Reactions to waiting online by men and women.
The goal of the present study was to identify factors which may affect the difference between the actual time participants expected to wait for downloading a web page and the perceived waiting time, i.e., the online waiting-time gap. The findings from an experiment in which the music tempo (fast vs. slow) and waiting-duration information (presence vs. absence) were manipulated showed that sex moderated the relation between the manipulated variables and waiting-time gap; emotional response was more important between the manipulated variables and waiting-time gap than was cognitive response. The type of emotional response with an effect on waiting-time gap varied by sex: pleasure for women and arousal for men. For women, pleasure was affected by their cognitive response, while cognitive response played no significant role for men. For both sexes, information on waiting duration increased the perceived waiting time. This study leads to reconsidering the role of emotional response and sex in evaluating waiting time.
Chebat
Jean-Charles
JC
1 HEC Montréal, 3000 chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montréal, Québec, Canada. jean-charles.chebat@hec.ca
Salem
Narjes Haj
NH
Poirier
Jean-François
JF
Gélinas-Chebat
Claire
C
D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal; D001290:Attitude; D001364:Awareness; D003463:Cues; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009146:Music; D057181:Pleasure; D011908:Rationalization; D012984:Software; D013998:Time Perception; D055815:Young Adult