ASTUDYOFPRICEDISPERSIONWITHCONSUMERBEHAVIOUREFFECTONNETWORKTRANSACTIONPLATFORMABSTRACTPricedispersionisconsideredasanindextoscalemarketefficiencyanditisthebasicsoffirmpricingstrategy.Pricedispersionhasbeenasignificantcontentofresearchonindustrialorganizationsincethe70thofthe20thcentury.Traditionally,theoryoncauseofpricedispersionstartedofffromsearchcostandfocusedonsearchcost.Alongwiththedevelopmentofelectroniccommerce,empiricalresearchconcentratedonthecharacteristicsofwebtransactionplatformsandtheeffectandinfluencefromindustrycharacteristics.Consumerdifferentiationisanimportantelementwhichinducepricedispersiononwhichthisdissertationfocus.Fromaperspectiveofconsumers’preference,thisdissertationbuildsamodelwithreputation,differentiatedconsumers’searchcostandfirmnumberstoexplainwhypricedispersionexistsonnetworktransactionplatforms.Dataarecollectedfromquestionnaireandwegetestimationfromanestedmulti-factorregressionmodel.Thedominatinginvestigationandachievementcouldbeconcludedasfollows:Networkcommunitystickiness,reputation,reputationpremium,consumersearchwillingness,producttransparencyandconsumptionconveniencearekeyfactorsconsideredbydomesticconsumerswhentheydoonlineshopping.Accordingtoproductcategory,relativelypricediscretionanddifferentconsumerpreferencetowardwebsitespecializationdegree,thesixfactorsareprovidedwithdisparateeffects.Networkcommunitystickinesspositivelyinfluencespricedispersion,especiallysomestandardgoods.Reputationalsopositivelyinfluencepricedispersion,thatistosay,goodswithhigherreputationarelikelytohavemorediscreteprice,obviouslytothegoodswithhighaverageprice.Whenweconsiderconsumersearchwillingnessseparately,itdoesn’tinfluencepricedispersiondistinctly,butwhenitcomestostandardgoodsandnon-standardgoods,consumersearchwillinginfluencepricedispersionofstandardgoodsdistinctly.Thestrongerproducttransparencycouldbe,theweakerpricedispersionwecanobserve.Whatismore,producttransparencyismoreimportanttonon-standardgoods.Consumptionconveniencedoesn’tinfluencepricedispersiondistinctly,butwhenwecontrolaveragepriceofthegoods,consumptionconveniencehasmoredistinctlyinfluenceonthegoodswithhigheraverageprice.KEYWORDSpricedispersion,networkcommunitystickiness,reputation,searchcost,behavioralpreference...................................................................................................................................11.1...........................................................................................................11.2............................................................................................21.2.1.......................................................................................................21.2.2............................................................................................21.3...........................................................................................................3................................................................................................................42.1..............................................................................42.1.1............................................................................................42.1.2............................................................................................42.1.3........................................................................................52.2.......................................................................................................62.2.1................................................................................................62.2.2................................................................................................82.2.3....................................................................................92.3........................................................................................92.3.1...........................................................................................................92.3.2..............................................................................................102.3.3.....................................................................................................112.4...............................................................................................................................12.........................................................................................................................133.1...........................................................................133.1.1............................................................................................................133.1.2.....................................................................................................143.1.3.....................................................193.1.4.........................................................................................................233.2.................................................233.2.1........................