Effects of message framing and involvement on price deal effectiveness

Purpose – Price deals are typically presented in “save” terms. However, prospect theory predicts that people will be more willing to waive a monetary gain than to lose the same amount of money. This study seeks to examine whether consumers would show more purchase intentions of a product offered in a price deal framed negatively (“lose if you don't purchase”) relative to the conventional positive frame (“save if you purchase”). Design/methodology/approach – The purchase intentions of 189 participants, randomly assigned to either a positively or a negatively framed message, were examined. The participants' perceived monetary gain in the deal and their involvement in the issue were also measured. Findings – Presented with a negative relative to positive frame, participants showed more purchase intentions of a product offered in a price deal, and perceived their monetary gain as higher. Highly involved and lowly involved participants exhibited similar framing effects. Research limitations/implications – The findings regarding lowly involved participants are inconsistent with previous findings. Future research is needed to clarify whether the message framing effect interacts with involvement in predicting purchase intentions of a product offered in a price deal. Practical implications – The theoretical explanation of the phenomenon presented in this study predicts that negative framing of messages will also be more effective in other consumer behaviour contexts. Originality/value – This study is the first empirical demonstration of the effect of message framing on the effectiveness of price deal offers, suggesting that retailers should re‐examine their conventional presentation of price deal offers in terms of gains, and consider rephrasing them in terms of loss.