TY  - JOUR
AU  - Hou, Debao
AU  - Bayasgala, Tsetsegee
AU  - Dashzevegn, Amgalan
AU  - Shirchin, Nominerdene
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/10
TI  - Cognitive Anchors in Price Interpretation: Consumer Segmentation Evidence from Credence-Based Professional Services
JO  - Journal of Social Systems and Policy Analysis
T2  - Journal of Social Systems and Policy Analysis
JF  - Journal of Social Systems and Policy Analysis
VL  - 3
IS  - 3
SP  - 143
EP  - 154
DO  - 10.62762/JSSPA.2026.729628
UR  - https://www.icck.org/article/abs/JSSPA.2026.729628
KW  - price interpretation
KW  - cognitive anchors
KW  - credence-based services
KW  - behavioral pricing
KW  - market segmentation
AB  - This study moves beyond average price effects to examine systematic heterogeneity in how consumers cognitively construct meaning from ambiguous prices in credence-based professional services. We propose a dual-anchor framework---comprising the External Normative Reference Anchor (ENRA) and the Internal Value Identification Anchor (IVIA)---and validate it using survey data from 676 psychological counseling consumers. Factor and cluster analyses identify three distinct segments: Normative Anchors, Value Identifiers, and Cognitively Ambivalent consumers. These segments differ significantly in price-quality beliefs and selected perceived barriers (stigma and price sensitivity) but not in short-term choice intentions, suggesting that heterogeneity primarily shapes belief formation rather than immediate behavior. The findings advance behavioral pricing theory and provide a practical segmentation tool for tailoring pricing communications across various credence-based services. Our framework thus offers a cognitive microstructure for understanding how price signals are decoded in markets where quality is inherently unobservable, a challenge central to the governance of many professional service industries.
SN  - 3068-5540
PB  - Institute of Central Computation and Knowledge
LA  - English
ER  - 

@article{Hou2026Cognitive,
  author = {Debao Hou and Tsetsegee Bayasgala and Amgalan Dashzevegn and Nominerdene Shirchin},
  title = {Cognitive Anchors in Price Interpretation: Consumer Segmentation Evidence from Credence-Based Professional Services},
  journal = {Journal of Social Systems and Policy Analysis},
  year = {2026},
  volume = {3},
  number = {3},
  pages = {143-154},
  doi = {10.62762/JSSPA.2026.729628},
  url = {https://www.icck.org/article/abs/JSSPA.2026.729628},
  abstract = {This study moves beyond average price effects to examine systematic heterogeneity in how consumers cognitively construct meaning from ambiguous prices in credence-based professional services. We propose a dual-anchor framework---comprising the External Normative Reference Anchor (ENRA) and the Internal Value Identification Anchor (IVIA)---and validate it using survey data from 676 psychological counseling consumers. Factor and cluster analyses identify three distinct segments: Normative Anchors, Value Identifiers, and Cognitively Ambivalent consumers. These segments differ significantly in price-quality beliefs and selected perceived barriers (stigma and price sensitivity) but not in short-term choice intentions, suggesting that heterogeneity primarily shapes belief formation rather than immediate behavior. The findings advance behavioral pricing theory and provide a practical segmentation tool for tailoring pricing communications across various credence-based services. Our framework thus offers a cognitive microstructure for understanding how price signals are decoded in markets where quality is inherently unobservable, a challenge central to the governance of many professional service industries.},
  keywords = {price interpretation, cognitive anchors, credence-based services, behavioral pricing, market segmentation},
  issn = {3068-5540},
  publisher = {Institute of Central Computation and Knowledge}
}