A Future Contraction Effect in Intertemporal Choice for Durable Goods

Abstract

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.

Keywords

• time perception
• usage duration
• durable goods
• preference
• intertemporal choice