Is there a well-defined internal reference price?

This paper examines the impacts of multiple internal reference prices on consumers' evaluations of the offer. Our results show that although consumers use multiple internal reference prices in evaluating an offer, the effects of the reference prices are not mediated by the formation of a single, well-defined, unitized internal reference price (UIRP). Instead, the internal reference prices affect evaluations of the offer directly. Although the process by which internal reference prices affect the perceived offer-value is the same for the two product categories studied, internal reference price utilization is different.