175 NTU Management Review Vol. 31 No. 1 Apr. 2021 information. Previous research has suggested the importance of contextual factors that influence consumers’ price perceptions (Cai, Shen, and Hui, 2012; Valenzuela and Raghubir, 2015; Valenzuela, Raghubir, and Mitakakis, 2013). This current study suggests that price may serve as a positive or negative heuristic cue, subject to its position (to the left or right of the product) in the advertisement. People tend to read from left to right, and this reading behavior is common across countries (Chatterjee, Southwood, and Basilico, 1999; Christman and Pinger, 1997). Thus, the image on the left side of an ad is likely to be the first element to catch the attention of most consumers. Using event-related fMRI, Knutson, Wimmer, Prelec, and Loewenstein (2007) finds that seeing a price activates the insula in the cerebral cortex and induces the anticipation of physical pain. Based on these prior studies, we expect that placing price information on the left side of the ad is more likely to evoke anticipatory pain, which results in a less favorable product evaluation. On the other hand, we do not expect this negative effect to occur when the same price information is placed on the right side of the ad. Drawing from the Construal Level Theory (CLT) (Trope and Liberman, 2000), we propose that the relationship between product-price/left-right placement and product evaluation is moderated by the construal level being evoked. CLT suggests that objects or events can be perceived as either psychologically close or distant. Psychologically distant objects are represented as abstractions, while psychologically close objects are considered as concrete. People with low level of construals (“low-level construals”) focus more on specific detail and concrete, means-related terms rather than generalized abstractions, and are thus more likely to associate the prices with the costs incurred from purchasing and using the products (Trope, Liberman, and Wakslak, 2007). Based on CLT, cost-related considerations prevail in the psychologically close perspective (Bornemann and Homburg, 2011). People with low-level construals are thus expected to be concerned about the price as a salient cost, and to perceive price as a potential loss. Thus, when people with low level of construals see an ad with the “price-left, product-right” placement, they are likely to experience the anticipation of pain. On the other hand, an ad with the “product-left, priceright” placement allows people with low level of construals for focusing on the benefits of the product and reduces the anticipatory pain associated with the price and perceived sacrifice. Conversely, for people with high level of construals, the results are expected to be
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