RESISTING SOCIAL INFLUENCE: Can Time Perspective affect compliance?

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UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN

FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION CHAIR OF MARKETING

RESISTING SOCIAL INFLUENCE: Can Time Perspective

affect compliance?

-MASTER THESIS-

Groningen, January 11th Author: Simay Köker MSc. Marketing Student Number: 3117669 1st Supervisor:

Prof. Dr. Bob Fennis

2nd Supervisor:

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ABSTRACT

Social influence has been fascinating scholars from psychology, sociology and

marketing for many years. Why do we comply with certain requests at certain times when they

are executed in certain ways? This paper investigates whether some people are more/less

affected by the Foot-in-the-Door Technique and examine if Time Perspective Theory plays a

role in this relationship. To test this, data of 112 individuals from different nationalities and

ages was collected by means of an online experiment and a 2 (time perspective: future vs. past

& present) x 2 (absence vs. presence of the FITD Technique) ANOVA was conducted. The

results revealed that future oriented individuals comply more with a request compared to past

& present oriented individuals both when the FITD Technique is present and absent. It is shown

that the principle of consistency is such a strong element of decision making for future oriented

individuals that it overrules their high self-regulatory resources and makes them yield to

persuasion attempts. Moreover, it was revealed that there are some other factors influencing

compliance and the effectiveness of Foot-in-the-Door Technique.

Keywords: social influence, time perspective, foot-in-the-door, self-control, principle of

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW ... 1

1.1. Introduction ... 1

1.2. Foot-in-the-Door and Compliance ... 2

1.3. Time Perspective Theory and Compliance ... 3

1.4. Conceptual Model ... 7

2. METHODOLOGY ... 7

2.1. Design and Participants ... 7

2.2. Procedure ... 7

2.3. Independent variables ... 8

2.3.1. Time Perspective Theory ... 8

2.3.2. Foot-in-the-Door Technique ... 9

2.4. Dependent Variable ... 11

2.5. Exploratory Measures ... 11

2.5.1. Life History Theory ... 11

2.5.2. Trait Self-Control ... 11

2.5.3. Depletion Sensitivity ... 12

2.5.4. Mood ... 12

2.5.5. Demographics ... 12

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ... 13

3.1. Results ... 13

3.2. Exploratory Measures ... 15

3.2.1. Life History Theory ... 15

3.2.2. Trait Self-Control ... 15 3.2.3. Depletion Sensitivity ... 15 3.2.4. Mood ... 15 3.2.5. Gender ... 16 3.3. Discussion ... 16 3.4. Managerial Implications ... 18

3.5. Limitations and Directions for Future Research ... 19

3.6. Conclusion ... 20

REFERENCES ... 22

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1. INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1. Introduction

Have you ever left your house with no intention of shopping and came back with a new

pair of shoes or a new jacket that you did not actually need? Do not worry, you are not alone.

Sales agents and marketers are constantly competing to persuade consumers into purchasing

and although we are usually aware of their tactics, sometimes we still yield to their requests.

What makes these requests so irresistible? Is it about the way the requests are made or is it

something about us that makes us more vulnerable to social influence than others?

Although we believe that we make our decisions consciously and deliberately, some

principles we hold unconsciously drive most of our decisions. For instance, the principle of

consistency refers to individuals’ desire to appear consistent in other peoples’ eyes (Cialdini

and Goldstein, 2004) and the Foot-in-the-Door Technique (FITD) (Freedman and Fraser, 1966)

is a common and easily executed marketing tactic to profit from this principle. The FITD

Technique is known to increase compliance (Freedman and Fraser, 1966), which is defined as

a certain kind of response to a certain kind of request where the target realizes that he/she is

being tempted to respond in the desired way (Cialdini and Goldstein, 2004). Another theory

that is gaining popularity in the last years is the Time Perspective Theory by the conductor of

the famous Stanford Prison Experiment and social psychologist Philip Zimbardo. It has been

researched in many domains such as psychology, and sociology. However, its intersection with

marketing has been overlooked. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether

some people are more/less affected by the FITD Technique and examine if Time Perspective Theory plays a role in this relationship.

The current paper aims to contribute to further insight in two ways. To begin with, this

research is the first study to combine a particular marketing tactic with Time Perspective

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a stepping stone for future research about its relation to marketing. It will hopefully pose new

questions and motivate future researchers to further investigate. Furthermore, some practical

implications could be identified. When marketers know the Time Perspective (TP) of their

customers, they can approach them differently and spend their resources more efficiently. The

same knowledge can be beneficial for consumers as well, because they can be more cautious

and beware of the marketing tactics to make more conscious and logical decisions.

The outline of the paper is as follows. In Chapter 1, the findings from previous literature

will be discussed and the conceptual framework will be introduced. In Chapter 2, the research

methodology will be explained and finally in Chapter 3, the results, discussion, managerial

implications and directions for future research will be examined and the paper will be

concluded.

1.2. Foot-in-the-Door and Compliance

The Foot-in-the-Door Technique (Freedman and Fraser, 1966), which benefits from the

principle of consistency, consists of asking an individual a small request first that is likely to be

complied with and then asking a similar but larger target request. Since people have the need

to behave in a certain way across different situations (Burger, 1999) and an internal desire to

keep their beliefs and attitudes consistent with each other (Festinger, 1962), they are more likely

to comply with the target request after yielding to the initial one. Although the FITD Technique

is built upon the principle of consistency, this study will focus on another major factor that

plays a crucial role in the process, which is self-control.

According to Fennis et al. (2009), scripted influence tactics such as FITD, increase

compliance by depleting ones’ self-regulatory resources because the ability to exert self-control

requires resources which are limited. When people yield to the initial request, they already use

some of that resource and when they fail, they enter a state of self-regulatory resource depletion.

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will be weakened (Fennis et al., 2009). Langer (1992) argued that self-regulatory resource

depletion results in reliance to heuristics and increases compliance rates. Janssen et al. (2008)

found evidence that self-regulatory resource depletion indeed cultivates the use of heuristics

when the heuristic is present in the influence setting, which in case of FITD, is the principle of

consistency. However, for this scenario to actually work, individuals should be in a state of

mindlessness where they are not consciously aware of their behaviors (Langer, 1992). Fennis

and Janssen (2010) found evidence that mindlessness is actually created by the execution of the

influence tactic itself. Thus, when people are encountered with the FITD Technique, their

self-regulatory resources will be depleted and the principle of consistency will serve as a heuristic

to rely on in the decision-making process. It is therefore proposed that:

H1: The FITD Technique increases compliance.

When we lack self-control resources, our ability to resist persuasion will be lessened,

which as a result, will make our attitudes more accessible to influence and change (Burkley,

2008). However, some people’s self-regulatory resources are drained faster than others (Salmon

et al., 2014). In other words, some people are more sensitive to becoming depleted. Based on

the notion that self-control is a limited resource which is drained faster for some people, some

questions arise; How important is self-control for the FITD Technique to work? What

determines the limit of our self-control resources? Does it have the same limit for every

individual, or do some people have more/less resources of self-control than others? Why are

some people more sensitive to depletion than others?

1.3.Time Perspective Theory and Compliance

Before going into detail with time perspective, it is important to note that self-control is

defined as “the ability to resist temptations” in consumer behavior. In this paper, it is considered

as a personal trait which makes people differ in certain tasks such as controlling impulses,

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habits (Baumeister, 2002). Based on the notion that it is a personal trait and some people have

more self-control than others intrinsically, these individuals are expected to perform better at

resisting social requests that demand compliance and marketing tactics such as the FITD

Technique.

Time perspective is the study of how individuals non-consciously and automatically divide

their experiences in life into different time frames (Zimbardo, 2009). Every person has a

different perspective about time based on their education, religion, social class and family

environment (Stolarski et al., 2015). Time perspective plays an important role in the selection

and pursuit of social goals, such that future oriented individuals engage in actions directed to

long-term goals and past & present oriented individuals seek for present joy and engage in

actions that provide short-term satisfaction (Carstensen et al., 1999). Zimbardo and Boyd

(1999), developed five factors of Time Perspective (TP) which are Past-Negative, Past-Positive,

Present-Fatalistic, Present-Hedonistic and Future.

Past oriented individuals make decisions based on what was and they can either be

negatively or positively oriented. The researchers defined past-negative TP as a pessimistic and

repulsive vision of the past resulting either from real experiences or the reconstruction of the

positive experiences as negative, or a combination of both. This TP is linked with depression,

anxiety and low self-esteem which are found to indicate low self-control (Zajenkowski et al.,

2015; Zimbardo and Boyd, 1999). Moreover, past-negative oriented individuals tend to practice

gambling more and have a more positive attitude towards it than other TPs (Zimbardo and

Boyd, 1999). The researchers also highlighted that these individuals usually have fewer close

friends, have had bad experiences with people and are less likely to have had sexual intercourse,

which are signals of low self-control. Thus, past-negative oriented individuals are expected to

show high compliance with a request due to their low self-control ability. On the other hand,

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correlated with depression and anxiety and positively correlated with self-esteem and happiness

(Zimbardo and Boyd, 1999). Although they demonstrate almost opposite behavior to

past-negative TP, since this TP is not correlated with conscientiousness, which refers to the ability

to strategically control and direct behavior (Zajenkowski et al., 2015), it is expected that these

individuals would show high compliance with persuasion attempts. To sum up, past oriented

individuals are expected to show high compliance with a request since they are intrinsically low

in self-control both in the presence and absence of the FITD Technique.

Present oriented individuals make decisions based on what is and they can either be a fatalist

or a hedonist. Zimbardo and Boyd (1999) describe Present-fatalistic TP as a helpless and

hopeless attitude towards the future and life. They further emphasize that these individuals’

lives have been shaped around the idea that their future is pre-destined, cannot be influenced

by their actions and completely determined by fate. The authors have found evidence that this

TP usually demonstrates depression, anxiety, aggression and gambling similar to past-negative

TP. Furthermore, they engage in unhealthy eating, consuming excessive amounts of alcohol

and drugs, driving under the influence and driving too fast which are behaviors associated with

low self-control (Baumeister et al., 2016; Zimbardo et al., 1997). Zimbardo and Boyd (1999)

further defined present-hedonistic TP as a risk-taking, “devil may care” attitude toward time

and life. The researchers go on to explain that these individuals are focused on present pleasure,

enjoyment and excitement without thinking about the future consequences of their present

actions. As a result of this, they tend to be impulsive and choose smaller sooner rewards instead

of larger later ones (Li, 2007). Since impulsiveness is a key component of self-control

(Klicperova-Baker et al., 2015), it is expected that both present-fatalistic and present-hedonistic

individuals show high compliance with a request both in the presence and absence of the FITD

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Future oriented individuals make decisions based on what will be and their behavior is

controlled by the planning and achievement of future goals with a high consideration for future

consequences of present actions (Zimbardo and Boyd, 1999). The authors reported that this TP

is positively correlated with conscientiousness, reward dependence, self-efficacy, self-esteem

and preference for consistency and negatively correlated with sensation seeking, novelty

seeking, aggression and impulsiveness. They usually avoid risky behavior since such actions

might jeopardize their future goals and they are generally better at self-control (Zimbardo and

Boyd, 1999). They demonstrate many characteristics that are identified with high self-control

such as better grades (Tangney, 2004), higher GPAs (Zimbardo and Boyd, 1999), higher SAT

scores and better performance at delay gratification tasks (Shoda et al., 1990), saving more

money (Romal and Kaplan, 1995; Klicperova-Baker et al., 2015), higher socio-economic status

and fewer health risk behaviors (Stolarski et al., 2015), good and stable relationships and

positive family environments (Zajenkowski et al., 2015). Thus, future oriented individuals are

expected to have more self-control than past & present oriented individuals and show less

compliance with a request both in the presence and absence of the FITD Technique.

Based on the evidence from the literature, it is argued that future oriented individuals show

many distinctive characteristics and behaviors that are closely linked with high self-control.

Thus, these individuals are predicted to have more self-control resources than past & present

oriented individuals. As a result of this, they should show less compliance with requests from

sales agents and marketers. Additionally, since the FITD Technique derives its effectiveness

from depleting targets’ self-regulatory resources, it is predicted that future oriented individuals

would be less vulnerable to this technique than past & present oriented individuals due to their

advanced self-control abilities. Hence, the above discussion leads to the following hypotheses:

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H3: Past & present oriented individuals show more compliance with the FITD Technique compared to future oriented individuals.

1.4.Conceptual Model

Combining the aforementioned hypotheses leads to the proposed relationships gathered in

a conceptual model, shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Conceptual Model 2. METHODOLOGY

2.1. Design and Participants

A total of 112 individuals (mean age = 26.08, SD = 5.74; 58 female, 54 male)

participated in a 2 (Time Perspective: future vs. past & present) x 2 (absence vs. presence of

the FITD Technique) between subjects factorial design and were randomly assigned to the

conditions.

2.2. Procedure

The survey link was shared on social media accounts of the experimenter and 2

Facebook groups for students of Bilkent University and University of Groningen in order to

reach a diverse sample of individuals from different ages, geographical locations, nationalities

and backgrounds. In the introduction page of the survey, it was explained that the study is from

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After this introduction page, 51 participants who were randomly assigned to the presence of the

FITD condition were exposed to an informative text about the living conditions of refugee

children in Europe and consequently asked for a donation. This request served as the initial

request in the presence of the FITD condition.

The other 62 participants who were randomly assigned to the absence of FITD condition

were not exposed to the initial question. After the introduction page, they were forwarded

directly to the questionnaire where all the scales were administered. The participants in the

presence of the FITD condition were proceeded to the same questionnaire after they were

exposed the initial request. After all of the participants answered the questionnaire and

disclosed their demographic information, they were asked how many studies they would be

willing to participate in the future, which served as the target request for both the presence of

FITD and the absence of FITD conditions. This target request that all participants were exposed

to, served as the measure of compliance in the experiment. After the participants answered the

target request, they were informed that they have reached the end of the survey and thanked for

their participation. The e-mail address of the experimenter was provided in order to be contacted

for debriefing or answering any questions regarding the experiment and the results. It is

important to note that the personal details of the participants (name, surname, e-mail address)

were not collected to keep them fully anonymous. Both versions of the questionnaire are

included in the appendices.

2.3. Independent Variables

2.3.1. Time Perspective

Participants’ time perspectives were measured with the Zimbardo Time Perspective

Inventory scale (Zimbardo and Boyd, 1999). Past negative, past-positive, present-fatalistic and

present-hedonistic TPs were categorized together and labelled as “Past & Present” and future

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demonstrate considerably different characteristics and behavior from the other TPs,

categorizing future TP separately from others highlighted the importance of this distinction and

made the results clearer to interpret. The 56-item Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory Scale

measures the individual differences in time perspectives and gives the scores on each

perspective for each individual, an example item being “When I want to achieve something, I

set goals and consider specific means for reaching those goals” (Cronbach’s α = .72). All items

were rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1(very untrue) to 5(very true). Each item on

this scale is designed to measure one the five factors of time perspectives. The score of each

factor is calculated by adding the items that comprise that factor and dividing the total score by

the number of those items. For instance, in order to calculate the score of a participant in

present-hedonistic TP, the scores of the items 1, 8, 12, 17, 19, 23, 26, 28, 31, 32, 42, 44, 46, 48

and 55 are summed and then divided by 15. After calculating the scores of each factor, the

factor that the participant scored highest is was taken as that participants absolute time

orientation. For example, if a participant scores 3.90 on past-positive TP and 3.92 on

present-hedonistic TP, then his/her time orientation is accepted as present-present-hedonistic and put into the

“past & present orientation” category. For conveniency reasons, the scores were calculated

through “The Time Paradox” website where the same scale that is administered in the

questionnaire together with its automatic calculation is available

(http://www.thetimeparadox.com/). The experimenter manually entered each and every

participants’ answers to the questionnaire on the website and acquired the calculations

automatically (M = 0.18, SD = 0.39).

2.3.2. Foot-in-the-Door Technique

The FITD Technique was manipulated by randomly assigning the participants to two

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of them. Participants who were assigned to the presence of the FITD condition were thus

exposed to the following informative text:

“Children from Syria, Afghanistan and Africa are escaping from war, conflicts and poverty and

travelling to Europe without being accompanied by an adult since their families usually can

afford only one member to leave the country. There are currently about 300,000 unaccompanied

or separated children in Europe. 10,000 of them went missing in 2016, most likely to be taken

by human traffickers for sex abuse or slavery. The ones who can actually make it to refugee

camps in Europe live in poor conditions where they have no access to education or healthcare

and exposed to sexual abuse and forced labor. These poor conditions have led minors to use

extensive amounts of alcohol and drugs, engage in self-harming and children as young as 12

attempting suicide.

*The information above is collected from several news resources such as the Guardian,

Independent UK and UNICEF.”

After this information was given, participants were asked “How much would you be willing

to donate to the European Refugee Fund in order to improve refugee children's living conditions

in Europe?” which served as the initial request in this condition. They were provided with a

7-point scale with the options 0, €0-10, €10-20, €20-30, €30-40, €40-50 and more than €50. Three

participants who did not comply with the initial request by choosing the “0” option and one

participant who left the answer blank were taken out of the sample. Participants who chose an

option other than “0” indicating that they were willing to donate a certain amount of money

were counted as they have yielded to the initial request, regardless of the option they chose (M

= 0.46, SD = 0.50).

In the condition where the FITD Technique was not applied, participants were not exposed

to the informative text and the initial question. They proceeded directly to the questionnaire

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was asked the target request regardless of the condition they were assigned to in order to

measure whether the compliance rates for participants who were exposed to the initial request

will differ from the ones who were not.

2.4.Dependent Variable

The dependent variable was compliance with a request. It was measured with the target

request which was “How much would you be willing to participate in the studies of the

University of Groningen Marketing Department in the future?”. Participants provided their

answers on a 16-point scale ranging from 0 to 15, each item exemplifying the number of studies.

Willingness to participate in higher number of studies meant higher compliance and willingness

to participate in lower number of studies meant lower compliance (M = 4.06, SD = 3.85).

2.5. Exploratory Measures

2.5.1. Life History Theory

The 20-item short version of the Arizona Life History Battery (ALHB) (Figueredo et

al., 2005), the Mini-K, measures a general life history strategy, an example being “I often find

the bright side to a bad situation” (Cronbach’s α = .65). Authors stated that fast strategy would

illustrate impulsive and short-term thinking behavior whereas slow strategy illustrates

cost-benefit analysis and long-term thinking. All participants were asked to indicate how strongly

they agree or disagree with each statement. All items were rated on a 7-point Likert scale

ranging from 1(disagree strongly) to 7(agree strongly). A mean score was created with higher

scores implying slow life strategy and lower scores implying fast life strategy (M = 5.05, SD =

0.56).

2.5.2. Trait Self-Control

The 13-item short version of the Trait Self-Control Scale (Tangney et al., 2004), Brief

Self-Control Measure assesses individual differences in self-control, an example item being “I

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item on how much each statement reflects how they typically are. All items were rated on a

5-point Likert scale ranging from 1(not at all) to 5(very much). After reversing the necessary

items, a mean score was created. For every participant, higher scores implied high self-control

and lower scores implied low self-control (M = 3.04, SD = 0.65).

2.5.3. Depletion Sensitivity

The 11-item Depletion Sensitivity Scale (Salmon et al., 2014) measures individual

differences in sensitivity to ego-depletion, an example item being “After I have worked very

hard at something, I am not good at reloading to start a new task” (Cronbach's α = .82). All

participants were asked to indicate how much each statement reflects how they typically are.

All items are rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (totally disagree) to 7 (totally agree)

with high scores reflecting high depletion sensitivity and low scores reflecting low depletion

sensitivity (M = 4.14, SD = 0.99).

2.5.4. Mood

The 16-item Brief Mood Introspection Scale (BMIS) (Mayer and Gaschke, 1988)

measures individuals’ moods by asking them to rate each adjective such as “happy”, “calm” or

“loving” on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from XX (definitely do not feel) to VV (definitely

feel) based on their present mood (Cronbach’s α = .77). It is followed by an overall mood

question where participants rate their overall mood on a 21-point scale from -10 (very

unpleasant) to 10 (very pleasant). After the necessary items were reversed, a mean score was

created for each participant where high scores indicated good mood and low scores indicated

bad mood (M = 2.84, SD = 0.41).

2.5.5. Demographics

7 questions regarding participants’ age, gender, nationality, country of living, monthly

income, level of education and marital status were asked at the end of the questionnaire in order

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monthly incomes and higher levels of education are expected to be future oriented based on the

literature about Time Perspective Theory, these demographics are particularly important for the

nature of this research.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1. Results

It was hypothesized that future oriented individuals would be less affected by the FITD

Technique compared to past & present oriented individuals due to their higher self-control

resources. Thus, it was predicted that when the FITD Technique is executed, past & present

oriented participants would demonstrate more compliance than future oriented participants. In

the experiment, asking how many studies from the University of Groningen Marketing

Department they would be willing to participate in the future served as our target request and

measured compliance. For the initial request, participants were given an informative text about

living conditions of the refugee children in Europe and were asked how much they would be

willing to donate to improve the life conditions in the refugee camps. The participants who

were exposed to the FITD Technique were asked both questions and the participants who were

exposed to the control condition were asked only the target request.

A 2 (time perspective: future vs. past & present orientation) x 2 (FITD: absence vs.

presence of the FITD Technique) ANOVA on compliance was performed. The results revealed

that the main effect of the FITD Technique failed to reach significance (F < 1), but the

inspection of the means showed that participants showed more compliance when the FITD

Technique was absent (M = 4.31, SD = 3.79) compared to when it was present (M = 3.76, SD

= 3.99) (see Figure 3). Therefore, H1 was not supported. Furthermore, the results aligned with

the predictions and showed a main effect of time perspective (F(1.08) = 9.50, p = 0.003) on

compliance. Although time perspective had a significant effect on compliance, the results

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demonstrated more compliance (M = 6.33, SD = 4.78) than past & present oriented participants

(M = 3.54, SD = 3.46) (see Figure 2), thus, evidence to support H2 was not found.

Contrary to the predictions, the interaction effect of the time perspective and the FITD

Technique failed to reach significance (F < 1). The inspection of the means showed that when

the FITD Technique was executed, future oriented participants were more willing to comply

with the target request (M = 6.00, SD = 4.71) than past & present oriented participants (M =

3.22, SD = 3.65). Similarly, when the FITD Technique was not executed and the participants

were exposed only to the target request, future oriented participants still demonstrated more

compliance (M = 6.64, SD = 5.05) than past & present oriented participants (M = 3.80, SD =

3.31). Thus, H3 was not supported.

Figure 2. The effect of time perspective on compliance

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3.2. Exploratory Measures

All exploratory measures were tested separately with a series of full factorial ANCOVA

analyses with each exploratory measure serving as a covariate where the dependent variable

was compliance and the independent variables were the execution of the FITD Technique and

individuals’ time perspectives.

3.2.1. Life History Theory

The results revealed that individuals’ general life history strategy did not have a

significant effect on their compliance with the target request (F(1.07) = 0.20 p = 0.65).

Including Mini-K as a covariate did not change the key results.

3.2.2. Trait Self-Control

The items 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13 were reversed before the analysis. The results

revealed that individuals’ self-control ability as a trait did not have a significant effect on their

compliance with the target request (F(1.07) = 0.11, p = 0.74). Inclusion of this variable as a

covariate did not change the key results.

3.2.3. Depletion Sensitivity

Individuals’ sensitivity to become depleted did not have a significant effect on their

compliance with the target request (F(1.07) = 0.95, p = 0.33). Inclusion of this variable as a

covariate did not change the key results.

3.2.4. Mood

The negative items on the BMIS (sad, tired, gloomy, jittery, drowsy, grouchy, nervous

and fed up) were reversed before the analysis. According to the results, present mood of the

participants did not have a significant effect on their compliance with the target request (F(1.07)

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3.2.5. Gender

Gender was treated as an independent variable and the results revealed that it has a

significant effect on compliance with the target request (F(1.10) = 4.62, p = 0.03). The mean

results show that females demonstrated more compliance with the target request (M = 4.80, SD

= 3.88) than males (M = 3.25, SD = 3.73). However, inclusion of gender in the analysis did not

change the key results.

3.3. Discussion

Previous literature suggests that individuals who have a future orientation think

thoroughly about every decision they make, avoid engaging in risky behaviors that might

jeopardize their future goals, and prefer to wait for later but bigger rewards than sooner but

smaller rewards (Zimbardo and Boyd, 1999). On the other hand, individuals who are past &

present oriented more tend to live the moment and do not think about how their present actions

might affect their future. Essentially, for future oriented individuals, all their current actions are

steps to achieve their goals and the pleasures of today are less important than a safe and better

future and they usually have a higher socio-economic status and academic success and fewer

health-risk behaviors (Stolarski et al. 2015). However, for past & present oriented individuals,

the pleasures of today are much more important than their future since the future is pre-destined

for them and determined by external powers and they usually exhibit alcohol or drug addiction,

mental health problems, anxiety and depression. All these pieces of evidence from years of

research validated that future oriented individuals are generally better at self-control (Zimbardo

and Boyd, 1999). Based on this point of view, it was predicted that since future orientation is

related with high self-control, such individuals would be less affected by the FITD Technique

which derives its effectiveness by depleting individuals’ self-regulatory resources by making

them exert self-control (Fennis et al., 2008). However, the results of the study showed that FITD

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significantly increases it. When self-control was measured as a trait, it failed to reach

significance which suggests that it did not play a role in the relationship between time

perspective and the FITD Technique. These results are somewhat unexpected, yet some

interesting applications and possible explanations can be found. First of all, future oriented

individuals score higher on the preference for consistency scale (Zimbardo and Boyd, 1999)

and according to Cialdini et al. (1995), individuals who score higher on this scale are more

likely to show compliance with the FITD Technique. Thus, it can be inferred that the principle

of consistency is so powerful for future oriented individuals that their high levels of

self-regulatory resources to resist social influence lose their importance and are overruled by their

desire to be consistent with themselves. On the other hand, it was previously argued that the

execution of the FITD Technique creates a state of mindlessness where individuals rely on

heuristics for decision making (Janssen et al., 2008). We can argue that the participants entered

that state of mindlessness and relied on the principle of consistency as a heuristic and since

future oriented individuals generally score higher in the preference for consistency, they

showed more compliance. However, since the effect of FITD was not significant, they would

not possibly have entered that state of mindlessness and it would not be right to try to explain

these results only by reasoning that they simply relied on heuristics. We cannot know for certain

if the attempt to put participants in the state of mindlessness was successful or not, however it

is more plausible to propose that there might be other factors influencing individuals’

compliance with social influence tactics such as FITD.

Another explanation why the FITD Technique did not have a significant effect on

compliance emerges from the nature of the requests. The initial request asked money from the

participants whereas the target request asked for time. The current literature on time and money

shows that these two important concepts are treated differently in the mental evaluation. That

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physical measurability, time is perceived more abstract due to its experiential and ambiguous

nature (Macdonell and White, 2015). Thus, since money and time are not evaluated on the same

dimension, when the participants were exposed to requests that are asking for both of these

resources, the self-perception theory might have failed to become salient and the principle of

consistency might not have been activated. Moreover, people are more likely to donate money

when the time request is asked first (Liu and Aaker, 2008; Macdonell and White, 2015). Lastly,

having a high income leads people to feel “wealthy” which refers to a safe environment, higher

personal strength and resources (Macdonell and White, 2015). As a result of this, high-income

individuals perceive money as a more abstract construct compared to low-income individuals

(Hansen et al. 2013; study 3; Hansen and Wanke, 2011). Since future oriented individuals

usually have a higher socioeconomic status (Stolarski et al. 2015), perhaps they have a higher

income than past & present oriented individuals. Thus, in the current study, they might have

evaluated money on a closer dimension to time compared to past & present oriented individuals

and that could be a reason why they demonstrated more compliance. Hence, there is a chance

that the FITD Technique actually affected future oriented participants to increase their

compliance.

3.4. Managerial Implications

The FITD Technique is known as an easily executed and effective social influence

tactic. However, it is clear that there are many other variables that influence the effectiveness

of this technique. Thus, marketers who use this technique should take into account all the

variables that were previously discussed.

In the light of the findings of this paper, the principle of consistency seems to be an

important driver of decisions for future oriented individuals. Thus, it is possible that other social

principles such as the principle of reciprocity and authority might also be an important element

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benefit from these principles. Moreover, they should get to know their customers better and

apply tactics based on the principle of consistency to their future oriented customers. To

understand which customers are future oriented, marketers can look either at their customers’

demographics such as socioeconomic status and education level or shopping patterns such as

alcohol and healthy versus unhealthy food purchases. However, although this information gives

an idea about customers’ time perspectives, marketers need more to evidence to make a correct

categorization. Thus, they should analyze all communications and interactions with each

customer and their responses to get more insight. Last but not least, marketers should focus

more on females since they tend to demonstrate more compliance.

3.5. Limitations and Directions for Future Research

An unexpected finding of the current study is that the execution of the FITD Technique

does not have a significant effect on compliance, which was predicted differently. In our

experiment, both future and past & present oriented participants demonstrated more compliance

when FITD was not executed. Thus, apparently the FITD Technique reduced compliance

whereas it should have increased it. One possible explanation for this result could be that the

experiment took place in an online environment where there was no active execution of the

initial request. According to the self-perception theory, when the initial request requires a

behavioral or active involvement, compliance with the following request will be higher since

behavior is a strong indicator of oneself and it is more likely that the principle of consistency

will be activated in that case (Beaman, 1983). Hence, future researchers should observe the

effect of FITD better in a physical environment where the initial request is actively executed.

Moreover, Freedman and Fraser (1966) suggested that allowing 2 weeks between two requests

yields the strongest results. However, in the current study, participants who were in the FITD

condition were exposed to the target question only about 10 minutes after the initial question.

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pure effect of the FITD phenomenon. In addition to that, the requests did not involve

compliance on the same subject, such that the initial request involved donating money for

refugee children in Europe whereas the target request involved participating future studies of

the university, thus, devoting time. Although there is some evidence that the FITD phenomenon

is effective even when the target request involves a different issue than the initial one (Beaman,

1983), this fact might have hindered the activation of the principle of consistency and

participants might have thought that even if they complied with the initial request, they do not

have to comply with the latter one to be consistent with themselves since the requests are about

different issues.

Another explanation is that when FITD manipulations were tested along with other

manipulations, the expected effect of the FITD can be invalidated or sometimes even reversed

(Beaman, 1983). In the current study, the FITD Technique was manipulated along with time

perspective, hence, some other factors might have intervened in the process and the pure effect

of the FITD Technique became indistinctive. To sum up, more valid results should be obtained

with more time between requests, absence of other manipulations, requests about more related

topics and behavioral involvement of the initial request.

It is also important to report for future researchers that the sample size in this study was

112, thus, with a more representative sample size, stronger results can be achieved and the effect

of the FITD phenomenon can be observed more properly.

Based on the conjecture that the principle of consistency is very powerful for future

oriented individuals and takes precedence over self-control, future researchers might further

investigate this issue and explore whether such individuals exhibit a similar behavior when it

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3.6. Conclusion

The current research posits that future oriented and past & present oriented individuals

differ in their responses to requests that require compliance. Furthermore, time perspectives of

individuals have a significant effect on their compliance with such requests. Considering that

much research has been conducted about time perspective’s role in individuals’ lives, this result

is promising for future studies that combine this psychological phenomenon with marketing.

Moreover, this paper is important for the audience to get to know themselves and their time

perspectives. Although future oriented individuals seem to be having success in many areas of

life, they sometimes miss the opportunities and spending time with the people around them

since they are so focused on their future personal achievements. Thus, the key to happiness and

a healthy life is to find the right balance between time perspectives.

From the marketing point-of-view, it can be concluded by repeating that the principle

of consistency is a dominant aspect of future oriented individuals, even stronger than their

valiant self-control mechanism. Thus, one cannot help but wonder, in what other aspects do

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APPENDICES Online Experiment

Dear participant,

The following survey is being administered as a part of my master thesis in the Department of Marketing at the University of Groningen. It takes about 10-15 minutes and includes a series of unrelated parts.

Your participation in this study will remain confidential and there will be no attempt to link your responses to your identity to keep the participants fully anonymous. The data you provide will be used solely for educational purposes.

Since your participation in this study is entirely voluntary, you may withdraw at any time by simply closing the survey platform on your web browser.

Please read all of the instructions carefully before answering the questions.

(CONDITION: PRESENCE OF THE FITD TECHNIQUE)

Children from Syria, Afghanistan and Africa are escaping from war, conflicts and poverty and travelling to Europe without being accompanied by an adult since the families usually can afford only one family member to leave the country. There are currently about 300,000 unaccompanied or separated refugee children in Europe. 10,000 of them went missing in 2016, most likely to be taken by human traffickers for sex abuse or slavery. The ones who actually made it to the refugee camps in Europe live in poor conditions where they have no access to education or healthcare and they are constantly exposed to sexual abuse and forced labor. These poor conditions are leading minors to use extensive amounts of alcohol and drugs, engage in self-harming behaviours and children as young as 12 attempting suicide. *The information above is collected from several news resources such as the Guardian, Independent UK and UNICEF.

How much would you be willing to donate to the European Refugee Fund in order to improve refugee children's living conditions in Europe?

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(CONDITION: ABSENCE OF THE FITD TECHNIQUE)

Please proceed to the questions.

QUESTIONNAIRE

Please read each statement and as honestly as you can, answer the question: "How characteristic or true is this of me?"

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29 I do things impulsively.

o

If things don't get done on time, I don't

worry about it.

o

When I want to achieve something, I set goals and consider specific means for reaching those goals.

o

On balance, there is much more good to recall than bad

in my past.

o

When listening

to my favorite music, I often lose all track of

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30

It upsets me to be late for

appointments.

o

Ideally, I would

live each day as if it were my last.

o

Happy memories of good times spring readily to mind.

o

I meet my obligations to friends and authorities on time.

o

I've taken my share of abuse and rejection in the past.

o

I make decisions on the spur of the moment.

o

I take each day

as it is rather than try to plan

it out.

o

The past has too

many unpleasant memories that I prefer not to think about.

o

It is important to put excitement in my life.

o

I've made mistakes in the past that I wish I

could undo.

o

I feel that it's

more important to enjoy what

you're doing than to get work

done on time.

o

I get nostalgic about my

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31

Before making a decision, I weigh the costs

against the benefits.

o

Taking risks keeps my life from becoming boring.

o

It is more important to enjoy life's journey than to focus only on the destination.

o

Things rarely work out as I expected.

o

It's hard for me

to forget unpleasant images of my

youth.

o

It takes joy out

of the process and flow of my activities if I have to think about goals, outcomes, and products.

o

Even when I am enjoying the present, I am drawn back to comparisons with similar past

experiences.

o

You can't really plan for the future because things change so much.

o

My life path is controlled by forces I cannot influence.

o

It doesn't make sense to worry about the future,

since there is nothing that I can do about it

anyway.

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32 I complete projects on time by making steady progress.

o

I find myself

tuning out when family members talk about the way things used

to be.

o

I take risks to put excitement in my life.

o

I make lists of things to do.

o

I often follow my heart more than my head.

o

I am able to resist temptations when I know that there is work to be done.

o

I find myself getting swept up in the excitement of the moment.

o

Life today is too

complicated; I would prefer the

simpler life of the past.

o

I prefer friends who are spontaneous rather than predictable.

o

I like family rituals and traditions that are regularly repeated.

o

I think about the

bad things that have happened to me in the

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33

Please indicate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements.

I keep working at difficult, uninteresting tasks if they will

help me get ahead.

o

Spending what I earn on pleasures today is better than saving for tomorrow's security.

o

Often luck pays off better than

hard work.

o

I think about the

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36

Using the scale provided, please indicate how much each of the following statements reflects how you typically are.

Not at all 1 2 3 4 Very much 5 I am good at resisting temptation.

o

I have a hard time breaking bad habits.

o

I am lazy.

o

I say inappropriate things.

o

I do certain

things that are bad for me, if

they are fun.

o

I refuse things

that are bad for

me.

o

I wish I had

more

self-discipline.

o

People would

say that I have iron

self-discipline.

o

Pleasure and fun

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37

Please indicate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements.

through all the alternatives. 1 Totally Disagree 2 3 4 5 6 7 Totally Agree After I have worked very hard at something, I am not good at reloading to start a new task.

o

I get mentally fatigued easily.

o

When I am (mentally) fatigued, I am easily tempted to do things that are actually not good for me.

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38

Mark the response on the scale below that indicates how well each adjective or phrase describes your present mood.

that's necessary (for example: not falling out with someone you're angry with) I have difficulties focusing my attention after I exerted a lot of mental effort.

o

When I'm tired I have difficulties concentrating.

o

At the end of a working day I often have difficulties staying focused.

o

When I'm tired I sometimes have difficulties to remain friendly or polite.

o

Definitely do not

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39

Please rate your overall present mood.

Very Unpleasant -10 -9 (…) 9 Very Pleasant 10

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40

What is your age?

________________________________________________________________

What is your gender?

________________________________________________________________

What is your nationality?

________________________________________________________________

Which country are you currently living in?

________________________________________________________________

What is your marital status?

________________________________________________________________

What is your level of education?

________________________________________________________________

What is your monthly income?

________________________________________________________________

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41

You have reached the end of the survey. Thank you very much for your time and participation.

If you have any questions about the research or if you want to be debriefed about the results of the study, please don't hesitate to contact me via s.koker@student.rug.nl

0 1 2 (…) 14 15

How many studies from the University of Groningen Department of Marketing

would you be willing to

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Time Perspective Theory

PastNegative

PastPositive

PresentFatalistic

PresentHedonistic

Future

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