EXPRESS: Frequency versus Intensity: How Thinking of a Frequent Consumption Indulgence as Social versus Solitary affects Preferences for How to Cut Back

Many consumers engage in frequent consumption indulgences. Because such indulgences accumulate resource costs (e.g., money, calories), consumers are often prompted or need to cut back, posing questions for how to design cut-back programs with consumer appeal. This research distinguishes between frequent indulgences that consumers think of as social (vs. solitary), demonstrating that thinking of an indulgence as social (vs. solitary) decreases preferences to cut “frequency” (how often the indulgence occasion occurs) and increases preferences to cut “intensity” (choosing a within-category substitute that involves lower resource expenditure). These effects are explained by differentiating between enjoyment from the product itself versus enjoyment from aspects outside the product. Thinking of an indulgence as social (vs. solitary) heightens anticipated enjoyment particularly for aspects outside of the product, decreasing interest in cutting the number of occasions (cutting frequency) and increasing interest in cutting back on the product itself via a within-category substitute (cutting intensity). This divergence in cut-back preferences for social (vs. solitary) experiences is thus eliminated: 1) when consumers think of social experiences with distant (vs. close) others, which involve lower enjoyment outside of the product, or 2) when solitary experiences primarily involve heightened enjoyment for aspects outside of the product.