The Role of Time and Enjoyment in Consumers’ Goal Progress Perceptions

Yuchen Wu, Laura M. Giurge and Kaitlin Woolley

Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2026, vol. 11, issue 3, 253 - 266

Abstract: Consumers must invest time to make progress on a goal. Yet across nine studies (seven preregistered), including a supplemental study and posttest, consumers relied more on an activity’s enjoyment than on perceived or actual time investment when judging goal progress. This effect arises because consumers hold two lay theories about progress: a time-progress lay theory and an enjoyment-progress one. Consumers rely more on the latter, in part because enjoyment is easier to evaluate and more attention-grabbing than time. For example, gym-goers believed they made more progress and burned more calories when exercise was more (vs. less) enjoyable, than when it felt longer (vs. shorter); similarly, increasing enjoyment of a skill-building task increased perceived skill development more than increasing task duration. These lay theories affect choice: consumers preferred a shorter, more enjoyable activity, unless the time-progress lay theory was activated and/or the diagnosticity of the enjoyment-progress lay theory was challenged.

Date: 2026
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