Making the Wait Worthwhile: Experiments on the Effect of Queueing on Consumption
通过实验发现，排队等待时间越长，消费者后续购买越多，原因是心理账户中的沉没成本效应；但改善等待体验的管理措施反而会降低个人消费。
This paper investigates the relationship between waiting time and subsequent purchase decisions. The prior literature assumes that purchase decisions are independent from the waiting time. By contrast, we find that when people spend a longer time waiting in a line, they tend to consume more. We identify mental accounting for sunk costs as the underlying mechanism that drives this behavior; a larger purchase allows customers to offset the long wait suffered. Finally, we explore the effect of managerial practices commonly employed by firms to improve customers’ waiting experience. We find that although these practices indeed result in improved customer experience, they can actually result in lower consumption at the individual level. This paper was accepted by Vishal Gaur, operations management.