Consumers' variety-seeking behaviors under time pressure: Based on regulatory focus and excitement levels

Abstract

Variety-seeking behavior has received substantial attention in marketing literature. Although various explanations of the causes of variety-seeking explore the influence of consumers' internal psychological characteristics on behavioral decisions, few studies have been conducted on external factors. With the fast pace of modern life and the increasing trend of online shopping, consumers often face time constraints when making purchasing decisions. This study examines the impact of time pressure as a significant external environmental factor on consumers' variety-seeking behavior. A conceptual framework is developed based on construal level theory to uncover the influencing mechanism of time pressure on variety-seeking behavior while also considering the effects of the consumer's personality and emotional state. We conducted two experiments to investigate the moderating effect of regulatory focus from the personality perspective and excitement level from the emotional state perspective. Study 1 found that time pressure significantly affects variety-seeking behavior. Additionally, consumers with prevention regulatory focus tend to exhibit more variety-seeking behavior when not under time pressure. Study 2 supports the main effect and shows that the level of excitement affects the impact of time pressure on variety-seeking behavior. Therefore, this study contributes to the literature on consumer behavior and purchasing decisions by presenting a robust theoretical framework that provides practical insights and implications for enterprise managers.

Key words： construal level theory; excitement level; regulatory focus; time pressure; variety-seeking behavior

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