Sussman and Alter (2012) examine how consumers navigate exceptional expenses when compared to ordinary expenses. In this study, exceptional purchases are defined as being infrequent and occur under special circumstances. In contrast, ordinary expenses are those which are common and occur on a regular basis. The study which we are replicating takes into consideration the less accurate way in which consumers tend to perceive their exceptional expenses in comparison to their ordinary expenses. Sussman and Alter (2012) sees if this affects how much consumers are willing to pay for ordinary and exceptional items when they are presented sequentially or simultaneously.
The experiment examined cases where participants were making decisions about purchasing items that were either ordinary or exceptional and varied the context by presenting the items either sequentially or simultaneously. Changes in consumers’ willingness to pay for exceptional items based on the presentation order are derived from contemporaneous consideration of making one purchase at a time. Consumers pay the same amount for ordinary goods regardless of the presentation order, because the purchase of one ordinary good may automatically prompt consumers to independently understand to be part of a larger set of investments. Our team will make a direct replication of the experiment.
Team Members:
Gil Barksdale
Joyce Costa
Xiang Ding
Justin Newsom