To Do or to Have, Now or Later, in Travel: Consumption Order Preference of Material and Experiential Travel Activities

Abstract

The current research explores consumers’ preferred timing of consuming experiential and material purchases made during their travels and its downstream affective consequence. Previous research showed that people generally show relative preference toward consuming material purchases sooner than experiential purchases. Reversing this finding, we contend that travelers who are primed with the concept of an experience exhibit relative preference toward consuming experiential purchases sooner than material purchases. Further, we contend that travelers associate greater subjective happiness from the travel schedule with sooner experiential than material consumption. To provide convergent and robust evidence supporting our hypothesis, we conducted seven empirical studies, including a field study. Our work contributes to (1) researchers in the field of travel, psychology, and marketing; (2) travelers who want to optimize their travel; and (3) practitioners who want to understand travelers’ behavior and psychology.