Content area
Abstract
This research was designed to serve three main purposes. First, the relationship between different levels of cognitive-resource depletion and consumer decision-making was examined. The first study attempted to establish an inverted U-shaped relationship of cognitive performance with low, optimal, and high depletion. The results suggested that not only indulgence but also self-restraint lead to suboptimal performance on cognitive tests, a higher reliance on price, and reduced effort in cognitive tasks. In the second study, we sought ways to replenish cognitive resource depleted by mentally taxing tasks. We were interested in observing the impact of short temporal separations with mood changes on the replenishment of cognitive resources. Therefore, we tested the inverted U-shaped relationship of cognitive performance with no, optimal, and excessive replenishment. The variables of interest in this study were cognitive performance and consumer effort. The results confirmed that there is an optimal level of replenishment similar to that of depletion. In other words, too much rest and no rest both result in the exercise of less effort and lower-quality decisions in subsequent cognitive tasks, while a medium level of replenishment results in more effort and optimal performance. Finally, both studies investigated whether the processes of cognitive resource depletion and replenishment have similar impacts on subsequent tasks regardless of whether the initial and subsequent tasks are related. The results of the two studies lead to practical implications for both academic and managerial perspectives.
