The Robustness of Mental Accounting Across 21 Countries

Creators:	Priolo, Giulia and Stablum, Federica and Vacondio, Martina and D'Ambrogio, Simone and Caserotti, Marta and Conte, Beatrice and De Roni, Prisca and Du Plooy, Hilda and Grillo, Vivian D. and Mastromatteo, Libera Y. and Tedaldi, Elisa and Toscano, Filippo and Aguilar-Armijo, Jesus and Ahmadi Ghomroudi, Parisa and Alexa, Lucian and Andersen, Mathias H. and Andersson, Per A. and Aoun Barakat, Karine and Barros, Carolina and Basanisi, Ruggero and Beilner, Tara and Burlacu, Sergiu and Cao, Thai and Carella, Alessandra and Chiappi, Arianna and Ciftci, Zafer and Civai, Claudia and Daly, Alana and Darskuviene, Valdone and De Pedis, Marta and Du Plooy, Earle J. and El-Mir, Mohammed and Elbaek, Christian T. and Elkot, Sondos and Fanghella, Valeria and Farahat, Eman and Fehl, Amy G. and Fenny, Ama P. and Forbes, Paul A. and Garbi, Gemma and Goncalves, André and Guvuriro, Sevias and Hajian, Ali and Heinke, Steve and Howard, Austin W. and Jagatheesh Jayanand, Sudharsana and Jiao, Peiran and Jiga-Boy, Gabriela M. and Jordano De Castro, Alejandra and Kalenscher, Tobias and Kazemekaityte, Austeja and Khalid, Afreen S. and Kothe, Kiana and Krüger, Philip and Le thi Kieu, Ngan and Lecke, Gintare and Ledovaya, Yanina and Lim, Mengyu and Lüpken, Luca M. and Mai Thi Xuan, Huong and Mangold, Laura and Maulana, Alfarisi and Maze, Maya and Moche, Hajdi and Moradi, Zahra and Moumin, Adel and Nava, Valeria and Neoh, Michelle J. and Nicolao, Leonardo and El HallaouiOueld, Hamza O. and Olschewski, Sebastian and Owusu, Adobea Y. and Ozates, Ahmed F. and Pelica, Sofia and Perkovic, Sonja and Puteri, Ananda W. and Rabinovitch, Hagai and Ramos, Guilherme A. and Robitaille, Nicole and Roux, Caroline and Scheibehenne, Benjamin and Schoemann, Martin and Seidisarouei, Mohammad and Singh, Sanjay and Söyük, Mustafa Z. and Steiner, Liza and TarekAl Rai, Amira and Usman, Berto and Van Alebeek, Hannah and Vazirian, Mohammad H. and Vedernikova, Evgeniya and Wijaya, Janet L. and Zhu, Xinxin and Zong, Jichuan and Van Boven, Leaf and Dickert, Stephan and Lotto, Lorella and Hardisty, David J. and Pomerance, Justin and Pereira, Beatriz and Ruggeri, Kai and Rubaltelli, Enrico
Title:	The Robustness of Mental Accounting Across 21 Countries
Item Type:	Article or issue of a publication series
Journal or Series Title:	Journal of Consumer Research
Paper No. / Type of Paper:	/ Accepted Manuscript
Article:	ucag022
Additional Information:	Open Access
Date:	10 July 2026
Divisions:	Wirtschaftswissenschaften
Abstract (ENG):	First introduced four decades ago, the influential concept of mental accounting—how people mentally organize, evaluate, and track financial activities—posits that consumers often defy traditional economic rationality, treating money as non-fungible across discrete mental accounts. In this research, we present the first large-scale test of the replicability and generalizability of mental accounting effects, using a sample of 5,589 participants from 21 countries. Our results demonstrate that mental accounting effects are replicable, robust, and generalizable. Hierarchical Bayesian meta-analyses revealed a 100% replication rate for all tested scenarios, while unpooled analyses showed a 90.5% replication rate (133/147 effects). Further analysis found that effects observed in higher-income countries may be weaker in lower-income countries. Multidimensional scaling suggested that mental accounting effects vary along three interpretable dimensions that reflect social context (individual vs interactive decisions), decision perspective (deciding for self vs other), and role in price determination (setting vs evaluating prices). Across a diverse population and controlling for multiple factors, we show that consumers make decisions based on mentally-formed accounts that consistently diverge from their objective financial value.
Forthcoming:	No
Language:	English
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Mental accounting, replication, behavioral science, psychology, consumer behavior, non-WEIRD population
Link eMedia:	Download
Citation:	Priolo, Giulia and Stablum, Federica and Vacondio, Martina and D'Ambrogio, Simone and Caserotti, Marta and Conte, Beatrice and De Roni, Prisca and Du Plooy, Hilda and Grillo, Vivian D. and Mastromatteo, Libera Y. and Tedaldi, Elisa and Toscano, Filippo and Aguilar-Armijo, Jesus and Ahmadi Ghomroudi, Parisa and Alexa, Lucian and Andersen, Mathias H. and Andersson, Per A. and Aoun Barakat, Karine and Barros, Carolina and Basanisi, Ruggero and Beilner, Tara and Burlacu, Sergiu and Cao, Thai and Carella, Alessandra and Chiappi, Arianna and Ciftci, Zafer and Civai, Claudia and Daly, Alana and Darskuviene, Valdone and De Pedis, Marta and Du Plooy, Earle J. and El-Mir, Mohammed and Elbaek, Christian T. and Elkot, Sondos and Fanghella, Valeria and Farahat, Eman and Fehl, Amy G. and Fenny, Ama P. and Forbes, Paul A. and Garbi, Gemma and Goncalves, André and Guvuriro, Sevias and Hajian, Ali and Heinke, Steve and Howard, Austin W. and Jagatheesh Jayanand, Sudharsana and Jiao, Peiran and Jiga-Boy, Gabriela M. and Jordano De Castro, Alejandra and Kalenscher, Tobias and Kazemekaityte, Austeja and Khalid, Afreen S. and Kothe, Kiana and Krüger, Philip and Le thi Kieu, Ngan and Lecke, Gintare and Ledovaya, Yanina and Lim, Mengyu and Lüpken, Luca M. and Mai Thi Xuan, Huong and Mangold, Laura and Maulana, Alfarisi and Maze, Maya and Moche, Hajdi and Moradi, Zahra and Moumin, Adel and Nava, Valeria and Neoh, Michelle J. and Nicolao, Leonardo and El HallaouiOueld, Hamza O. and Olschewski, Sebastian and Owusu, Adobea Y. and Ozates, Ahmed F. and Pelica, Sofia and Perkovic, Sonja and Puteri, Ananda W. and Rabinovitch, Hagai and Ramos, Guilherme A. and Robitaille, Nicole and Roux, Caroline and Scheibehenne, Benjamin and Schoemann, Martin and Seidisarouei, Mohammad and Singh, Sanjay and Söyük, Mustafa Z. and Steiner, Liza and TarekAl Rai, Amira and Usman, Berto and Van Alebeek, Hannah and Vazirian, Mohammad H. and Vedernikova, Evgeniya and Wijaya, Janet L. and Zhu, Xinxin and Zong, Jichuan and Van Boven, Leaf and Dickert, Stephan and Lotto, Lorella and Hardisty, David J. and Pomerance, Justin and Pereira, Beatriz and Ruggeri, Kai and Rubaltelli, Enrico (2026) The Robustness of Mental Accounting Across 21 Countries. Journal of Consumer Research, 53 (2), Art.: ucag022, Paper / Accepted Manuscript. ISSN 1537-5277

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