The emotional side of price

This exploratory study considers the role emotion plays in relationships among several constructs surrounding price. The findings suggest that some aspects of emotion—here surprise and enjoyment—play a role in consumers' responses to and use of price information. Surprise and enjoyment were found to act in concert with involvement, price consciousness, and price–quality associations in respondents' complex reactions to price. Everyone's personal experience suggests that emotions can influence people's reactions to the price of products; this research lends preliminary empirical support to such everyday experiences. The results of this exploratory study clearly point to the need for more definitive studies in the future. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.