"Will You?" Versus "Can You?": Verbal Framing Moderates The Effect Of Feelings Of Power On Consumers' Reactions To Waiting

Having to wait for service or the delivery of a product is often unavoidable. At the same time, it is unpleasant and can decrease consumers' satisfaction with the consumption experience and their willingness to patronize the service provider in the future. How does a service provider unwittingly influence these negative reactions? We found that subtle differences in how a request to wait is phrased can have quite different effects, depending on consumers' feelings of social power. Consumers who are asked, "Will you wait?" infer that a positive response to the question would constitute a restriction on their freedom. In this case high-power consumers, who are more resistant to the restriction, are less likely to wait than their low-power counterparts. In contrast, consumers interpret "Can you wait?" as asking whether they have the ability to exercise self-control. In this case, high-power consumers, who perceive themselves to be better at self-control, are more willing to wait in order to demonstrate this control than their low-power counterparts are. Five studies provide converging evidence of these differences and the processes that underlie them. The effects generalize over different operationalizations of power and are evident in actual waiting behavior and in situations outside the laboratory.