Perceived Value: A Dimension of the Consumer Risk Construct

This paper examines the effects of price and brand information on consumer risk in making purchase decisions. The introduction of non‐monetary risk reinvigorates a promising research stream that has investigated the relationship of market cues and buying behavior. Research results strongly suggest that, in addition to the monetary risk of value, non‐monetary risk such as social risk can be a key moderator between product character (quality and price) and consumers’ willingness to buy. Not only do consumers make a rational tradeoff in terms of dollars and quality, but they appear to buy in terms of how they will be perceived by their friends, families and peers. Perceived value is found to be a multi‐dimensional construct that covers the specturm of financial and non‐monetary risk. The results solidify the following arguments for a market cue‐product evaluation model: depicting how buyers use price and brand information as indicators of quality and monetary sacrifice; determining how quality perceptions and monetary perceived sacrifice influence the perceptions of monetary and non‐monetary risk; and establishing the influences of purchase intentions.