Running out of time(rs): effects of scarcity cues on perceived task load, perceived benevolence and user experience on e-commerce sites

Reha Tuncer, Anastasia Sergeeva, Kerstin Bongard-Blanchy, Verena Distler, Sophie Doublet and Vincent Koenig

Behaviour and Information Technology, 2024, vol. 43, issue 11, 2281-2299

Abstract: Online vendors often deploy limited-time and limited-quantity cues on their e-commerce sites to influence consumers purchase decisions. Although these scarcity cues can reflect genuine restrictions in the availability of goods, they are increasingly considered as ill-intentioned nudges or ‘dark patterns’ due to their omnipresence and success in persuading consumers. In an online experiment (N = 202), we examined the effects of limited-time and limited-quantity cues on perceived task load, perceived benevolence, and user experience. Results suggest that participants associated scarcity cues with a lack of benevolence from online vendors. E-commerce site design without scarcity cues provided participants with a superior hedonic and pragmatic user experience. In the case of limited-time scarcity cues, participants reported frustration-related negative emotions. We discuss the implications of these findings from the perspectives of dark pattern researchers, designers, and online vendors.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/0144929X.2023.2242966 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:tbitxx:v:43:y:2024:i:11:p:2281-2299

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/tbit20

DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2023.2242966

Access Statistics for this article

Behaviour and Information Technology is currently edited by Dr Panos P Markopoulos

More articles in Behaviour and Information Technology from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().