When and How Multitasking Impacts Consumer Shopping Decisions

•People can multitask and accomplish their shopping goals while in how-mindsets.•Multitasking hinders shopping decisions for consumers in why-mindsets.•Stress experienced during multitasking and shopping mediates the effect.•Interventions to reduce stress can help alleviate the effect of multitasking.•A high preference for multitasking protects individuals from the negative effects.

This project provides insights into how multitasking impacts consumer decision-making. The effect of multitasking on shopping task performance is investigated across three studies. Authors propose that the effect of multitasking on consumers' shopping task performance (e.g., to purchase low calorie snacks for a get together) is moderated by whether the consumer is in a how (implementation) or why (deliberation) mindset. To the benefit of consumers, results from two lab studies and a field experiment in a retail context suggest that shoppers in how-mindsets can multitask without any negative impact on shopping task performance. However, consumers in a why (deliberation) mindset are negatively affected by multitasking and this effect is mediated by task-induced stress. Results demonstrate that intervention to reduce the stress level eliminates the negative impact of multitasking on consumers in why-mindsets. Taken together, the results suggest that interventions to channel consumers to an implementation mindset or strategies to alleviate the stress levels can help consumers avoid negative impact of multitasking on shopping decisions.

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