On seeing the self as a scarce resource: How time and money scarcity differentially shape consumers' self-value and preferences

Abstract

Despite the growing interest in studying the psychology of scarcity and its effect on consumers, little research has investigated whether the effect of resource scarcity depends on the type of scarce resource. Across six studies, we identify the distinct psychological and decision-making consequences of two types of resource scarcity: time and money. We hypothesize that time and money scarcity can differentially influence consumer preferences by altering self-perceptions. Time (vs. money) scarcity leads to perceiving the self as a scarce resource, and these self-perceptions result in time- (vs. money-) scarce consumers drawing more favorable assessments of self-value and preferring options that reflect their heightened self-value. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the differential effect of time versus money scarcity only holds for consumption choices reflecting self-value. We also identify an important moderating condition: the source of the experience of scarcity, specifically whether it was self-chosen or not.