Do consumers value experiences differently from material products? Does this valuation depend on the seller/buyer perspective?

2x2 bt subject design

objects that could be construed either way

sellers value experiences more than material products, but buyers don't

greater endowment effect for experiences

factors that influence valuation perspective (Carmon & Ariely, 2000)
sellers focus on product, buyers focus on expenditure

product type

experience: more mental imagery processing
narrative
holistic

seller/buyer x product type-->mental imagery-->valuation

distinction bt imagery and discursive processing

Hypoth: endowment effect greater for experience than product

conceptual model

mental imagery
sell/buy

product type                    price

include a slide that lays out the roadmap of your experiements

method
3 categories
talk v book from fav author
movie re-screen in 3D vs. poster
concert v. ultimate CD collection for fav band
Control for market price

study 1: 2x2 bt subj design
measures: WTA or WTP; liking of the band

anchor with list price
did you control for whether they had experienced or had this thing before? controlling for novelty

DV: standardized price=valuation/market price

main effect of exp/material distinction
no significant difference across products
endowment effect is greater for experiences
is the appropriate measure the ratio? given there is an overall higher value for experience

2.2/1.3
1/1.5

Craig suggests the ratio should be the appropriate measure, questions comparability
better way would be to prime
Michael: Gilovich DV is satisfaction; endowment effect doesn't reflect the roles of buyers and sellers in the world; they don't know that they are more satisfied by experience; when you're a seller in the world

this is not really the endowment effect-->diff bt someone making a bid for sthg you weren't nec intending to sell

perceived scarcity

didn't ask whether people like the product or experience, asked whether they like the subject of the product or experience

Study 2: mental imagery as a moderated mediator

can't look at ratios bc not normally distributed, but could look at the log of the ratio; is the difference measure relevant or the ratio?

look at statistical robustness before you submit

Hayes 2012, model 8

model holds for one group, but not the other

manipulate mental stipulation by having subjects visualize the experience-->based on Shiv & Huber

visualization of experience significantly enhances the valuation of the experience for sellers, but not for buyers

there is marginal significance

three-way interaction is significant

mental imagery seems to be the mechanism

assymetry bt buyers and sellers in the experience condition

develop the motivation more

buying-->more focused on money

run a query theory style study

Johnson work on endowment effect

buyers have no motivation to pay more than market price

use a product with a known market price rather than anchor it explicitly

get process data to bear out that explanation of buying versus selling mode

because it's central to the explanation for your effect, process data would make it more compelling

mental imagery as another difference in experience literature