Authors
Liangfei Qiu, Andrew B Whinston
Publication date
2017/7
Journal
Production and Operations Management
Volume
26
Issue
7
Pages
1249-1267
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Description
The increasing pervasiveness of social networks allows users to share purchase behaviors with their online friends. In this study, we examine optimal pricing strategies of a monopolistic firm using an analytical model that accounts for behavioral observational learning in social networks. We show that a seller could potentially control the information available to future customers and induce behavioral observational learning, using an information‐revealing pricing strategy. This result suggests that offering introductory discounts is not always an effective method to boost purchases in social networks. It could prevent the behavioral observational learning that would increase future customers' willingness to pay.
Total citations
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