Theoretical background
Key area | Exemplary sources | Key results | Implications for our study |
---|---|---|---|
Heterogeneity → negotiation aspiration: The role of customers’ perceived price fairness | Darke and Dahl (2003) | The effect of bargain size on customer satisfaction with the bargain is mediated by perceived fairness | Negotiation legitimacy as a mediator: If price fairness is uncertain owing to high heterogeneity, customers may regard it as legitimate to increase their negotiation aspirations. We elaborate on this argument in H1, H2, and H7. |
Huppertz, Arenson, and Evans (1978) | Customers who perceive high price inequity are more likely to complain about the price | ||
Maxwell, Nye, and Maxwell (1999) | Negotiators primed on a fair outcome make greater concessions, reach faster agreements, and are more satisfied with the outcome | ||
Xia, Monroe, and Cox (2004) | When customers perceive a price as unfair, they attempt to enhance their own benefits and to reduce their monetary sacrifice | ||
Heterogeneity → negotiation aspiration: The role of customers’ perceived risk | Grewal et al. (2007) | Services that customers do not have control over evoke risk perceptions, which customers aim to reduce | Product risk as a mediator: If perceived product risk is high owing to high heterogeneity, customers may attempt to reduce their potential loss by increasing their negotiation aspirations. We elaborate on this argument in H1, H3, and H7. |
Mitchell and McGoldrick (1996) | To reduce their risk, customers use money-back guarantees, warranty quality, free gifts, and coupons, among other things | ||
Roth and Rothblum (1982) | When risk-averse negotiators risk disadvantageous negotiation outcomes, they request better terms as a compensation for their risk | ||
Weber and Hsee (1998) | Customers are willing to pay more for options perceived as less risky | ||
Inseparability → negotiation aspiration: The role of relationships between customers and service providers | Amanatullah, Morris, and Curhan (2008) | Negotiators who are concerned that negotiating assertively harms relationships make larger concessions | Negotiation risk as a mediator: If a good relationship to a service provider is important owing to high inseparability, customers may attempt to preserve the relationship by decreasing their negotiation aspirations. We elaborate on this argument in H4, H5, and H8. |
Grewal, Gotlieb, and Marmorstein (2000) | If the price of a service is reduced, customers perceive lower service quality | ||
Greenhalgh and Chapman (1998) | Cohesive relationships between negotiators encourage information sharing and discourage use of coercive tactics | ||
Greenhalgh and Gilkey (1993) | Negotiators who are oriented toward relationships are more open-minded about making concessions | ||
Wieseke, Alavi, and Habel (2014) | Salespeople who are motivated to maintain a relationship with customers are more likely to yield in price negotiations |
Hypotheses (Part 1): Mediating effects
The mediating effect of heterogeneity in services negotiations
The mediating effect of inseparability in services negotiations
The effect of negotiation aspiration on negotiated price
Study 1: Establishing the effects via heterogeneity and inseparability
Motivation
Procedure
Measures
Results
Path | Hypotheses | Model 1: Full Model | Model 2: No Controls |
---|---|---|---|
Effects of services on IHIP dimensions | |||
Good (0) versus service: leasing (1) → intangibility | .09n.s. | .11n.s. | |
Good (0) versus service: leasing (1) → heterogeneity | .16† | .17† | |
Good (0) versus service: leasing (1) → inseparability | .21* | .21* | |
Good (0) versus service: leasing (1) → perishability | .21* | .21* | |
Effects of services on IHIP dimensions | |||
Good (0) versus service: pay-per-use (1) → intangibility | .10n.s. | .11n.s. | |
Good (0) versus service: pay-per-use (1) → heterogeneity | .16† | .17† | |
Good (0) versus service: pay-per-use (1) → inseparability | .16† | .16† | |
Good (0) versus service: pay-per-use (1) → perishability | .15n.s. | .15n.s. | |
Effects of IHIP dimensions on customers’ negotiation aspiration | |||
Intangibility → negotiation aspiration | -.12n.s. | -.04n.s. | |
Heterogeneity → negotiation aspiration | .17† | .23** | |
Inseparability → negotiation aspiration | -.20† | -.19† | |
Perishability → negotiation aspiration | -.00n.s. | -.08n.s. | |
Effects of customers’ negotiation aspiration on customers’ negotiated price | |||
Negotiation aspiration → negotiated price | H6: - | -.82** | -.82** |
Controlled paths | |||
Good (0) versus service: leasing (1) → negotiation aspiration | .03n.s. | .04n.s. | |
Good (0) versus service: leasing (1) → negotiated price | -.00n.s. | .00n.s. | |
Good (0) versus service: pay-per-use (1) → negotiation aspiration | .11n.s. | .10n.s. | |
Good (0) versus service: pay-per-use (1) → negotiated price | .04n.s. | .05n.s. | |
Effects of control variables | |||
General negotiation propensity → negotiation aspiration | .16† | — | |
Negotiation expectation → negotiation aspiration | .17† | — | |
Negotiation expectation → intangibility | .23** | — | |
Negotiation expectation → heterogeneity | .14† | — | |
Model fit | |||
Comparative fit index (CFI) | .97 | 1.00 | |
Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) | .10 | .00 | |
Standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) | .05 | .00 | |
Bootstrapped Indirect Effects | |||
Good (0) versus service: leasing (1) → intangibility → negotiation aspiration | -.70n.s. | -.23n.s. | |
Good (0) versus service: leasing (1) → heterogeneity → negotiation aspiration | H1: + | 1.68† | 2.41† |
Good (0) versus service: leasing (1) → inseparability → negotiation aspiration | H4: - | -2.48†† | -2.34†† |
Good (0) versus service: leasing (1) → perishability → negotiation aspiration | -.08n.s. | -.96n.s. | |
Good (0) versus service: pay-per-use (1) → intangibility → negotiation aspiration | -.75n.s. | -.25n.s. | |
Good (0) versus service: pay-per-use (1) → heterogeneity → negotiation aspiration | 1.68†† | 2.43†† | |
Good (0) versus service: pay-per-use (1) → inseparability → negotiation aspiration | -2.03† | -1.92† | |
Good (0) versus service: pay-per-use (1) → perishability → negotiation aspiration | -.06n.s. | -.71n.s. |
Study 2: Elucidating customers’ inferences from heterogeneity and inseparability
Motivation
Procedure
Measures
Results
Path | Hypotheses | Model 1: Replication of Study 1 | Model 2: Full Model Study 2 |
---|---|---|---|
Effects of services on IHIP dimensions | |||
Good (0) versus service (1) → intangibility | .38** | .38** | |
Good (0) versus service (1) → heterogeneity | .16* | .16* | |
Good (0) versus service (1) → inseparability | .17* | .17* | |
Good (0) versus service (1) → perishability | .28** | .28** | |
Effects of IHIP on customers’ inferences | |||
Heterogeneity → negotiation legitimacy | — | .28** | |
Inseparability → negotiation legitimacy | — | .13n.s. | |
Heterogeneity → product risk | — | .23* | |
Inseparability → product risk | — | .08n.s. | |
Inseparability → negotiation risk | — | .19* | |
Heterogeneity → negotiation risk | — | .26** | |
Effects of customers’ inferences on negotiation aspiration | |||
Negotiation legitimacy → negotiation aspiration | — | .33** | |
Product risk → negotiation aspiration | — | .15* | |
Negotiation risk → negotiation aspiration | — | -.14* | |
Effects of negotiation aspiration on negotiated price | |||
Negotiation aspiration → negotiated price | H6: - | -.86** | -.84** |
Controlled paths | |||
Good (0) versus service (1) → negotiation aspiration | .12n.s. | .10n.s. | |
Good (0) versus service (1) → negotiated price | .04n.s. | .04n.s. | |
Intangibility → negotiation aspiration | -.13n.s. | -.03n.s. | |
Intangibility → negotiated price | .02n.s. | -.00n.s. | |
Heterogeneity → negotiation aspiration | .20* | .08n.s. | |
Heterogeneity → negotiated price | .02n.s. | .02n.s | |
Inseparability → negotiation aspiration | -.16* | -.22** | |
Inseparability → negotiated price | .03n.s. | .04n.s. | |
Perishability → negotiation aspiration | .08n.s. | .08n.s. | |
Perishability → negotiated price | -.00n.s. | -.01n.s. | |
Negotiation legitimacy → negotiated price | — | -.06n.s. | |
Product risk → negotiated price | — | .04n.s. | |
Negotiation risk → negotiated price | — | .04n.s. | |
Model fit | |||
Comparative fit index (CFI) | 1.00 | .95 | |
Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) | .00 | .12 | |
Standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) | .00 | .04 | |
Bootstrapped indirect effects | |||
Good (0) versus service (1) → heterogeneity → negotiation legitimacy → negotiation aspiration | H2: + | — | 5.52†† |
Good (0) versus service (1) → heterogeneity → product risk → negotiation aspiration | H3: + | — | 2.11†† |
Good (0) versus service (1) → inseparability → negotiation risk → negotiation aspiration | H5: - | — | -1.59†† |
Hypotheses (Part 2): Moderating effects
The moderating effect of customization in services negotiations
The moderating effect of integration in services negotiations
Study 3: Establishing moderating effects of customization and integration
Motivation
Procedure
Measures
Results
Study 4: Establishing external validity in the field and B2B context
Motivation
Procedure
Measures
Results
Path | Hypotheses | Model 1: Full Model | Model 2: No Controls |
---|---|---|---|
Main effects | |||
Good (0) versus service (1) → negotiation aspiration | .02n.s. | .06n.s. | |
Negotiation aspiration → negotiated price | H6: - | -.15* | -.20** |
Good (0) versus service (1) → negotiated price | .03n.s. | .01n.s. | |
Main effects of moderators | |||
Customization → negotiation aspiration | .40** | .44** | |
Integration → negotiation aspiration | -.15n.s. | -.06n.s. | |
Interaction effects | |||
Good (0) versus service (1) × customization → negotiation aspiration | H7: + | .17* | .18* |
Good (0) versus service (1) × integration → negotiation aspiration | H8: - | -.20* | -.21* |
Controlled effects | |||
Competitive intensity → negotiation aspiration | .21** | — | |
Company revenue → negotiation aspiration | .20** | — | |
Company employees → negotiated price | -.14† | — | |
Professional experience → negotiated price | .19** | — | |
Model fit | |||
R2 of negotiation aspiration | .29** | .22** |