When Products Are Valued More But Sold For Less: the Impact of Waste Aversion on Disposal Behavior

Central to the study of consumer behavior are the processes of product acquisition, usage, and disposal. When disposing of a product, consumers often judge its value. In general, sellers are motivated to overestimate value in order to increase selling price and maximize profit. However, waste aversion -- a motivation to fully exhaust a product's residual value -- can cause sellers to decrease their acceptable selling price despite perceptions that a product is more valuable. Three empirical studies provide converging evidence that waste aversion, by shifting consumers from a profit-maximization to a product-utilization orientation, can bias value judgments and lead to counterintuitive behaviors.