title: Waiting for Merlot: anticipatory consumption of experiential and material purchases.
abstract: Experiential purchases (money spent on doing) tend to provide more enduring happiness than material purchases (money spent on having). Although most research comparing these two types of purchases has focused on their downstream hedonic consequences, the present research investigated hedonic differences that occur before consumption. We argue that waiting for experiences tends to be more positive than waiting for possessions. Four studies demonstrate that people derive more happiness from the anticipation of experiential purchases and that waiting for an experience tends to be more pleasurable and exciting than waiting to receive a material good. We found these effects in studies using questionnaires involving a variety of actual planned purchases, in a large-scale experience-sampling study, and in an archival analysis of news stories about people waiting in line to make a purchase. Consumers derive value from anticipation, and that value tends to be greater for experiential than for material purchases.
authors.affiliation: Cornell University.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: University of California, Berkeley University of California, San Francisco.
authors.forename: Matthew A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Killingsworth
authors.affiliation: Cornell University tdg1@cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gilovich
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D059031:Anticipation, Psychological; D003132:Commerce; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: anticipation; experiential purchases; materialism; open materials; waiting