The effect of time pressure on shoppers’ behavior: an abstract

Time scarcity is a widespread phenomenon with multi-dimensional consequences which has implications for marketing and consumer behavior (Godinho et al. 2016; Nilsson et al. 2017). Consumers’ choices are influenced by available resources, and time is increasingly seen as a valuable resource. Hence, time pressure and time management impact how, where and when consumers buy, as well as how much time they spend in shopping venues. Despite several studies looking at the impact of time related variables in consumer behaviour (e.g., Godinho et al. 2016; Lloyd et al. 2014; Mitomi 2018), there is a dearth of studies focusing on how time dimensions impact on the desire to stay in shopping venues. Hence, we look at the impact of time pressure in utilitarian versus the hedonic shopping motivations to understand how consumers’ feelings of time scarcity affect time spent in stores (Lloyd et al. 2014). We propose a conceptual framework of how time pressure affects shopping motivations and how these impact the desire to stay. In addition, we test whether time management moderates these relationships. Results of a survey show support for the impact of time pressure in hedonic shopping motivations but not in utilitarian motivations. Hedonic motivations impact significantly on desire to stay. Finally, time pressure has a negative significant impact in desire to stay. The negative impact of time pressure in desire to stay is in line with what would be expected. However, this impact becomes positive when considering the mediating role of hedonic shopping motivations. Finally, the moderating effect of time management in the proposed relationships was not supported. From the managerial point of view, the results of this paper encourage shopping venues management to increase the recreational component of their tenant mix. This may lead shoppers to stay for a longer time regardless of the time pressure. Desire to stay at the shopping is expected to lead to other outcomes like patronage intentions (Martin and Turley 2004).