How exactly does the display location of a sale price relative to the original price affect consumers’ evaluations? Across multiple studies, including field studies with actual choices and studies with nonstudent samples, this article shows that consumer evaluations are a function of the display location of the sale price, but such evaluations are moderated by discount depth. First, presenting the smaller number to the right (vs. left) makes it easier to initiate the subtraction task, a phenomenon the authors refer to as the “subtraction principle.” Second, given that evaluating sale prices inherently involves a subtraction task, locating sale prices to the right (vs. left) of the original price facilitates calculation of discount depth, increasing evaluations for moderate discounts but not for low discounts. These effects are potentially reversed in cases of both very low discounts and exaggerated discounts. The findings in this article offer novel and nonintuitive insights into how sale price display locations and discount depth interact to influence numerical cognitions, processing of sale prices, and subsequent evaluations.

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This article develops a decision-making framework that highlights how display of numeric attribute information (e.g., display of calorie information) and shoppers’ goals (i.e., having a diet focus vs. a taste focus) jointly influence shoppers’ choices and preferences. Across two sets of studies, including a field study involving the launch of a new Coca-Cola product, the authors show that when food items are displayed in an aligned manner (i.e., when food items with lower-value calorie information are displayed below food items with higher calorie values), shoppers assign more importance weight to calorie gap information. In turn, higher importance weight assigned to calorie gap information leads diet-focused shoppers to relatively prefer low-calorie food items but leads taste-focused shoppers to relatively prefer higher-calorie food items. The third set of studies shows that this decision-making framework has widespread applicability and is relevant in any domain in which advertising, retail, and online displays show comparisons of numeric attribute information.

Four business professors at a state university in the Midwestern United States launched a collaborative learning project grounded in cognitive learning theory and knowledge convergence theory with the objective of assessing student learning gains in cross-functional knowledge (CFK), course-related knowledge (CRK), and overall satisfaction with this teaching approach. The project involved the start-up and operation of an entrepreneurial campus lunch delivery service from local restaurants to university faculty, students, and staff. A total of 46 students participated in the project, and comprised seven groups across four business courses: Strategy, Project Management, Marketing Promotion, and Marketing Research. A survey instrument was developed comprising 21 items. Survey results indicated significant increases in cross-functional and course-related knowledge, and in student involvement and teamwork when using this cross-functional, multicourse approach to an entrepreneurial endeavor.

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