A two-stage incentive mechanism for rebalancing free-floating bike sharing systems: Considering user preference

Free-floating bike sharing (FFBS) provides citizens with a flexible way for traveling. The operational performance of such systems is impacted by the imbalance problem of demand and supply. This paper proposes the first two-stage incentive mechanism to improve the service quality of FFBS. While inspired by the user-based rebalancing approach in station-based bike sharing (SBBS), our work is different from existing studies because location optimization is a new problem in FFBS and user preference is considered for the first time. We propose three mechanisms that are pick-up incentives, drop-off incentives, and two-stage incentives. When modeling users’ behavioral responses to incentive mechanisms, we think users prefer drop-off incentives to pick-up incentives, which is supported by a survey study. Each incentive offer is composed of a location and a price. To decide the suggested origin or destination, we first figure out the supply and demand of all valid locations based on Radiant Service Theory (RST) and then search the most problematic location comparing current inventory and future demand. The pricing scheme is modified Budgeted Procurement using Upper Confidence Bounds (BP-UCB). Simulation experiments validate the effectiveness of incentive mechanisms based on historical data from Capital BikeShare program. Results show that the service level of bike sharing systems can be significantly improved by three incentive mechanisms. The two-stage incentive mechanism unexpectedly shows no advantage over pick-up incentives. Sensitivity analysis further indicates that user preference will influence the ranking of two single-stage incentive mechanisms.     

Building trust to increase purchase intentions: The signaling impact of low pricing policies

We examine the differential signaling impact of two low pricing policies, Price Matching Guarantees and Everyday Low Prices, on consumers' trusting beliefs and purchase intentions. We demonstrate that both PMG and EDLP pricing policies signal stores' ability to offer lower prices. However, whether these sellers were perceived as benevolent, and—consequently—consumers' purchase intentions, varied critically depending upon price uncertainty. Perceived benevolence and purchase intentions were significantly higher [lower] for sellers offering PMG than EDLP when price dispersion was high [low]. Our findings offer insights into whether and under what conditions firms should adopt these low pricing policies.     

Gender differences in the pricing of professional services: Implications for income and customer relationships

This study extends our understanding of the effects of gender on both pricing behavior and owner income by examining both relationships in an experimental simulation involving owners of veterinary practices. Consistent with prior research, women owners are found to employ “compassionate pricing” more than men, even when the same services are offered. The process by which gender influences price, however is found to depend in part on one’s relationship orientation. Specifically, women are found to have a higher relationship orientation than men and relationship orientation is found to directly bias women’s transactional pricing towards more compassionate pricing. The relationship between role orientation, pricing, and income, however, is rather complex. While lower prices have a negative relationship with owner income, relationship orientation is found to have a positive direct influence on income. As a result, the influence of relationship orientation on income is found to be both negative, due to lower prices, and positive, due possibly to the resulting customer loyalty.     

交易双方时间成本不同的博弈分析与实验论证

本文在实验经济学的基础上 ,用心理学的实验法 ,模拟了现实中在买卖交易价格信息不对称的情境下 ,时间压力不同对价格的影响问题。通过 62名被试对 2 0个小商品进行交易的前后两阶段——时间压力分别针对卖方和买方时的价格差异 ,即交易利润分成的差异 ,证实了时间压力对价格交易的显著作用。并使以往实验经济学交易价格封顶 (有最高价 )、交易双方被试相互熟悉以及交易被试个体差异因素没有相对控制等问题得到了改进。     

Malleable conjoint partworths: How the breadth of response scales alters price sensitivity

In one laboratory study and one field study conducted with a large, representative sample of respondents, we show that seemingly innocuous questions that precede a conjoint task, such as demographic and usage-related screening questions can alter the price sensitivities recovered from the main conjoint task. The findings demonstrate that whether these prior questions use broad response categories (i.e., few scale points) or narrow response categories (i.e., many scale points) systematically influences consumers' price sensitivity in a CBC (Choice Based Conjoint) study. We suggest that this may occur because the narrow (vs. broad) response categories in the prior questions lead to consideration of a greater (vs. fewer) number of attributes during the key conjoint task. Since both groups of consumers readily consider the naturally salient price attribute, responding to previous questions with narrow (vs. broad) response categories leads to a greater (vs. fewer) number of non-price attributes being considered, and consequently, decrease the weight afforded to price and reduce price sensitivity.     

To Partition or Not to Partition: Role of Trade-in Price on Consumer Evaluations of Purchases Involving Trade-Ins

Many new purchases involve consumers trading in their old product at the same time, requiring them to assume the dual role of a buyer and a seller in the overall exchange. This research examines how framing the overall exchange as a partitioned transaction with separate prices for the new purchase and the trade-in, or a consolidated transaction with a single net price after accounting for the trade-in price, affects consumer preferences. We find that consumers prefer a partitioned (consolidated) transaction when the relative trade-in price is high (low). Unlike previous explanations based on heuristic processing and differential importance of the trade-in price, our reasoning is that partitioning (vs. consolidating) prices makes salient and enables evaluability of the trade-in price. In the absence of specific referents, consumers rely on the new purchase price to evaluate the merits of the trade-in price. Consistent with our reasoning, we identify boundary conditions for the findings. The presence of a favorable referent for the trade-in and whether the new purchase and the trade-in are (perceived to be) in the same product category attenuate the reliance on the new purchase price as a referent. Our findings have important theoretical and managerial implications.