This study, using Kahneman and Tversky’s Prospect Theory as the theoretical reference, discussed and tested, in an experiment, the concept, and determinants, of the reference price in buying decisions. The reference price was defined as the price that the buyer adopts as a basis to evaluate the price effectively charged for the product. The experiment also evaluated managerial experience in marketing as a variable capable of reducing the influence of those determinants. The results are in line with evidences from other studies and indicate that the way the decision is presented influences the buyer´s perception over the reference price. The variable managerial experience in marketing had a partial influence in reducing the impact of the factors investigated over the subjects’ perception of prices.
Consumer behavior; reference price; price perception; framing effects
