Motivating Discounts: Price-Motivated Reasoning

The behavioral implications of relatively low prices and of discounts have been viewed from two opposing perspectives. From an attribution perspective, a large discount signals low quality and decreases the overall appeal of the product, but from a motivational account, a large discount seems attractive and increases the overall appeal of the product. We demonstrate the existence of both accounts, and suggest that the motivated reasoning account triumphs when the intrinsic attraction is high enough. We thus suggest that given the overwhelming amount of uncertainty in product fit and consumption benefits, consumers’ beliefs regarding the reason for the discount may depend on their motivational states.