中介服务定价的理论基础以移动支付为例外文翻译.docx
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中介服务定价的理论基础以移动支付为例外文翻译
外文翻译
Theoreticalfoundationsinthepricingofintermediatingservices:
Thecaseofpaymentsviamobilephones
MaterialSource:
UniversityofExeter,BusinessSchool,UK
Author:
IreneC.L.Ng,NickK.T.Yip
ABSTRACT:
Intermediatingservicesarerelativelynewinresearch.Thisstudyexploreshowconsumersmaydeterminethevalueofintermediatingservicesandtheextentonwillingnesstopay.Weinvestigateamobilepaymenttechnologythatintermediatespaymentsfacilitatedbyatelecommunicationcompanyandabank.Weshowthataderivedeffectmaypersuadeconsumerstopayhigherfortheintermediatingservicewhentheitemspurchasedhaveahighersurplustojustifytheconsumptionoftheservice.Ourstudyalsoshowsthatmoneyhaspolarity,inthatmoneythatis‘owned’bytheindividualisvieweddifferentlyfrommoney‘notowned’.
Keywords:
intermediatingservices;pricing;mobilepaymentsystems.
1INTRODUCTION
Thisarticleisastudyofacomplexintermediatingservice–amobilepaymenttechnologyandthefactorsthatcouldinfluencethepricingofsuchaservice.Thetechnologyintermediatesbetweenapayerandapayeewherebythepayments,whethercommercialorotherwise,arefacilitatedbyboththetelecommunicationcompany(byinitiatingpaymentthroughacellphone)andthebank(bytransferringthefundsbetweenthepayer’saccountandpayee’saccountaftertheinitiation).Themobilepaymentserviceallowscustomerstopayfortheirpurchasesusingtheirmobilephones.Thephonesareregisteredwiththeirbanks,therebyenablinghighsecuritytransferoffundsfromthepayer’sbank(orcreditcardaccount)tothepayee’sbankaccountbywayofafewkeypressesonthephone.Thisformofpaymentdiffersfromdebitandcreditcardsinsofarasthecostofthetransactionisbornepartlybythecustomer.Moreover,insomepartsofSouthEastAsia,debitcardsarenotcommonpaymentinstrumentsandthisformofmobilepaymentcanfunctionasanalternative.
Thisstudyisimportantasitisunclearhowconsumersvalueintermediatingservicesandtothebestofourknowledge,thishasnotbeeninvestigatedbefore.Hence,thisstudyaimstobringsomeinsightsintothephenomenonbyconductinganexploratorystudyofacomplexintermediatingservice–amobilepaymenttechnologywiththeaimofdiscoveringitstheoreticaldomains.
Inourstudy,theresultssuggestthatvariables,includingbundlingconsumption,advancepurchaseandtheprimaryproductpurchased,mayhaveanimpactonhowcustomerswouldvaluesuchaservice.Forinstance,thedatashowthataderivedeffectmaypersuadeconsumerstopayhigherforthemobilepaymentservicewhentheitemspurchasedhaveahighersurplustojustifytheconsumptionoftheservice.Thedataalsoshowthatconsumersmaychooseto‘bundlelosses’bypayingonebillattheendofeachmonth,regardlessofthenumberoftransactions,althoughtheeconomicbenefitmaybelowerthantopayaccordingtotransactions.Conversely,thestudyalsofoundthatconsumerswhoperceivehighvaluationriskmayprefertopayper-transactionastheybundlelossesthroughthepurchaseofaprimaryproductatatimethatissuitabletothem.Furthermore,ourstudyshowedthatmoneyhaspolarity,inthatmoneythatis‘owned’bytheindividual(forexample,savings,currentaccount)isvieweddifferentlyfrommoney‘notowned’(creditcardaccount).Finally,theinvestigationshowedthatbankswhooftenchargeconsumersthroughopportunitycosts(forexample,lossofinterestearned)insteadofservicefeeswouldfindithardertochargeformobilepaymentservicesasthiswouldcreateagreatersenseoflossthannormal,asconsumersarelossaverse(Thaler,1999;BarberisandHuang,2001).
Inthenextsection,aliteraturereviewispresentedwithsometheoreticalbackgroundonthepricingofintermediatingservices.Thisisthenfollowedbythefindingsanddiscussionbeforetheconclusion.
2LITERATUREREVIEWANDTHEORETICALBACKGROUND
ScientificworkontheuseofITande-businessincompaniestogainacompetitiveadvantagestartedinthe1980s(Parsons,1983;RockartandScottMorton,1984).Overthepasttwodecades,electronicserviceshaveproliferatedastechnologicaladvancementsallowformoreinnovations.Indeed,withmoreinformationbeingmadeavailableandbetterinfrastructureinplace,itisexpectedthatanewgenerationofelectronicintermediarieswillemerge(Sarkaretal,1995;JanssenandSol,2000).Thisisbecauseelectronicintermediatingservicesareabletolowerthecostoftransactionsduetolowersearch(Bakos,1997),coordination(Maloneetal,1987)andpaymentprocessingcosts(SirbuandTygar,1995).
Previousstudiesofintermediatingservicesoftenexaminedcustomers’willingnessorintentiontoadoptnewtechnologies,eitherthroughthetechnologyacceptance,alsoknownas‘TAM’basedmodels(Davisetal,1989;Ledereretal,2000;Venkateshetal,2003),orstudyingthediffusionofinnovationthroughPerceivedCharacteristicsofInnovating(PCI)models(Rogers,1995;CarterandBelanger,2004).StudiesonTAMmodelspresentusageintentionsandbehaviorasafunctionofperceivedusefulnessandperceivedeaseandtheyincludestudiesontheroleofgenderandsocialinfluenceintechnologyacceptance(VenkateshandDavis,2000;Venkateshetal,2003),theworldwideweb(Ledereretal,2000)andthedeterminantsofadoptionofmultimediamobileservices(Pagani,2004).The‘PCI’model,ontheotherhand,explainsthediffusionofaninnovationthatis,theprocessbywhichaninnovationiscommunicatedthroughcertainchannelsovertimeamongthemembersofasocialsociety(Rogers,1995).Studiesinthisareaincludetheinfluenceofperceivedcharacteristicsofinnovatingone-governmentadoption(CarterandBelanger,2004)andtheuseofsocialcognitivetheorytoevaluatetheimpactoftheindividual’saffectiveandbehavioralreactiontoinformationtechnology(Compeauetal,1999).
2.1Bundling
Asmanyintermediatingservicesfacilitatethepurchaseofanotherserviceorproduct,thiswouldmeanthatthevalueoftheintermediatingserviceisalwaysembeddedwithinabundle.Bundlingisthetacticofmarketingtwoormoregoodsand/orservicesasa‘packageataspecialprice’(Guiltinan,1987).Thispracticeisubiquitousinmarketing,fromthesellingofvacationpackagestocableTVoptions.Purebundlingistheofferoftwoormoreservicesatapackagepricebutdoesnotprovidetheoptionofpurchasingtheindividualservicesseparately,thatis,intheirunbundledform.Hence,customerswhowishtobuyaserviceindividuallymaynotbesoinclinedtopurchasethebundledservices.Furthermore,customerswhohavealreadyhadtheintentionofbuyingthebundledservicesasindividualserviceswillnowenjoyalowerprice,andtheservicefirmwilllosetheadditionalmarginitwouldhaveearnedotherwise(VenkateshandMahajan,1993;StremerschandTellis,2002).However,employingmixedbundlingcancircumventsomeoftheselimitations.Mixedbundlingprovidesthecustomerwithtwooptions,thatisallowingthemtochoosewhethertopurchasetheservicesinabundleorindividually(Schmalensee,1984).Pricesofservices(whethersoldindividuallyorasabundle)canbesimultaneouslyoptimizedthroughmixedbundlinginsuchawaythattheservicefirm’sprofitcanbeincreasedoverandabovetheexpectedprofitthaniftheservicesweresoldonapurecomponentbasis(Schmalensee,1984;YadavandMonroe,1993).Academicliteratureproposesthatbundlingcanprovidebetterservicevalue,reducemarketingcosts(Ngetal,1999),increasedemand,reduceafirm’ssellingriskandobscurediscounts(Guiltinan,1987).
Yet,despiteextensiveliteratureonbundling,suchstudiesimplicitlyassumethattheconsumeriscertainofthevalueattachedtotheproductorthebundle.Withaservicethatis‘alwayson’,orinwhichthereisaseparationbetweenpurchaseandconsumption,suchthatconsumervaluationoftheserviceisuncertain,thepricingissuesinthebundlingofsuchaservicewithotherservicesorgoodspurchasedareunclear.Furthermore,anintermediatingservicewouldrequireconsumerstobuypartofthebundleinadvance,whichistheserviceitself,whileconsumingtheservicewhenpurchasingtheotherpartofthebundle,forexamplesubscribingtotheInternetadvancedpurchaseandbuyinggroceries,resultingintheneedtounderstandpricingwithinsuchascenario.
2.2Prospecttheory
Productsaresoldinabundle;theperceivedsavingsmaybevieweddifferentlyfromaprospecttheoryperspective(YadavandMonroe,1993).Prospecttheory(KahnemanandTversky,1979)holdsthat‘therearerecurringbiasesdrivenbypsychologicalfactorsthatinfluencepeople’schoicesunderuncertainty.Inparticular,itassumesthatpeoplearemoremotivatedbylossesthanbygainsandasaresult,theywilldevotemoreenergytoavoidinglossthantoachievinggain(Thaler,1999).Thaler(1999)alsoexaminedtheendowmenteffectwithinspecificcasestudies,throughwhichheobservesthat‘consumersoftenfailtobehaveinaccordancewiththenormativeprescriptionsofeconomictheory,insteadrespondingmoretoperceivedchangesthanabsolutelevels’.Thetwobehavioralprinciplesoflossaversionandmentalaccountingwereintroducedtoprospecttheory.Lossaversionimpliesthatwhenalossandagainhavethesamemonetaryvalue,themotivationtoavoidlossisstrongerthanthemotivationtoapproachthegain(Thaleretal,1997),whilementalaccountingisthe‘setofcognitiveoperationsusedbyindividualsandhouseholdstoorganize,evaluate,andkeeptrackoffinancialactivities’.
Sofar,academicsdrawingonprospecttheoryhaveonlyinvestigatedcomparativelystraigh