The role of time and enjoyment in consumers’ goal progress perceptions

Consumers must invest time to make progress on a goal. Yet across nine studies (seven preregistered), including a supplemental study and post-test, consumers relied more on an activity’s enjoyment than on perceived or actual time investment when judging goal progress. This effect arises because consumers hold two lay theories about progress: a time-progress lay theory and an enjoyment-progress one. Consumers rely more on the latter, in part because enjoyment is easier to evaluate and more attention-grabbing than time. For example, gym-goers believed they made more progress and burned more calories when exercise was more (vs. less) enjoyable, than when it felt longer (vs. shorter); similarly, increasing enjoyment of a skill-building task increased perceived skill development more than increasing task duration. These lay theories affect choice: consumers preferred a shorter, more enjoyable activity, unless the time-progress lay theory was activated and/or the diagnosticity of the enjoyment-progress lay theory was challenged.