How People Deal With Unexpected Time Gains

Whether it's a five-dollar bill picked up from the sidewalk or an unexpected bonus at work, research in behavioral economics and psychology has shown that “found” money is more likely to be spent than expected income, especially if it’s a small amount, In addition, consumers who unexpectedly gain money are more likely to spend it frivolously.

But what about time? If time suddenly becomes available to us, are we more likely to spend it on fun activities?

A series of experiments by Jaeyeon Chung and colleagues sheds some light on the matter.

One experiment simply had participants recall past situations where free time opened up to them. Perhaps it was a cancelation of a work meeting or a snowstorm suddenly changing their dinner plans. How did they end up spending their time?

Results of the study showed the importance of unexpectedness. Consumers spend more of their time on hedonic (fun) activities than utilitarian (useful) activities when the free time is unexpected.

Consumers were also asked whether the source of their free time was work or leisure. We might expect that people who gain time from a canceled work activity would be more likely to spend it on a utilitarian activity. Or perhaps the opposite would happen, as they compensate for the freed-up time at work with fun. Interestingly, neither one of these was the case. The source of the found time made no difference.

In another experiment, the researchers asked participants to imagine a scenario where time frees up due to an endogenous reason (your boss gives you half a day off in recognition of your efforts) as opposed to an exogenous reason (there’s a hold up with a project which gives you half a day off).

Perhaps not surprisingly, the study's results suggest that we are more likely to spend time on hedonic activities if there is an endogenous reason behind it.

This highlights an important explanation of the link between unexpected time gains and hedonic activities: a need for justification. People may perceive the found time as a free gain that can be used for pleasurable activities that are otherwise more difficult to justify.

Chung and her fellow researchers also collected data in natural settings that arose from the COVID pandemic.

One of their studies compared conditions at a college that arose from the abrupt cancelation of classes during the pandemic versus a planned week with no classes being held later in the semester. Individuals reported engaging in more leisure activities during the unexpected than the expected time off.

Another study looked at a lockdown period in the UK and found a similar difference for an earlier (more unexpected) than a later (more expected) time period. In addition, it showed that people’s tendency to do more fun activities during found time decreases when they perceive themselves to be busy.

Chung and her team mention some interesting implications for consumers and companies of this research. Service providers, for example, could encourage hedonic consumption if they cleverly embed “found” time into their service, such as by creating an unexpected break or shortened wait time.

For the sake of consumers, it would be important to know more about how found time relates to health and well-being. Do we all need to learn how to use found time in ways that benefit us the most?

Finally, many questions could be investigated further, including the opposite of found time: How do people perceive and respond to lost time? How do different sources and reasons for time loss affect how individuals deal with the situation?