title: How being busy can increase motivation and reduce task completion time.
abstract: This research tests the hypothesis that being busy increases motivation and reduces the time it takes to complete tasks for which people miss a deadline. This effect occurs because busy people tend to perceive that they are using their time effectively, which mitigates the sense of failure people have when they miss a task deadline. Studies 1 and 2 show that when people are busy, they are more motivated to complete a task after missing a deadline than those who are not busy, and that the perception that one is using time effectively mediates this effect. Studies 3 and 4 show that this process makes busy people more likely to complete real tasks than people who are not busy. Study 5 uses data from over half a million tasks submitted by thousands of users of a task management software application to show that busy people take less time to complete a task after they miss a deadline for completing it. The findings delineate the conditions under which being busy can mitigate the negative effects of missing a deadline and reduce the time it takes to complete tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: Department of Marketing, Columbia University.
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wilcox
authors.affiliation: Department of Marketing, University of Miami.
authors.forename: Juliano
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Laran
authors.affiliation: Department of Marketing, University of Pittsburgh.
authors.forename: Andrew T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Stephen
authors.affiliation: Department of Marketing, University of Florida.
authors.forename: Peter P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Zubcsek
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors