196 / 2024-04-23 07:31:07

Anchoring effect of offline price on demand for online health consultation services

online health consultation,online–offline price difference,online service deman,cognitive dissonance theory,middle-price trap

Faced with varying degrees of price differences between online and offline services provided by doctors, how will customers make their decisions in choosing online service? Drawing on cognitive dissonance theory, this study proposes two potential coping strategies that customers may adopt when facing cognitive dissonance triggered by price differences: behavioral avoidance and cognitive alteration. Based on empirical analysis using a combined dataset, our findings reveal that when online–offline price difference of a doctor falls below the threshold identified in our study, customers tend to adopt a behavioral avoidance approach as the price difference increases, resulting in a decrease in demand for the doctor's online services. Conversely, when the price difference exceeds this threshold, customers adopt a cognitive alteration approach, believing that a higher price signals corresponding service value, thereby actively contributing to the demand for the doctor's services. Additionally, the availability of a doctor's online services positively moderates the relationship between online–offline price differences and service demand. Our study not only enriches the understanding of the relationship between pricing strategies and service demand in online health consultation services from the perspective of price anchoring but also provides insights for platforms to manage doctors' service pricing. Specifically, our findings suggest that platforms should avoid the “middle-price trap” when guiding doctors in pricing their services because prices that are neither low enough to boost sales nor high enough to convey the value signal may be ineffective. Instead, platforms should more accurately position the service prices of different doctors in different market segments.