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https://nccur.lib.nccu.edu.tw/handle/140.119/45352
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| Title: | The Perceived Value of Time in a Transaction |
| Authors: | 別蓮蒂
Bei, Lien-Ti |
| Date: | 2007-10 |
| Issue Date: | 2010-10-06 09:19:47 (UTC+8) |
| Abstract: | Prospect Theory (Kahneman and Tversky 1979) focuses on people`s perceptions of monetary gains or losses. This theory has been applied to various marketing areas, such as reference pricing, purchasing choices, gift giving, and insurance purchases (Thaler 1985; Erdem, Mayhew and Sun 2001; Lemon and Nowlis 2002). Considering that searching and purchasing a product or service "costs" consumers` time (i.e., require time to accomplish) (Becker 1965; Zeithaml 1988; Okada and Hoch 2004; Leclerc, Schmitt, and Dube 1995), Prospect theory should be able to explain consumers` perceived values of time. Prior research has applied this theory to consumers` perceptions of wait-time (Leclerc et al. 1995; soman 2001). However, previous studies in this area all used scenarios and asked for the participants to recall their feeling of waiting. The current research argues that unlike money, judging the value of time is not a routine activity to consumers; the perceived value of time or the feeling of waiting is hard to retrieve accurately from memory. Therefore, an actual waiting scenario is created to test whether Prospect Theory is possible to explain consumers` perceived values of time during a transaction. In addition, consumers` perceptions may be different when they are in a hurry than when they are not in a rush. Past research indicated people are more concerned about time when they experience pressure from lack of adequate time (Schriber and Guteck 1987; Edwards, Baglioni, and Cooper 1990). Time pressure, then, is a covariate in the current research. The value function of Prospect Theory has three major features. First, the value function is defined over perceived gains and losses relative to some natural reference point. Second, the value function is described as a concave line for gains and a convex line for losses. Third, the loss function is steeper than the gain function. As stated above, if one treats time spent on a purchase as a cost, then these three features of Prospect Theory may also be applied to consumers` perceptions of time in three ways. First, consumers feel happier, when the actual time they spend during a transaction is less than their expected time; whereas consumers are annoyed or frustrated when the actual time of a transaction is more than the expected time. Second, the marginal perceived value of saving time decreases as the magnitude of the time difference increases, while the marginal perceived loss of waiting decreases as the magnitude of the time difference increases. For instance, Ms. A, who wastes an extra 30 minutes while banking because a clerk suddenly left for lunch, should feel less unhappy than Mr. B, who waits 30 minutes due to two clerks leaving for lunch one after the other. The 30 minutes of extra waiting for Mr. B is separated into two sections since two clerks left, making it more annoying than Ms. A`s experience, even though they both waited an identical 30-minutes. Third, the perception of a negative value (i.e., waiting a longer time) is larger than the positive value (i.e., waiting a shorter time) over the same time period. For example, Ms. C saves 15 minutes and Mr. D wastes 15 minutes: Mr. D`s aggravation due to the experience of losing 15 minutes is likely to be greater than Ms. C`s pleasure associated with gaining 15 minutes. This experiment employed a computer program to simulate the wait-time in a bank. Participants were randomly assigned into one of four computerized experimental conditions: opened counters once, opened counters twice, closed counters once, and closed counter twice. The experiment consisted of a 2 (opened or closed counters) × 2 (once or twice) between-subject design. The dependent variable is the consumer`s perceived value of time. The computer program simulated the waiting conditions in a bank as well as assigned numbers to indicate turn of service |
| Relation: | Association for Consumer Research (ACR) Conference |
| Data Type: | conference |
| Appears in Collections: | [企業管理學系] 會議論文
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Files in This Item:
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Description |
Size | Format | |
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| 720-721.pdf | | 69Kb | Adobe PDF2 | 681 | View/Open |
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