BUSHOR-1376; No. of Pages 5 EXECUTIVE DIGEST A guide to pay-what-you-wish pricing from the consumer’ s viewpoint Christopher Groening *, Paul Mills 1 College of Business Administration, Kent State University, P.O. Box 5190, Terrace Drive, Kent, OH 44242, U.S.A. 1. Allowing consumers to control pricing Pay-what-you-wish (PWYW) pricing can help us to understand how consumers view their interactions with companies–—specifically, how they may behave toward companies when they are in charge of price setting. This issue is especially significant since companies historically have been the price setters and consumers the price takers. However, some companies allow customers to play a role in price setting through mechanisms such as PWYW, auc- tions, name-your-own-price, freemium products, shareware, and group purchasing. More recently, the internet has empowered consumers and re- duced the asymmetry of traditional buyer-seller relationships by increasing knowledge and providing platforms for customers to voice their opinions. Companies also are facilitating consumers’ power to co-create products and services. Thus, knowing how consumers may behave toward a company is of prime importance to firms and their managers. Using PWYW pricing models is a great way for companies to garner public attention. In the past few years, academics have studied PWYW in real world situations and in laboratories, producing a body of work that greatly expands the PWYW con- versation. This article focuses on synthesizing ex- isting knowledge into an easy-to-use guide that explains and gives examples of PWYW, including how and when PWYW can be used to increase sales or provide other firm benefits. 2. What is PWYW? Pay-what-you-wish, sometimes called pay-what- you-want, is a pricing mechanism whereby the Business Horizons (2017) xxx, xxx—xxx Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor * Corresponding author E-mail addresses: cgroenin@kent.edu (C. Groening), pmills7@kent.edu (P. Mills) 1 Doctoral candidate KEYWORDS Pay-what-you-wish; Pay-what-you-want; Pricing model; Willingness to pay; Customer buying behavior; Price setting Abstract As customer participation in business transactions increases, it is impor- tant to investigate how consumers approach financial transactions with firms in terms of selfishness and fairness. Pay-what-you-wish pricing models continue to attract managerial and academic interest as allowing customers to set prices provides an unorthodox setting in which to examine forces that drive buyer-seller interactions. This Executive Digest provides an overview of the current state of pay-what-you-wish (PWYW) pricing and the benefits it can provide to a firm. © 2017 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 0007-6813/$ — see front matter © 2017 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2017.03.004