Two Essays on Lay Theories of the Valence of Busyness

Consumers hold different lay theories about the valence of busyness. Two essays investigate antecedents and consequences of these lay theories. Essay 1 examines the frequency with which consumers hold these lay theories and demonstrates that holding a lay theory that feeling busy is good (vs. bad) leads to greater feelings of empowerment, which in turn increases volunteering behavior. Essay 2 focuses on antecedents of these lay theories and demonstrates that engaging in activities high (vs. low) on meaningfulness and low (vs. high) on stress increases consumers’ tendency to hold the belief that feeling busy is good (vs. bad). Emotional attention moderates this effect in the sense that consumers high (vs. low) in emotional attention have less malleable lay theories. Consequently, making meaningfulness and stress salient does not influence consumers’ beliefs about the valence of busyness for consumers high, but not low, in emotional attention. In addition, essay 2 shows that daily experiences that are high on meaningfulness and low on stress are associated with greater volunteering behavior, thus linking this essay to the findings of essay 1.