How Salary Receipt Affects Consumers' Regulatory Motivations and Product Preferences

In this article, the authors find that consumers' preferences change as a function of their temporal distance from the receipt of their last salary. The authors propose and test that when consumers have just received their salary ("the near-salary condition"), they exhibit promotion motivations in their product preferences. However, they exhibit prevention motivations in their product preferences when significant time has elapsed since their last salary receipt ("the far-from-salary condition"). The authors collected data from two longitudinal studies to validate these findings and to test the underlying process. Using actual purchase behavior and collecting product preference during a one-month period, the authors show that consumers' product preferences change in response to temporal distance from their last salary receipt. The findings suggest to managers that the best time to promote products or messages with a promotion appeal is near to consumers' last salary receipt and that the best time to promote products or messages with a prevention appeal is far from consumers' last salary receipt. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]