When travel blurs the self: The role of self-diagnosticity in tourist pay-what-you-want

Abstract

While existing research on pay-what-you-want often focuses on specific factors within the tourism context (e.g., time pressure, social crowding) that impact customers' payment magnitude, little is known about how the tourism context per se may shape customers' responses in pay-what-you-want pricing. Building on the multiple self-aspects framework, self-diagnosticity theory, and escapism characteristics of tourism, this research proposes that, because one's core self-aspects are less available and accessible in the tourism environment, customers in the tourism (vs. daily) context undergo a diminished perception of self-diagnosticity, which motivates them to pay less in pay-what-you-want. Intriguingly, the negative effect of tourism (vs. daily) context on customers' pay-what-you-want payments will be reversed when customers are engaged in eudaimonic (vs. hedonic) experiences. The focal effect is examined in both pure consumption and cause marketing situations and the underlying mechanism is explored using both mediation and moderation approaches. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.