Consumer value construction and bidding behavior in ascending and descending auctions

This dissertation experimentally investigates motivational and cognitive influences on how consumers construct value and bid on real objects in ascending and descending auctions. I focus on how motivational antecedents (specifically, whether the consumer's goal involves a primary focus on winning the auction versus acquiring the object at a prudent value-based price) interact with cognitive antecedents (i.e., precision of prior price knowledge and differential value salience induced via pre-measurement) to influence bidding behavior during an auction. The effects of these factors are contrasted for ascending and descending auctions, embedding manipulations of the deliberation time available at each price step. Two experiments (one each with an ascending and a descending auction) are conducted, examining how these factors influence value construction and bidding behavior. I also present a model describing how consumers may mentally manipulate their own and competitors' values to manage post-auction regret, contingent on win/loss outcomes. The design and dependent measures in these experiments also allow examination of predictions from this model. Bidders then participate in a second auction, allowing a study of the effects of first auction win/loss outcomes on behavior in the second auction. Additional studies involving the manipulation of situational antecedents, such as the bidders' purchase purpose (i.e., whether for personal use or resale), are also proposed.