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• Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2020

  Overcoming Resource Scarcity: Consumers' Response to Gifts Intending to Save Time and Money

  Alice Lee-Yoon, Grant Donnelly and A.V. Whillans

  Consumers feel increasingly pressed for time and money. Gifts have the potential to reduce scarcity in recipients’ lives, yet little is known about how recipients perceive gifts given with the intention of saving them time or money. Across 4 studies (N=1,403), we demonstrate that the recipients of gifts intending to save money experience more negative self-conscious emotions and infer lower status position than recipients of gifts intending to save time. Recipients who report experiencing greater financial scarcity in their daily lives (who may benefit most from gifts intending to save them money), experience negative emotions to a greater extent and perceive an even lower status position than recipients who experience relatively little money scarcity. These findings are the first to directly evaluate the implications of receiving gifts seeking to address time and money scarcity and suggest that recipients may benefit more from gifts given with the intention to save time.

  Keywords: scarcity; Status; money; time; gift giving; emotions;

  Citation:

  Lee-Yoon, Alice, Grant Donnelly, and A.V. Whillans. "Overcoming Resource Scarcity: Consumers' Response to Gifts Intending to Save Time and Money." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-072, January 2020.  View Details

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• Article | Harvard Business Review (website) | December 24, 2019

  Why It's So Hard to Change People's Commuting Behavior

  Ariella Kristal and A.V. Whillans

  Car commuters report higher levels of stress and lower job satisfaction compared to train commuters—in large part because car commuting can involve driving in traffic and navigating tense road situations. Some employers are trying to get involved and reduce car commuting. But how can organizations encourage their employees to commute differently? Researchers tried to answer this question by designing a series of experiments to “nudge” employees to change how they commute. Overall, they found these light-touch interventions failed to shift people’s commuting behavior.

  Keywords: sustainability; motivating people; time and wellbeing; time stress;

  Citation:

  Kristal, Ariella, and A.V. Whillans. "Why It's So Hard to Change People's Commuting Behavior." Harvard Business Review (website) (December 24, 2019).  View Details

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• Editorial | Harvard Business Review (website) | November 15, 2019

  Getting Your Team to Do More Than Meet Deadlines

  Charlotte Blank, Laura M. Giurge, Laurel Newman and A.V. Whillans

  When it comes to our to-do lists, many of us prioritize checking off tasks that are easiest to complete or are due first, regardless of importance—a phenomenon that scholars describe as the “mere urgency” effect. This tendency becomes stronger the busier we are. But constantly prioritizing urgent tasks means that important tasks that have no urgent deadline (such as updating your resume or doing creative work) get pushed aside for later and later. Some just never get done. When we fail to do what’s important, often what matters most to us, we feel stressed, overwhelmed, and unmotivated—and firms are less productive. Research suggests managers can help employees combat the tendency to put off for tomorrow what isn’t due today: have employees set aside proactive time for work that is important but not urgent.

  Keywords: Employees; Time Management; Performance Improvement;

  Citation:

  Blank, Charlotte, Laura M. Giurge, Laurel Newman, and A.V. Whillans. "Getting Your Team to Do More Than Meet Deadlines." Harvard Business Review (website) (November 15, 2019).  View Details

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