Preferential treatment is a prevalent relationship marketing practice of companies treating some customers better than others. Using two studies, the authors explore the practice of preferential treatment and show that preferential treatment influences both consumers who receive it and those who...

Previous research has shown that if consumers are aware that they are paying more than another customer for a similar transaction, then they may perceive the price to be unfair. A concept closely related to fairness is transaction value, defined as consumers' perceptions of the psychological...