Abstract

This research examines the influence of perceived time affected by time unit framing on consumer self-control. Prior research on unit effect focuses on whether numerical information is presented in small units or in large units and compares the difference in consumers’ decision making based on the numerosity. The purpose of this research is to examine the time unit framing effect, which has not been tested in the existing literature. Specifically, we investigated the time unit framing effect when the same period of time is presented either in mixed-unit time frame (e.g., 1 month and 15 days) or in single-unit time frame (e.g., 45 days). The theoretical explanation for the unit framing effect is based on the phenomenon that people categorize the time presented with mixed-unit frame in discrete periods of time and the subadditive discounting effect, where a time interval broken into subintervals is perceived to be longer than a single time interval. This research tests the time unit framing effect in two different decision-making situations requiring self-control. The first decision-making situation, intertemporal preference, was tested in Study 1. The results showed that satisfactory rewards were higher when delayed time interval was presented in mixed-unit time frame than in single-unit time frame. The second decision-making situation, goal pursuit, was tested in Study 2. We examined the influence of time unit presentation on the perception of remaining goal. Participants reported higher perception of remaining goal when goal-related information was presented in mixed-unit (vs. single-unit) frame. The effect of time unit framing on the evaluation of goal-related time was stronger in participants with higher goal self-relevance.