The impact of scheduling styles on time-limited promotions: The moderating role of redemption frames

Abstract

This research investigates the influence of scheduling styles on consumers’ evaluation of time-limited promotions. We find that consumers who rely on an external clock to manage their activities (i.e., clock timers) evaluate a time-limited promotion negatively because they perceive the length of the time frame of the promotion to be insufficient to take advantage of the promotion. However, consumers who rely on an internal sense to manage their activities (i.e., event timers) evaluate a time-limited promotion positively because they perceive the length of the time frame of the promotion to be long enough to take advantage of the promotion. We also find that clock timers have a positive evaluation of the time-limited promotion when the promotion is advertised with an expansive frame (e.g., Anytime between 4 pm and 6 pm) rather than a restrictive frame (e.g., Only between 4 pm and 6 pm).