Fair, Clear, Good to Redeem: The effect of consumer perception of fairness and transparency on coupon redemption
Year: 2014
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Previous research has looked at the monetary factors as the main influence on coupon usage behaviour. Relatively little work has been done to understand consumers’ perception of fairness and transparency towards coupon usage. The objective of this research is to investigate how consumers’ perceptions of fairness and transparency affect coupon redemption intention and behaviour. This research studied the role of coupon features in the design of various types of coupons based on attributes such as savings (dollar value, percentage off), presence/absence of regular price information, long-term/short-term redemption period, and the use of a vague scarcity restriction. The Coffee and Donut Coupon Perceptions Experiment was conducted on redemption intention in a mall setting and the findings showed that the majority of respondents like coupons that are worth the effort required to redeem them (fair) and easy to understand (transparency). The Lunch Coupon Perceptions and Redemption Experiment was conducted both on redemption intention and redemption behaviour and results from both studies confirmed that consumers not only like fair and transparent coupon design, but that they also redeem these types of coupons. This research makes important theoretical contributions to couponing literature in three distinct ways: First, it extends previous research by adding two new constructs; transparency and fairness, and investigating their effects on coupon redemption. Second, this research extends previous models of coupon usage by considering joint effects of fairness and transparency in a single model. Third, this research shows that fairness and transparency mediate coupon usage. It provides marketing managers with effective information to design their coupons better. It can predict consumer response to a coupon campaign which can be quite cost effective for businesses. Lastly, policy makers are encouraged to regulate and monitor unfair and non-transparent practices in the market place and advise marketers of the importance of providing consumers with clear and truthful pricing information.
Author: Khalil Rohani
Language: English
Subfield: Marketing
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2292115493