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The reflection effect in time‐related decisions
Author(s) -
Zushi Nobuhide,
Curlo Eleonora,
Thomas Gloria P.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
psychology and marketing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.035
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1520-6793
pISSN - 0742-6046
DOI - 10.1002/mar.20300
Subject(s) - certainty , realm , limiting , reflection (computer programming) , appeal , preference , psychology , choking , resource (disambiguation) , social psychology , economics , microeconomics , epistemology , computer science , mechanical engineering , medicine , computer network , philosophy , political science , law , anatomy , programming language , engineering
Despite the intuitive appeal of conceptualizing time as a resource, like money, to which prospect theory should apply, the application of prospect theory to time‐related decisions has met with mixed results. Existing literature has failed repeatedly to find evidence of loss aversion and the characteristic reflection effect in the realm of time, leading researchers to conclude that consumers have an overriding preference for certainty with respect to time, unlike other resources. This article presents evidence to the contrary. Drawing on literature from organizational behavior, the authors posit that consumers' schedules provide the reference points necessary to produce the reflection effect in time‐related decisions. Two experimental studies support this expectation. Potential rationales and limiting conditions are explored. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.