Process utility and help seeking: What do people want from experts?

This study explores the range and robustness of the motivational power of process utility by examining its importance in the case of help seeking from service providers. Three studies examine whether people’s choices about help seeking are shaped by the “process utility” of the helping procedure itself. Studies one and two examine choices between experts who provide advice that maximizes: (1) material outcome utility or (2) process utility. Study three considers when people seek help from service providers. The results suggest that in each of these contexts process utility influences help seeking choices. These findings suggest that people’s utilities extend beyond financial and material resources, even in settings traditionally viewed as framed by economic outcomes.