Conspicuous Consumption of Time: When Busyness and Lack of Leisure Time Become a Status Symbol

Abstract

Movies, magazines, and popular TV shows such as “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” often highlight the abundance of money and leisure time among the wealthy. Consistent with this portrayal, Veblen’s (1899/2007) theory of the leisure class suggests that the wealthy signal their ability to live idle lives by consuming time unproductively. At the same time though, complaining about being busy and about working all the time is an increasingly widespread phenomenon in modern society. On Twitter, celebrities publicly complain about “having no life” or “being in desperate need for a vacation” (Alford 2012). New York Times social commentator suggests that a common response to the question “How are you?” is “Busy!” (Kreider 2012). An analysis of holiday letters indicates that references to “crazy schedules” have increased since the 1960s (Schulte 2014). Contrary to the prediction that signaling time spent leisurely is associated with high status and wealth, we propose that signaling busyness has also become a status symbol and is regarded as an aspirational lifestyle.

We uncover an alternative kind of conspicuous consumption that operates by shifting the focus from the preciousness and scarcity of goods to the preciousness and scarcity of individuals. Our investigation of the underlying mechanisms reveals that positive status inferences in response to busyness are mediated by the perception that a busy person is in high demand and scarce. Six studies test our conceptual model. In study 1, our aim was to establish that a more-busy individual would be perceived to have more status than a less-busy individual, and to demonstrate a proposed mediating process of being in demand and scarce, while controlling for alternative mechanisms. In studies 2 and 3, we show how the public use of time-saving products (e.g., Bluetooth headset) and services (Peapod delivery) can signal status, regardless of how busy one truly is. In studies 4 and 5, we examine cultural values (the work ethic) and differences among cultures (i.e., North America vs. Europe) to demonstrate moderators and boundary conditions of the busyness effect. We find that Americans with values consistent with the protestant work ethic (Mirels and Garrett 1971) are very likely to interpret busyness as a positive signal of status. Moreover, we obtain a reversed effect in Europe, with busyness signaling lower status. Finally, in study 6, rather than measure the inferences an observer makes in regard to a busy person, we show that people aspire to be more like a busy individual, especially for status-conscious people, despite the view that busyness is associated with low levels of happiness.

Our work develops a novel and yet unexplored association between time expenditure and status inferences, and contributes to several streams of literature. First, we expand research on the decline of leisure time (Hochschild 1997; Rutherford 2001; Schor 1992) by systematically examining the conditions under which busyness operates as a status symbol. Second, while past research has primarily focused on how the expenditure of money has been a vehicle to signal status (Bellezza and Keinan 2014; Berger and Ward 2010; Griskevicius et al. 2007; Han et al. 2010; Rucker and Galinsky 2008; Wang and Griskevicius 2014; Ward and Dahl 2014), we explore how the expenditure of time can lead to the same end. Finally, our novel predictions contribute to recent research analyzing more subtle and alternative signals of status (Bellezza et al. 2014; Berger and Ward 2010; Dubois et al. 2012; Han et al. 2010).