The effect of access opportunities on spending versus saving

With the help of digital technologies, access-based services such as subscription plans for accessing movies, music, cars, and many other goods gained widespread acceptance. We investigate the potential effect of the presence of these opportunities on consumers’ spending versus saving decisions. We hypothesize that access-based services shift people’s focus toward the present as opposed to the future, which in turn leads to relative subjective devaluation of future rewards, and hence a lower tendency to save for the future. Participants’ direct responses (Study 1), people’s spontaneous online search activity (Study 2), and a large scale survey (Study 3) provided evidence consistent with our hypothesis. A randomized experiment involving access versus possession prompts (Study 4) revealed the reverse effect for those who have a strong preference for ownership over renting, suggesting an additional process whereby access prompts trigger a goal to accumulate possessions for people who heavily value ownership.