Time in Consumption: Bridging Past, Present, and Future Consumer Research

Thomas Robinson, Ela Veresiu and June Cotte

Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2026, vol. 11, issue 3, 235 - 241

Abstract: This special issue explores the ubiquitous yet complex role of time in the marketplace. Building on over 50 years of research, this collection synthesizes contributions across micropsychological, mesoinstitutional, and macrocultural levels. Some of the work in this issue examines the fresh deadline effect, the dominance of enjoyment in goal progress, and gendered consumer timework used to navigate societal timelines. Collectively, these articles reposition time as an engineered meaning system with significant ethical and managerial implications regarding consumer pressure and well-being. Beyond synthesizing current findings, this editorial proposes a novel future agenda titled “The Edge of Time.” It advocates for a shift from within-time thinking toward outside-time thinking, exploring phenomena such as non-time, mortal-time, temporal solvents in extraordinary experiences, and the mega-time of climate and geology. By investigating these temporal boundaries, consumer researchers can better understand how time experiences are managed to help both people and the planet thrive.

Date: 2026
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