Service Provider Salience: When Guilt Undermines Consumer Willingness to Buy Time

Abstract

Spending money on time-saving services can improve happiness and reduce stress. Yet many people do not spend money to save time even when they can afford to do so, potentially because they feel guilty about paying other people to complete disliked tasks on their behalf. Consistent with this proposition, we find evidence that individuals are most likely to experience guilt when outsourcing to a salient service provider. Across two large-scale surveys of working adults, including a nationally representative sample of employed Americans (Study 1a & 1b, N = 1,337), individuals reported greater guilt when they thought about outsourcing to a salient (vs. non-salient) service provider. Using a novel lab paradigm, participants felt greater guilt when the service provider was salient, which in turn undermined their willingness to buy time (Study 2, N = 350). In Study 3, these effects were mitigated by emphasizing the benefits of task completion for the service provider (N = 390). This research points to the potential of simple interventions to help organizations encourage individuals to make time-saving purchases.

Extension request avoidance predicts greater time stress among women

“…On an exploratory basis, consistent with prior research ( 29 ), we conducted a serial mediation analysis to examine the role of self-conscious emotions in explaining the observed link between burdening others and women’s discomfort with asking for more time on adjustable deadlines at work. Including the serial mediation path of perceived burden via self-conscious emotions significantly weakened the effect of gender on extension request discomfort (from B = 0.58, P = 0.0001 to B = 0.40, P = 0.002), 95% CI IDE (0.01, 0.08).…”

“…In studies 2a to 2d, we explored why women feel less comfortable requesting deadline extensions, even on explicitly adjustable deadlines. Building on past research ( 19 , 29 ), we examined whether women (vs. men) were more likely to believe that requesting a deadline extension affected their appearance as a competent and committed worker and were more likely to worry that they were burdening their colleagues with their requests.…”

“…In study 2d, we clarified the precise nature of the interpersonal concerns that women experience. Building on prior research ( 29 ), we examined whether women’s greater discomfort was primarily driven by competence concerns, fear of burdening other people (resulting in self-conscious emotions such as shame and guilt), or lower feelings of entitlement ( 37 ). We also explored whether our critical findings held controlling for additional job and task characteristics that could vary by gender, including differences in job control ( 38 ), hierarchical rank ( 39 ), and differences in self-perceived competence as a result of making a deadline extension request ( 40 ).…”

“…Or, perhaps women worried more about what asking for time signaled to themselves about their own ability to do their job. It is also possible that women’s higher relational concerns could result in greater worry about burdening managers and team members ( 29 ). Because women take on more of the chores and childcare at home ( 1 ), it is also possible that asking for more time could create additional burdens for women themselves.…”

“…Relationally oriented individuals tend to be more attuned to social costs, which can deter such individuals from requesting additional resources, such as monetary compensation ( 27 , 28 ). We predict that women’s greater relational orientation may be linked to greater concern about impression costs, such as appearing as a less competent and committed worker, as well as greater interpersonal concerns related to burdening other people with their requests ( 29 ). Due to these concerns, women should be less willing to make extension requests than men, even on deadlines that are explicitly adjustable.…”