情緒類別及等待發生時點對等待時間知覺的影響

The Effect of Affective States and the Delays at Different Phases of a Service Delivery on the Perceived Waiting Time

等待經常被顧客視作是服務中的負面經驗，因此多數企業無不致力於縮短顧客在服務流程中的真實等待時間，但實際上顧客卻是對其主觀知覺到的等待時間作反應。也因此，瞭解顧客的知覺等待時間對於服務提供者而言更形重要。本研究採用實驗設計法，操弄受試者所處的情緒狀態以及等待發生時點的遠近，探討其與知覺等待時間的關係。此外，本研究亦探討兩個可能的調節變數：個人時間風格與涉入度。結果發現：（1）. 相較於負面情緒下之等待者，正面情緒下之等待者會有較短的等待時間知覺。（2）. 等待發生時點距主要服務較遠時，消費者知覺的等待時間較長；相較於等待發生時點較近的情況，等待發生時點較遠時，正向及負向情緒的反應皆較強烈。（3）. 消費者之時間風格屬質者所知覺到的等待時間知覺較長，時間風格屬量者的正向情緒較強烈。（4）. 消費者涉入度的不同在等待時間知覺和負向情緒反應上有干擾效果，且呈正向關係。

Waiting, for customers, is usually treated as a negative service experience, and most service providers aim to reduce customer’s actual waiting time during service delivery. However, in reality, customers react based on their subjective waiting time perception rather than the actual one. So it is important and beneficial for service providers to understand customer’s waiting time perception. This study conducted a laboratory experiment and manipulated two factors: subjects’ affective state and different delayed stage during service delivery, and explored their relationships with waiting time perception. We also examined two possible moderators: time style and personal imvlovement. The results revealed several important findings First, comparing with subjects under negative affective state, those under positive affective state have shorter waiting time perception. Second, while the delayed stage is far from the core service, subjects will have longer waiting time perception. Comparing with the delayed stage near the core service, subjects will have stronger affective responses while the delayed stage is far from core service. Third, qualitative-time-styled subjects have longer waiting time perception, and quatatitative-time-styled subjects have stronger positive affect. Finally, subjects’ personal involvement has positive moerating effect on the waiting time perception and negative affective responses.