Atar:

How about using other types of priming techniques (e.g., see works of Chartrand & Bargh)? I hope, this is helpful.

Thanks,

Srikant

Dear Atar,

I believe without defining an independent variable, you can hardly test price sensitivity.

The example you have given is very rightly correct: can we manipulate price sensitivity with ad. Well your research inquiry might be manipulating price sensitivity by other variables: gift-giving, reputation (on social media), peers buying the same products, mavens, ...

I recommend priming of this psychological trait. Priming has been successfully used in other studies in which a state of mind is induced experimentally.

Alternatively, you could measure price sensitivity directly and then construct groups of low, middle, and high price sensitivity based on the subjects' scores.

Modeling price senstitiveness is also covers some of the  qualitative issues. So framework of pricesensitive model through simulation will be interesting. Again price senstitiveness also depend on the pricing mechanism, and the strategic approach. For a researcher, one has to take certain assumption and can frame a model for price sensitivity. It will be quite useful also

Airlines

Full service carriers (FSCs) initiate upward price spikes to induce volatile prices and to eventually mitigate consumers’ price sensitivity behaviour, such price changes could also be in place to counter or influence consumers’ reference points

http://www.pomsmeetings.org/ConfPapers/011/011-0220.pdf

True experiment with between group design is most scientific method to measure price sensitivity influences.  Woodside and Ozcan (2009) is a great example; the study demonstrates how much the impact of price drops for the national brand for meal preparation for a major holiday meal versus a regular Sunday family meal (USA culture).  Also demonstrates the upper (lower) limit on share for contexts where price is lowest in impact as well as highest in impact.Price matters much for both the national and store brand for the context of the regular Sunday meal.  Study done in shopping list choice scenarios   with 18 different treatment and placebo groups.  "Customer choices of manufacturer versus retailer brands in alternative price and usage contexts."  Appears in JRCS, volume 16, 100-108.