Paying the Doughboy: The Effect of Time and Money Mind-sets on Preference for Anthropomorphized Products

Jing Wan

Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2018, vol. 3, issue 4, 466 - 476

Abstract: Consumers’ motivations (e.g., the need to form social connections) can influence their desire for anthropomorphized products. However, consumers may not always be drawn to anthropomorphized products to fulfill a social need. I propose that the desirability of anthropomorphized products relies on the interaction of consumers' mind-sets and the purpose of consumption. People's sociality and functionality mind-sets can be triggered through reminders of two basic resources—namely, time and money, respectively. Across three studies I demonstrate that matching the purpose of the product (i.e., consumed for functional purposes vs. not) and the mind-set behind the interaction (i.e., functional vs. social) can influence the preference for anthropomorphized products. In particular, anthropomorphized products are more preferred by consumers with a money mind-set (compared with a time mind-set) when the functionality of the products is made salient; this effect is reversed in the absence of a functionality consumption goal.

Date: 2018
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