an eye tracker, that investors spend more time looking at performances of an individual asset than at the performances of the overall aggregated portfolio and at the net value change more than the assets’ final value. We also find that investors look at the monetary value change longer than at change in percentages. Specifically, participants look longer at the value change of gaining assets than at the value change of losing assets. We propose the possibility that investors are not only engaged in judgment when evaluating their portfolio (leading to loss aversion and mental accounting) but may also be predisposed to looking for reassuring elements within it. Thus, it may be that humans use mental accounting by nature and not necessarily by judgment.

One of the most significant and unique features in Kahneman and Tversky's approach to choice under uncertainty is aversion to loss realization. This paper is concerned with two aspects of this feature. First, we place this behavior pattern into a wider theoretical framework concerning a general disposition to sell winners too early and hold losers too long. This framework includes other elements, namely mental accounting, regret aversion, self-control, and tax considerations. Second, we discuss evidence which suggests that tax considerations alone cannot explain the observed patterns of loss and gain realization, and that the patterns are consistent with a combined effect of tax considerations and the three other elements of our framework. We also show that the concentration of loss realizations in December is not consistent with fully rational behavior, but is consistent with our theory.

Spending that exhausts a budget is shown to decrease satisfaction with purchased products relative to spending when resources remain in the budget. Six studies, including those in which participants earn and spend real resources and evaluate real products, explore thisbottom dollar effect.This research contributes to prior mental accounting research regarding how costs influence decision making (e.g., bundling, coupling, sunk costs) and to the satisfaction literature. Supporting the role of pain of payment in this process, we show that the bottom dollar effect increases as effort required to earn budgetary resources increases, decreases in the presence of windfall gains, and decreases when there is less time between budget exhaustion and replenishment. Mediation analyses further demonstrate the role of payment pain in the bottom dollar effect. Implications are discussed in the context of behavioral research, marketing promotions management, and public policy.

Abstract Many articles have examined the psychological drivers of charitable giving, but little is known about how people mentally budget for charitable gifts. The present research aims to address this gap by investigating how perceptions of donations as exceptional (uncommon and infrequent) rather than ordinary (common and frequent) expenses might affect budgeting for and giving to charity. We provide the first demonstration that exceptional framing of an identical item can directly influence mental budgeting processes, and yield societal benefits. In 5 lab and field experiments, exceptional framing increased charitable behavior, and diminished the extent to which people considered the effect of the donation on their budgets. The current work extends our understanding of mental accounting and budgeting for charitable gifts, and demonstrates practical techniques that enable fundraisers to enhance the perceived exceptionality of donations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

The economic theory of the consumer is a combination of positive and normative theories. Since it is based on a rational maximizing model it describes how consumers should choose, but it is alleged to also describe how they do choose. This paper argues that in certain well-defined situations many consumers act in a manner that is inconsistent with economic theory. In these situations economic theory will make systematic errors in predicting behavior. Kanneman and Tversey's prospect theory is proposed as the basis for an alternative descriptive theory. Topics discussed are: undeweighting of opportunity costs, failure to ignore sunk costs, scarch behavior choosing not to choose and regret, and precommitment and self-control.

A new model of consumer behavior is developed using a hybrid of cognitive psychology and microeconomics. The development of the model starts with the mental coding of combinations of gains and losses using the prospect theory value function. Then the evaluation of purchases is modeled using the new concept of "transaction utility". The household budgeting process is also incorporated to complete the characterization of mental accounting. Several implications to marketing, particularly in the area of pricing, are developed.

Some food items that are commonly considered unhealthy also tend to elicit impulsive responses. The pain of paying in cash can curb impulsive urges to purchase such unhealthy food products. Credit card payments, in contrast, are relatively painless and weaken impulse control. Consequently, consumers are more likely to buy unhealthy food products when they pay by credit card than when they pay in cash. Results from four studies support these hypotheses. Analysis of actual shopping behavior of 1,000 households over a period of 6 months revealed that shopping baskets have a larger proportion of food items rated as impulsive and unhealthy when shoppers use credit or debit cards to pay for the purchases (study 1). Follow-up experiments (studies 2 4) show that the vice-regulation effect of cash payments is mediated by pain of payment and moderated by chronic sensitivity to pain of payment. Implications for consumer welfare and theories of impulsive consumption are discussed.

The psychological principles that govern the perception of decision problems and the evaluation of probabilities and outcomes produce predictable shifts of preference when the same problem is framed in different ways. Reversals of preference are demonstrated in choices regarding monetary outcomes, both hypothetical and real, and in questions pertaining to the loss of human lives. The effects of frames on preferences are compared to the effects of perspectives on perceptual appearance. The dependence of preferences on the formulation of decision problems is a significant concern for the theory of rational choice.

All over the world the economic crisis has raised the number of households which are below the poverty line. A careful tracking of expenditures has become increasingly necessary to avoid financial distress. Models of spending behavior often implicitly assume that budget shoppers know how much they spend while shopping. As demonstrated here, this assumption is the exception rather than the rule

Recent news coverage on pricing portrays the importance of price fairness. This article conceptually integrates the theoretical foundations of fairness perceptions and summarizes empirical findings on price fairness. The authors identify research issues and gaps in existing knowledge on buyers' perceptions of price fairness. The article concludes with guidelines for managerial practice.

When consumers decide to upgrade to a new or better product, they often trade in their currently owned or used product for the new one. The authors examine whether such trade-in behavior, in which consumers must negotiate the price for both the new and the used product, affects their willingness-to-pay price for the new good. Drawing on research on mental accounting, the authors reason that when consumers engage in a transaction involving a trade-in (i.e., when they act as both buyer and seller simultaneously), they place more importance on getting a good value for the used product than on getting a good price for the new product. As a result, such consumers exhibit a higher willingness-to-pay price for the new product than consumers who just buy the new product alone. The results from a series of laboratory experiments provide systematic support for this hypothesis. Finally, the authors lend external validity to their results by confirming the hypothesis using real-world transaction data from the automobile market.