Abstract
This study examines how introducing prices for value-added services (VASs) that were previously offered for free affects customers’ price fairness perceptions. Drawing on experimental data from two studies, we argue that customer reactions to such price introductions can be mitigated through strategic communication. Building on attribution theory and the structural alignment model, we propose motive-based communication as an effective strategy. Specifically, we explore the effectiveness of cost-based, value-based, and competition-based motives as different price-based motives. Our findings reveal that all three price-based motives enhance customers’ perceived price fairness, with cost-based communication proving the most effective. Moreover, we demonstrate that making a VAS nonalignable—that is, less comparable to the previous offering—should be avoided when communicating price introductions based on price-related motives. However, when no price-based motive is available, transforming the VAS into a nonalignable service becomes a reasonable alternative.
