Why We Do What We Do? A Model of Activity Consumption

Journal of Marketing Research, Forthcoming

48 Pages Posted: 20 Aug 2012

See all articles by Lan Luo

Lan Luo

University of Southern California

Brian T. Ratchford

University of Texas at Dallas

Botao Yang

University of Southern California - Marshall School of Business

Date Written: August 19, 2012

Abstract

Consumers’ time allocation decisions among various activities are fundamental to marketing research and consumer behavior. We construct a dynamic panel data model to examine how consumers allocate time to a portfolio of leisure activities over time. Our data comprise a longitudinal panel where we tracked 287 U.S. consumers’ time use, consumption motives, and expertise measures on a weekly basis from January to June 2011. To our knowledge, this is the first empirical research that examines the underlying mechanisms that guide the dynamics of an individual’s activity consumption. We demonstrate that expertise contributes to perceived benefits of an activity, which in turn leads to high value associated with it. Expertise also directly influences value obtained from an activity. And this expertise, in turn, is acquired over time through past consumption. This implies a chain from expertise to value to time use and back to expertise, which may lead consumers to form a lifestyle where they specialize in a subset of activities they know well. Consequently, expertise may be regarded as a key variable that explains lifestyle choices.

Keywords: time use, activity consumption, leisure activities, lifestyles, expertise, knowledge, dynamic allocation, multiple discrete-continuous model

JEL Classification: A10, A11, C10, C11, C13, C33, C42, C50, D00, J20, J22, J24

Suggested Citation

Luo, Lan and Ratchford, Brian T. and Yang, Botao, Why We Do What We Do? A Model of Activity Consumption (August 19, 2012). Journal of Marketing Research, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2132211

Lan Luo (Contact Author)

University of Southern California ( email )

Hoffman Hall 319
Los Angeles, CA 90089-1427
United States

Brian T. Ratchford

University of Texas at Dallas ( email )

2601 North Floyd Road
Richardson, TX 75083
United States

Botao Yang

University of Southern California - Marshall School of Business ( email )

3660 Trousdale Parkway, ACC 306E
Department of Marketing
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0443
United States

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