The joys of waiting: how consumers do waiting together

Gerard Ryan (), Maria-del-Mar Pàmies () and Mireia Valverde ()
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Gerard Ryan: Universitat Rovira I Virgili, Department of Business Management
Maria-del-Mar Pàmies: Universitat Rovira I Virgili, Department of Business Management
Mireia Valverde: Universitat Rovira I Virgili, Department of Business Management

Marketing Letters, 2026, vol. 37, issue 1, No 4, 27 pages

Abstract: Abstract Waiting is often treated as dead time to be minimized. This paper shows how it can become a positive, shared practice when it moves online. We analyze a 10-week period of digital co-waiting in a public Facebook group formed around the pre-launch of Teenage Engineering’s Pocket Operator Modular synthesizer, using a netnographic design to follow naturally occurring posts, comments, memes, and images from announcement to first deliveries. We distinguish anticipation (future-oriented projection) from savoring (present-focused enjoyment) and show how both are collectively enacted rather than privately endured. Emotional engagement is cyclical rather than steadily fading, with peaks and lulls punctuating the wait as members narrate delays, exchange reassurance, and celebrate arrivals. Conceptually, we reframe waiting as a socio-temporal practice: consumers do not merely wait together online; they make the wait meaningful together. The paper contributes a process account of how anticipation converts into shared savoring over extended durations and outlines implications for research on time, emotion, and community in consumption.

Keywords: Consumer waiting; Anticipation; Savoring; Online communities; Netnography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.1007/s11002-025-09798-y

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