Published In
Psychology & Marketing
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-2023
Subjects
Consumers -- product waste
Abstract
Consumers often buy products that they later do not use. How does failing to use purchased products affect subsequent spending? Six experiments demonstrate that when consumers do not use their purchased products, it decreases their subsequent discretionary spending across product categories due to an aversion to wasted money. We find that this effect is driven primarily by perceived money waste and not product waste. Consequently, the effect persists even when consumers avoid product waste, such as by donating their unused products, but is mitigated when they avoid money waste, such as when their unused products are freely acquired. We also find that failing to use products decreases discretionary spending only when consumers perceive the failure as a temporary setback on their goal to avoid waste but not as an unredeemable goal failure. Moreover, the effect is unique to perceived waste and does not generalize to other forms of financial mismanagement, such as excess spending beyond one's budget. Overall, our research builds a psychological understanding of how consumers think about unused utility and when and why it leads to a future reduction in consumption and spending.
Rights
Copyright (c) 2023 The Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1002/mar.21883
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/40766
Citation Details
Koley, S., & Reich, B. (2023). Bought but never used: How and when unused utility reduces subsequent spending. Psychology & Marketing.