An Examination of the Impact of Ticket Reference Price on Fairness Perceptions for Sport Consumers: Assessing the Influence of Self-Construal

Demand-based ticket pricing strategies have replaced the traditional cost-based approach in professional sports. As comparisons with constantly changing prices can potentially elicit negative consumer responses, the importance of reference prices as standards for judging price fairness is being raised. Guided by selective accessibility model, this research investigated the relative effects of two types of reference prices: internal reference price (IRP) and external reference price (ERP). Furthermore, the present study examines how a sport consumer's self-construal interacts with the comparative references in shaping a sense of price fairness. Two experiments revealed that sport consumers are more sensitive to ERP than IRP, but such a differential influence depends on their level of self-construal. These results extend the body of knowledge in sport consumer behavior, self-construal, and selective accessibility model. Additionally the results of this study also provide empirical evidence for sport marketers to develop optimized pricing strategies tailored to distinctive consumer segments.