Do Longer or Shorter Budget Temporal Frames Matter? Numerosity Effects, Mental Budgets, and Purchase Intentions

This article explores how temporal frames (short vs. long) of mental budgets influence consumers’ perceived possibility of overspending and their purchase intentions for a target product. Four experiments showed that, compared to a longer temporal frame, consumers in a short temporal frame perceive a greater possibility of overspending and thus have reduced purchase intentions. The perceived possibility of overspending mediates the impact of temporal frames on purchase intentions. However, the impact of temporal frames on purchase intentions is pronounced only if consumers’ budgeted amounts are small, alternative temporal frames are not salient, and consumers have low self-control.