H. Estelami et al., Macro-economic determinants of consumer price knowledge: A meta-analysis of four decades of research, INT J RES M, 18(4), 2001, pp. 341-355
For the past four decades, dozens of researchers have studied consumer pric
e knowledge, often with disagreements on the extent of consumer' ignorance
about prices. While some of these disagreements have been attributed to res
earch design variations among studies, no inquiry has yet been made on the
role of the economic environment on consumer price knowledge. Nevertheless,
environmental factors such as interest rates, unemployment, and economic g
rowth may significantly influence consumers' knowledge of prices. Certain e
conomic environments may therefore provide marketers with the ability to ut
ilize pricing tactics which rely on limitations in consumers' knowledge of
product prices. Using a meta-analytic framework, this paper synthesizes the
results of 297 previous price knowledge studies to document the effects of
inflation, unemployment, GDP growth, interest rates, country of study, and
passage of time on consumer price knowledge. The meta-analysis results dem
onstrate that economic factors have considerable influence on explaining va
riations in consumer price knowledge. Managerial and public policy implicat
ions of the findings in light of turbulent economic environments are discus
sed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.