Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 115216 |
| Journal | Journal of business research |
| Volume | 189 |
| Early online date | 26 Jan 2025 |
| Publication status | Published - Feb 2025 |
Abstract
Having to wait for services is both inevitable and annoying. To mitigate the negative effects, customers can be engaged passively (e.g., watching TV) or actively (e.g., completing forms) while waiting. However, the effectiveness of each approach remains unclear. We investigate how different forms of wait time occupation (non-occupied versus occupied; passively versus actively occupied) affect customers’ intentions to return through their experience of flow and wait time satisfaction. We also investigate whether actual wait time moderates this relationship. A scenario-based (Study 1) and a simulated service (Study 2) experiment confirm the mediating roles of flow experience and wait time satisfaction, such that active, compared to passive, waiting increases the flow experience, enhancing wait time satisfaction and intentions to return. But longer actual wait times weaken the positive effect of the flow experience. Thus, our results suggest that actively occupying wait time effectively enhances service customers’ wait time perceptions.
Keywords
- Active, Flow experience, Health care, Occupied wait time, Passive
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Business, Management and Accounting(all)
- Marketing
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In: Journal of business research, Vol. 189, 115216, 02.2025.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Keep them busy, keep them flowing? The effects of actively versus passively occupied wait time
AU - Böddeker, Sebastian
AU - Rothert-Schnell, Caroline
AU - Walsh, Gianfranco
AU - Groth, Markus
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025
PY - 2025/2
Y1 - 2025/2
N2 - Having to wait for services is both inevitable and annoying. To mitigate the negative effects, customers can be engaged passively (e.g., watching TV) or actively (e.g., completing forms) while waiting. However, the effectiveness of each approach remains unclear. We investigate how different forms of wait time occupation (non-occupied versus occupied; passively versus actively occupied) affect customers’ intentions to return through their experience of flow and wait time satisfaction. We also investigate whether actual wait time moderates this relationship. A scenario-based (Study 1) and a simulated service (Study 2) experiment confirm the mediating roles of flow experience and wait time satisfaction, such that active, compared to passive, waiting increases the flow experience, enhancing wait time satisfaction and intentions to return. But longer actual wait times weaken the positive effect of the flow experience. Thus, our results suggest that actively occupying wait time effectively enhances service customers’ wait time perceptions.
AB - Having to wait for services is both inevitable and annoying. To mitigate the negative effects, customers can be engaged passively (e.g., watching TV) or actively (e.g., completing forms) while waiting. However, the effectiveness of each approach remains unclear. We investigate how different forms of wait time occupation (non-occupied versus occupied; passively versus actively occupied) affect customers’ intentions to return through their experience of flow and wait time satisfaction. We also investigate whether actual wait time moderates this relationship. A scenario-based (Study 1) and a simulated service (Study 2) experiment confirm the mediating roles of flow experience and wait time satisfaction, such that active, compared to passive, waiting increases the flow experience, enhancing wait time satisfaction and intentions to return. But longer actual wait times weaken the positive effect of the flow experience. Thus, our results suggest that actively occupying wait time effectively enhances service customers’ wait time perceptions.
KW - Active
KW - Flow experience
KW - Health care
KW - Occupied wait time
KW - Passive
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85215940556&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115216
DO - 10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115216
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85215940556
VL - 189
JO - Journal of business research
JF - Journal of business research
SN - 0148-2963
M1 - 115216
ER -