Bürgin, David
Wilken, Robert
Funding for this research was provided by:
ESCP EUROPE Wirtschaftshochschule Berlin E.V.
Article History
Received: 28 October 2020
Accepted: 29 August 2021
First Online: 13 September 2021
Declarations
:
: The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article. All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript. The authors have no financial or proprietary interests in any material discussed in this article.
: The study set-up was submitted to the ESCP’s European Research Committee, and the decision communicated to the authors by the Associate Dean of Research, Professor P. Bunkanwanicha, said that “[t]he research methods described in the application comply with ethical standards and can be applied as described.” [Date of communication: January 27, 2020; letter available from the authors upon request].
: <i>Studies 1–3:</i> We recruited participants through the panel provider “Prolific,” specifying the citizenship “U.S. American” [study 1], “European” [studies 2 and 3 including the pretest] to the provider. Members of this panel decide on their own whether or not to participate in any study offered to them. Consequently, participation in this study was voluntary. When panel members do decide to participate, they receive a monetary incentive (normally 1.25 £ per 10 min and increasing on the survey’s length). <i>Study 4:</i> Participants were students and recruited at the Business School where the authors are employed. The study had no connection to any class and was organized as a separate, voluntary event. We announced, personally and through the student management system, that a study would take place and that anyone interested in participating in the study, which would be used for a scientific article, could voluntarily participate, receiving a monetary reward for their participation. Before conducting the study, we informed the participating students that we are interested in their choices for various products (asked for in eight choice sets), and that after the survey, a lottery would determine one of these choice sets as binding, so that they would have to act accordingly (in particular, pay the price stated in the choice set in exchange for the product in question). We explained that if they were not interested in risking to be obliged to buy any given product as an outcome of the lottery, it would be in their interest to not choose such products in the survey (i.e., in the eight choice sets). After conducting the study, participants signed for participation and received the announced monetary reward. When we communicated the outcome of the lottery, no participant ‘refused to purchase the product they chose from the binding choice set at the given price’ (see “sample description” in section “Study 4: Real purchases to test H1”). In summary, informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.