Effects of concealing vs. displaying prices on consumer perceptions of hospitality products

This study was designed to empirically test the psychological consequences of concealing (vs. displaying) the prices of hospitality products on perceptions of expensiveness, quality, value, and purchase intention. To achieve this objective, seven hypotheses were proposed and a series of four experimental studies were conducted. It was found that a cafe that did not (vs. did) display price information was evaluated relatively highly in terms of perceived expensiveness, but relatively low in perceived quality, value, and purchase intention. Specifically, we found that the heightened perception of expensiveness of a price-concealing cafe, along with relatively weak change in quality perception, negatively influenced both perceptions of value and purchase intention in Studies 1 and 2. Further, we found that these relationships are moderated by the consumer personal trait of price consciousness (Study 3) and mediated by price fairness (Study 4).