When making travel decisions, consumers are frequently exposed to a multitude of options, including differing price levels for the same product or service across a range of online travel agencies. The current research investigates how the magnitude of price dispersion in online pricing can influence travelers’ product evaluations and purchase intentions. Specifically, we predict that travelers will prefer a hotel with no price dispersion to a hotel with different prices listed when the price difference is small, or narrow. However, when the price difference is more pronounced, or wide, travelers will prefer a hotel with price differences compared to a hotel with no price dispersion. Four experiments demonstrate that this effect is consistent across different contexts and categories. Additionally, based on life history theory, we argue that the relative preference for the same versus different price dispersion will be moderated by the travelers’ childhood socioeconomic status (SES).

做出旅行决定时，消费者经常会遇到多种选择，包括跨一系列在线旅行社针对同一产品或服务的不同价格水平。当前的研究调查了在线定价中价格分散的程度如何影响旅行者的产品评估和购买意图。具体而言，我们预测，当价格差异较小或较窄时，旅行者将更喜欢价格分散的酒店而不是列出价格不同的酒店。但是，当价格差异更加明显或更广泛时，与没有价格分散性的酒店相比，旅行者会更喜欢具有价格差异的酒店。四个实验表明，这种效果在不同的上下文和类别中是一致的。此外，根据生活史理论，