Perceived unfairness of revenue management pricing: developing a measurement scale in the context of hospitality
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management
ISSN: 0959-6119
Article publication date: 4 August 2021
Issue publication date: 20 October 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to offer a multi-dimensional scale for measuring the concept of perceived unfairness of revenue management pricing (RMP) in the context of hospitality.
Design/methodology/approach
To develop a measurement scale for the perceived unfairness of RMP, the authors conducted a qualitative study using the critical incident technique to identify the key components of our measurement tool. They then collected two samples of quantitative data enabling them to have compelling evidence of the scale’s reliability and validity.
Findings
This research identified three dimensions of perceived unfairness of RMP in the context of hospitality: perceived normative deviation, perceived opacity and negative effects. The new scale proposed here is an alternative measurement instrument that could be useful for detecting and correcting some negative aspects of RMP.
Practical implications
This measurement scale will help hotel managers to detect potential feelings of unfairness in relation to the RMP policies. It might also be used within the framework of market analyses and pricing strategy plans. Finally, the results of this research show that transparency, fairness and ethics based pricing could help hotel managers increase their revenue-per-available-room during and post COVID-19 pandemic.
Originality/value
This research develops a complete measurement scale for perceived unfairness of RMP, including cognitive and affective dimensions. The richness of this scale will help hospitality companies effectively identify the indicators that denote perceived unfairness of RMP, making them better equipped to handle customer dissatisfaction.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank RFI Angers TourismLab, GRANEM, SFR Confluence and La Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (MSH) de Nantes for supporting this research project.
Citation
Meatchi, S., Camus, S. and Lecointre-Erickson, D. (2021), "Perceived unfairness of revenue management pricing: developing a measurement scale in the context of hospitality", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 33 No. 10, pp. 3157-3176. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-11-2020-1344
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited