Identifying the Factors that Influence Consumer Pricing Knowledge

What consumers know or think they know about product price levels is an important research area from both a societal as well as a marketing perspective. This study investigates objective and subjective price knowledge and the effects of price consciousness, price search behavior, purchase frequency, time availability, and perceived price dispersion on the two knowledge dimensions as well as the relationship between objective and subjective price knowledge. This paper uses a sample of 270 consumers of Shahrvand supermarkets in Tehran; data were collected from a questionnaire, and structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. Price search behavior and purchase frequency had positive effects on both subjective and objective price knowledge, but time availability had no significant effect on objective or subjective price knowledge mediated by effects on price search. Furthermore, perceived price dispersion had a negative effect on objective price knowledge. Price consciousness had a positive effect on both subjective and objective price knowledge mediated by effects on price search and purchase frequency, but price consciousness had no significant direct effect on subjective price knowledge. Finally, objective price knowledge had a positive direct effect on subjective price knowledge.