Abstract

Since 2008, the implementation of free admission to exhibitions in national and public museums and art galleries in South Korea has led to an increase in visitors. However, this has also resulted in deteriorating visitor behavior and financial constraints, leading to a lack of cultural content and educational programs. To address these issues, the Pay-What-You-Want (PWYW) pricing strategy has been proposed as a solution that minimizes the financial burden on visitors while requiring a nominal payment. PWYW allows buyers to have control over the price and encourages higher payments from those who recognize the value beyond a fixed price. However, there is a risk of low or no payment because buyers set the price and sellers must accept it. Therefore, this study aims to explore ways to mitigate the risk of low admission payments in museums by leveraging consumers’ self-construal. Specifically, it investigates the impact of independent and interdependent self-construal on the willingness-to-pay (WTP) under PWYW and PWYW+charity strategies. Respondents were divided into four groups, primed with either independent or interdependent self-construal, and subjected to a 2×2 experiment. A survey was conducted with 187 participants in their 20s and 30s who had visited an exhibition at least once in the past year. Results indicated that the PWYW+charity strategy led to higher WTP than the simple PWYW strategy. Moreover, interdependent self-construal priming induced higher WTP in the charity combined condition. This study suggests that by using self-construal priming in public museums employing the PWYW pricing strategy, museums can increase WTP, thereby reducing the likelihood of too low payments and mitigating financial risks. This contributes to the development of effective marketing strategies for museums.