This dissertation investigates the effects of price, brand, and store information on buyers perception of product quality and value, as well as the buyers' willingness to buy. It reviews the dissimilar paradigms developed by economists and behaviorists to explain the influence of price on consumer behavior. Hypotheses are derived from a conceptual model to posit the relationship that the extrinsic cues of information, price, brand name and store name, individually have with the constructs of perceived quality, perceived value, and willingness to buy. Additionally, the combined effects of the extrinsic cues on the three constructs are examined.

The research was conducted in two phases. The first phase was necessary to determine products, price levels, brand names and store names to use in the second phase. A 5x3x3 factorial design, with a student sample was used in phase two to test the research hypotheses. Each of the three independent variables had no information treatment that allowed partial replication of past price-perceived quality studies, and examination of price, brand name, and store name main effects in many different cue combinations. Additionally, this research design allowed exploratory research of the marginal effects of combining cue information. Reliability of the measures was assessed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha. Analysis of variance, Duncans' multiple range tests, and trend analysis were used to analyze the data.

In general the analysis gave good support for the hypothesized effects. The principal exception was finding only the downward sloping relationships for perceived value and willingness to buy as affected by price information. Also, there was a lack of support for the hypothesized combined cues when all the information were perceived to be low.

The research results are discussed with respect to the major findings, significance to theoretical and methodological knowledge as well as marketing practice. Limitations of the research are discussed as well as directions for future research in this paradigm.