The Influence Of The Concept Of Time And The Concept Of Money On Consumers’ Willingness To Purchase In Installments

Since the 21 st century,China’s economic growth model has gradually shifted from investment-driven to consumption-driven,and installment loan consumption based on "Internet Plus" has also become an important choice for daily consumption.Numerous studies have shown that when consumers engage in installment consumption,they are not only influenced by relatively stable factors,such as their own personality traits and product attributes,but also by relatively unstable external environmental factors.Meanwhile,time and money,as two important resources that are essential in real-life,play a significant role in people’s economic life.As external environmental factors,time and money also have an impact on people’s cognition and economic decision-making.This article explores the impact of the environmental factors of time and money on consumers’ willingness to make installment purchases,as well as the underlying mechanisms of experiential and rational thinking and the boundary effects of purchase types.This article included three studies.Study 1 aimed to investigate the effects of time and money concepts on consumers’ willingness to purchase in installments.By designing three independent univariate inter subject experiments,using conceptual priming,supraliminal priming,and material priming methods to activate the concept of time and money,it was found that when using conceptual priming,consumers with the concept of activation time had a higher willingness to purchase in installments compared to those with the concept of activation money(p<0.001);when using supraliminal priming,compared to the concept of activation money,consumers with the concept of activation time had a higher willingness to purchase in installment(p<0.001);when using material activation,consumers with the concept of activation time had a higher willingness to purchase in installment compared to those with the concept of activation money(p<0.001).Study 2 aimed to validate the mediating effect of experiential thinking between time concept and the willingness to purchase in installments;the mediating role of rational thinking between the concept of money and the willingness to purchase in installments by designing a single factor experiment.The results showed that the mesomeric effect of empirical thinking between the time concept and the purchase intention by stages was established;The mesomeric effect of rational thinking between the concept of money and the willingness to purchase in installments was established.Study 3 used a 3(concept priming:time concept priming vs.money concept priming vs.control group)× 2(purchase type:experiential purchase vs.material purchase)between-subjects experiment design,and found that the interaction effect between concept activation and purchase type affects consumers’ willingness to purchase in installments(p<0.001).In the experiential purchase context,consumers’ willingness to purchase in installments was stronger when primed with the time concept(p<0.001),while in the material purchase context,consumers’ willingness to purchase in installments was stronger when primed with the money concept(p<0.001).This study has constructed a model framework to explain the mechanism of the influence of time and money concepts on consumers’ willingness to make installment purchases.In terms of theory,this study has expanded the positive impact of time and money concepts on consumer behavior by focusing on their influence on consumers’ installment purchasing intentions.Furthermore,this study has identified the mediating role of experiential and rational thinking in the process of conceptual activation on consumers’ installment purchasing intentions and the moderating effect of purchase types,thus extending and deepening research on installment consumption.In terms of marketing practice,when promoting consumer installment consumption,companies should leverage the role of time concepts in the installment consumption process,establish a connection between experiential thinking and installment consumption,and enhance the promotion and marketing related to time(money)concepts for experiential(physical)purchase products to promote installment consumption.