The Labor Illusion: How Operational Transparency Increases Perceived Value

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Buell, Ryan W.; Norton, Michael I.
• 署名单位: Harvard University
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1110.1376
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 1564-1579
• 关键词: Marketing; channels of distribution; queues; industries; business services; inventory-production; operating characteristics; service operations; Service Design

摘要

A ubiquitous feature of even the fastest self-service technology transactions is the wait. Conventional wisdom and operations theory suggest that the longer people wait, the less satisfied they become; we demonstrate that because of what we term the labor illusion, when websites engage in operational transparency by signaling that they are exerting effort, people can actually prefer websites with longer waits to those that return instantaneous results-even when those results are identical. In five experiments that simulate service experiences in the domains of online travel and online dating, we demonstrate the impact of the labor illusion on service value perceptions, demonstrate that perceptions of service provider effort induce feelings of reciprocity that together mediate the link between operational transparency and increased valuation, and explore boundary conditions and alternative explanations.