The Effect of a Delay between Choice and Consumption on Consumption Enjoyment
PRIMARY, three studies, and the key qualification in the file. The authors propose that the effect of a delay on consumption enjoyment depends on both the negative utility of the wait itself and the positive utility of anticipating a pleasant consumption experience. Result: a delay raises enjoyment of pleasurable products when consumption actually occurs but lowers it when consumption is only imagined, and the vividness of the awaited product moderates both effects. SO DELAY HELPS ONLY WHEN THE THING ACTUALLY ARRIVES, and hurts when it is only imagined; the vividness moderator is Loewenstein's alpha, tested
PRIMARY, three studies, and the key qualification in the file. The authors propose that the effect of a delay on consumption enjoyment depends on both the negative utility of the wait itself and the positive utility of anticipating a pleasant consumption experience. Result: a delay raises enjoyment of pleasurable products when consumption actually occurs but lowers it when consumption is only imagined, and the vividness of the awaited product moderates both effects. SO DELAY HELPS ONLY WHEN THE THING ACTUALLY ARRIVES, and hurts when it is only imagined; the vividness moderator is Loewenstein's alpha, tested
Written from the abstract read 2026-10-18.
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Nowlis, S. M., Mandel, N., & McCabe, D. B. (2004). The Effect of a Delay between Choice and Consumption on Consumption Enjoyment. Journal of Consumer Research, 31(3), 502-510. doi:10.1086/425085.