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Procrastinators’ online experience and purchase behavior

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science volume 44, pages 568–585 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

This paper seeks to understand how marketers might capitalize on consumers’ increasing time spent online and convert online procrastination tendencies into purchase behavior. More specifically, the authors explore whether the propensity to use the Internet to avoid work tasks (online procrastination) leads to purchase behavior, and if so, what the mechanism underlying such an effect might be. Through two studies, the authors find that online procrastination positively impacts purchase, which in turn is indirectly affected by the consumers’ propensity to delay their decisions. The authors further find different likelihoods of purchase based on degrees of tendency to delay decisions, online users’ age, and type of online activities. Implications of these findings for informing managers about the ways to increase purchases for decisive and indecisive consumers who waste time online and raising online procrastinators’ awareness about their vulnerability to marketers are discussed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Management and Marketing Department, College of Business and Management, Northeastern Illinois University, 5500 North St. Louis Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60625, USA

    Shabnam H. A. Zanjani

  2. Marketing Department, Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA

    George R. Milne & Elizabeth G. Miller

Authors
  1. Shabnam H. A. Zanjani
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  2. George R. Milne
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  3. Elizabeth G. Miller
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Correspondence to Shabnam H. A. Zanjani.

Appendix

Appendix

Measures

Trait Decisional Procrastination (Mann 1982)

(5-Point, 1 = not like me, 5 = just like me)

People may use the following statements to describe themselves. Decide how well each of the statements characterizes you:

  1. 1.

    I waste a lot of time on trivial matters before getting to the final decision.

  2. 2.

    Even after I make a decision I delay acting upon it.

  3. 3.

    I don’t make decisions unless I really have to. (dropped after convergent validity test)

  4. 4.

    I delay making decisions until it’s too late.

  5. 5.

    I put off making decisions.

Online Procrastination (Thatcher et al. 2008)

(5-point, 1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree)

Consider your experience with the Web. Please rate the degree you agree with each of the following statements:

  1. 1.

    When I am online I don’t think about my responsibilities.

  2. 2.

    When I have nothing better to do, I go online. (dropped after convergent validity test)

  3. 3.

    I find that I go online more when I have something else I am supposed to do.

  4. 4.

    When I am online, I don’t need to think about offline problems. (dropped after convergent validity test)

  5. 5.

    I sometimes use the Internet to procrastinate.

  6. 6.

    I often use the Internet to avoid doing unpleasant things.

  7. 7.

    Using the Internet is a way to forget about the things I must do but don’t really want to do.

Online Shopping Behavior (Bridges and Florsheim 2008; Seock and Bailey 2008)

  1. 1.

    How often do you purchase online?

  2. 2.

    How frequently over the past 12 months you participated in online shopping?

  3. 3.

    How frequently over the last 3 years you have purchased a product or service online?

Online Flow Experience (Novak et al. 2000)

Instructions: The word “flow” is used to describe a state of mind sometimes experienced by people who are deeply involved in some activity. One example of flow is the case where a professional athlete is playing exceptionally well and achieves a state of mind where nothing else matters but the game; he or she is completely and totally immersed in it. The experience is not exclusive to athletics: Many people report this state of mind when playing games, engaging in hobbies, or working. Activities that lead to flow completely captivate a person for some period of time. When one is in flow, time may seem to stand still, and nothing else seems to matter. Flow may not last for a long time on any particular occasion, but it may come and go over time. Flow has been described as an intrinsically enjoyable experience. Thinking about your own use of the Web:

  1. 1.

    In general, how frequently would you say you have experienced “flow” when you use the Web? (5-Point, 1 = never, 5 = very often)

  2. 2.

    Most of the time I use the Web I feel that I am in flow (5-Point, 1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree)

*One additional item was dropped due to low factor loading.

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Zanjani, S.H.A., Milne, G.R. & Miller, E.G. Procrastinators’ online experience and purchase behavior. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 44, 568–585 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-015-0458-1

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Keywords

  • Procrastination
  • Flow
  • Internet
  • Indecision
  • Purchase