PSIHOLOGIJA „PRAVEDNE CIJENE” U DOBA DINAMIČKOG CJENOVNOG ODREĐIVANJA: KADA POTROŠAČ OSJEĆA DA JE PREVAREN?
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF “FAIR PRICE” IN THE ERA OF DYNAMIC PRICING: WHEN DOES THE CONSUMER FEEL CHEATED?

Summary/Abstract: The judgment of a price as fair or unfair does not sit at the periphery of the purchase decision; it constitutes its moral core. The moment a consumer concludes that the price paid exceeds what is morally deserved, a register of negative emotions and behaviours is activated — anger, retaliation through negative word-of-mouth, complaints, boycott, and disengagement. This article develops an integrative conceptual and empirical analysis of feeling cheated under dynamic and algorithmic pricing, focusing on five triggers: deviation from internal reference price, procedural opacity, product category and existential necessity, attribution of seller motive, and personalisation based on personal data. The work combines a structured review of recent peer-reviewed literature in consumer psychology, marketing and business ethics with an illustrative experimental dataset from a simulated scenario study in which 312 respondents aged 19 to 46 evaluated four dynamic pricing configurations. The analysis shows that the feeling of being cheated is not a linear function of price-increase magnitude but a complex interaction of the dual entitlement pattern, attribution of profit motive, and perceived moral harm. The original contribution is the Perceived Deception Index (PDI), a five-component weighted measure with qualitative criteria suitable for further empirical research and normative implications for regulating algorithmic pricing in retail and service sectors. Particular attention is given to scenarios in which dynamic pricing crosses the threshold of perceived manipulation and enters what consumers experience as betrayal, with practical guidance for sellers, regulators, and consumers on identifying that threshold.

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