The document summarizes a study that tested "pay what you want" (PWYW) pricing for theater performances. The study found that: 1) Participants who paid after the performance (PWYW ex post) paid significantly more (average of 21.05 PLN) than those who paid beforehand (PWYW ex ante, average of 17.26 PLN). 2) PWYW ex post payments were significantly correlated with how engaged and entertained participants felt during the performance. 3) PWYW ex ante payments were not correlated with participants' expectations about the performance. The researchers concluded that if theaters consider PWYW as an alternative pricing method, having payments made after the performance may

1. ‟If I can set my own price for tonight’s
show I will pay more after watching it!” 
evidence from Pay What You Want
experiment.
Anna Kukla-Gryz and Katarzyna Zagórska
Chęciny 2018, WNE

2. Research question
Does the experience character of the good significantly
affect the difference between the voluntary ex post
and ex ante payments?
2

3. Theatres
3
The Studio Theater: a city drama
theater with three stages: 300, 100
and 80 seats.
Price of a ticket varies from
35pln to 100pln, with an occasional
promotion tickets for 20pln.
The Ochoty Theater: is known for
educational projects and the support it
provides to young artists and playwrights.
Theater has two stages: with 50-70 and
40-50 unnumbered seats. The prices are
fixed at 30pln for regular and 20pln for
reduced ticket.

4. Recruitment
4
PWYW Participants:
20%-30% of the whole audience.

5. 5
Pop-up advertisement

6. 6
Recruitment
1225 invitations sent

7. Recruitment
1) P WYW ex ante performance :
“We give you the possibility to decide about the amount of
money you want to pay yourself. The price that you pay will be a
valuable clue for us about your expectations towards the
performance.”
2) PWYW ex post performance:
“We give you the possibility to decide about the amount of
money you want to pay yourself after the performance. The price
that you pay will be a valuable clue for us about whether the
performance met you expectations.”
7

8. 8
Participants
Invitations sent 1225
Confirmations 239
Participants PWYW ex ante 70
Participants PWYW ex post 56
126 participants
(10% from invited, 53% from confirmed)

9. PYWY payments, PLN
9
PWYW ex ante PWYW ex post
Min 1 1
Max 30 50
Mean 17,26 21,05
Test statistic (a) 2.49
P-value 0.031
SD 7,01 9,36
Observations 70 56
(a) Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test

10. PWYW ex post payments and the characteristics of
audience experience
12
The sentences below describe certain experiences associated with the performance you have just viewed
(For each pair of sentences please select an appropriate answer from the 1-5 scale.)
1 2 3 4 5
My concentration was wandering
    
I was completely absorbed by what
was happening
I do not feel as if I learned anything new     
My eyes were opened up to new
ideas.
The performance did not captivate me     
The performance captivated me with
its images and sounds
There was no sensible atmosphere within the
audience
    
I was moved by the emotion of the
audience
I didn’t feel much connection with the
characters/story
    
I felt I could really identify with the
characters/story
I did not have fun. I am not happy with how I
spend my time
     It was fun
Significant correlation with all characteristics

11. PWYW ex ante payments and expectations
13
What are your expectations for today’s performance? (please circle only one rating)
I’m sure I will not
like it
I will probably not
like it
I don’t know if I
will like it or not
I will probably enjoy it I’m sure I will like it
1 2 3 4 5
No correlation

12. 14
Ex post vs. ex ante voluntary payments
The difference between ex post and ex ante voluntary
payments could be even greater if consumers
considered filling the survey as a form of favor.
After watching the show PWYW ex ante ticket holders
were informed about the possibility to pay more for a
ticket and 11.4 percent of those participants took
advantage of this chance.

13. Audience
17
Perceived financial
situation: normal ticket
holders vs. PWYW ticket
holders, percent of
participants.
Theatre performances
attendances frequency in
the last 12 months: normal
ticket holders vs. PWYW
ticket holders, percent of
participants.

14. Conclusions
18
PWYW ex post payments were:
- significantly correlated with all of the aspects of audience
experience,
- significantly higher than payments made before seeing the
show,
- slightly above the cheapest ticket price.
PWYW ex ante payments were:
- independent of the expectations regarding the show, which
may suggest that additional advertising/ information
campaigns may have no effect on voluntary ex ante
performance payments.

15. Conclusions, cont.
19
If voluntary payments are considered by live
performance institutions as a short or a long term
alternative pricing method, we would suggest a
payments to be made after rather than before the
show.

16. Thank you for your attention!
More about our research on
http://grape.org.pl
This work was supported by the National Science
Centre [UMO-2014/14/E/HS4/00389]

17. 21
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