We take a motivated reasoning perspective to examine the robust finding that a seller's willingness to accept (WTA) to give up a good is typically higher than a buyer's willingness to pay (WTP) to obtain the good. We propose that the seller/buyer role and/or the WTA/WTP elicitation activate different motivations. Four studies, using different ways to test for motivational processes, demonstrate how motivational processes influence the WTA‐WTP disparity in a predictable and systematic way. Study 1 shows that the WTA/WTP elicitation activates distinct motivations and that altering the medium of exchange reverses the motivations. Study 2 shows that eliciting WTA/WTP using an auction mechanism activates multiple motivations, attenuating the WTA‐WTP disparity. Study 3 demonstrates that activating regulatory focus that is inconsistent (vs. consistent) with the motivation activated by the WTA/WTP elicitation attenuates the WTA‐WTP disparity. Study 4 demonstrates that WTA/WTP elicitation may bias perceptions of an ambiguous stimulus and that the WTA‐WTP disparity increases with delay. Together, our findings provide new insights into the valuation of sellers and buyers by highlighting the role of motivational processes underlying the WTA‐WTP disparity.

中文翻译：

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接受意愿与支付意愿之间差异的动机差异

我们采用积极的推理观点来检验可靠的发现，即卖方接受商品的意愿（WTA）通常高于买方获得商品的支付意愿（WTP）。我们建议卖方/买方角色和/或WTA / WTP启发激发不同的动机。四项研究使用不同的方法测试激励过程，证明了激励过程如何以可预测和系统的方式影响WTA-WTP差异。研究1表明，WTA / WTP激发激活了不同的动机，而改变交换媒介则逆转了这些动机。研究2显示，使用拍卖机制引发WTA / WTP会激活多种动机，从而减弱WTA-WTP差异。研究3表明，不一致的激活监管重点（相对于 与WTA / WTP激发所激发的动机一致，从而减弱了WTA-WTP差异。研究4表明，WTA / WTP激发可能会偏向于模棱两可的刺激，并且WTA-WTP差异会随着延迟而增加。总之，我们的研究结果通过强调WTA-WTP差异背后的激励过程的作用，为买卖双方的估价提供了新的见解。