W. Boulding et A. Kirmani, A CONSUMER-SIDE EXPERIMENTAL EXAMINATION OF SIGNALING THEORY - DO CONSUMERS PERCEIVE WARRANTIES AS SIGNALS OF QUALITY, Journal of consumer research, 20(1), 1993, pp. 111-123
This article examines consumers' perceptions of warranties within the
framework of economic signaling theory. We develop propositions about
conditions under which higher warranties may lead to higher, lower, or
the same quality perceptions as do lower warranties. These quality pe
rceptions of consumers are consistent with different types of market e
quilibria predicted by signaling theory. The propositions are tested i
n an experiment which varies warranty length, warranty scope, and the
conditions for warranty signaling. Results suggest that, in general, c
onsumer responses to warranties are consistent with the behavioral ass
umptions of signaling theory. The authors suggest that consumer resear
chers can gain greater insight by integrating signaling theory with ps
ychologically based approaches.