Gender differences in the response to unfair prices: a cross‐country analysis

Purpose – The research questions are whether there is a difference in how men and women respond to unfair prices and, if so, whether this gender difference extends across national cultures. Is the difference due to nature or to nurture? This paper aims to answer these questions.Design/methodology/approach – The study uses scenarios to conduct a survey‐based analysis of the effects of gender and country on responses to personally and socially unfair prices.Findings – The results indicate that the response to price unfairness is due more to nurture than to nature. Although American females tend to be more sensitive than men to price unfairness, there is little or no difference between men and women in Germany and South Korea: both sexes there react negatively to an unfair price, particularly when the seller has acted unjustly.Practical implications – In the USA, the gender difference in response to unfair prices suggests that different pricing tactics should be used for men than for women. However, since ma...