A Future Contraction Effect in Intertemporal Choice for Durable Goods

Recent research reported that perception of future time is non-linearly scaled. That is, as objective time gets longer, subjective perception of the objective time does not grow proportionally. The non-linear time perception implies that the same future time feels shorter when it starts in the futur...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inASIA MARKETING JOURNAL Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 29 - 40
Main Author Kim, Byung Kyu
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 한국마케팅학회AMJ 01.07.2018
Korean Marketing Association
Subjects
durable goods
intertemporal choice
preference
time perception
usage duration
intertemporal choice
usage duration
time perception
durable goods
preference
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Summary:Recent research reported that perception of future time is non-linearly scaled. That is, as objective time gets longer, subjective perception of the objective time does not grow proportionally. The non-linear time perception implies that the same future time feels shorter when it starts in the future than when it starts immediately. The authors call this as a future contraction effect. The current research tests two important implications of the effect regarding consumers’ intertemporal preference for durable goods. First, consumers who contract future more will be more impatient for durable goods compared to those who contract less because the former would feel to use the same durable goods longer when it is purchased immediately. Second, consumers’ impatience will be alleviated when their tendency to contract future is reduced. The authors find support for these predictions through two studies. Taken together, the current research demonstrates a property of time perception that has important ramifications for understanding consumers’ intertemporal preference for durable goods.
ISSN:1598-7868
2765-6500
DOI:10.15830/amj.2018.20.2.29