Consumers often cite insufficient time or money as an excuse for rejecting social invitations. We explore the effectiveness of these excuses in preserving interpersonal relationships. Six studies – including perceptions of couples planning their wedding – demonstrate that using time scarcity as an excuse (e.g., “I don’t have time”) is less effective than using money scarcity as an excuse (e.g., “I don’t have money”). These effects are driven by the perceived controllability of these resources: Consumers accept that the availability of financial resources may be less subject to personal control than the availability of time. As a result, excuses citing time constraints are seen as less trustworthy and reduce feelings of interpersonal closeness and helping behavior. Despite the robustness of the effect, excuse-givers do not predict the relational disadvantages of citing time constraints. Communication that highlights the relative uncontrollability of time increases the effectiveness of these excuses. These findings advance our understanding of the role of references to time and money in consumer behavior, and provide practical insights to minimize social repercussions when rejecting social invitations.

中文翻译：

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沟通资源稀缺和人际关系

消费者经常以时间或金钱不足作为拒绝社交邀请的借口。我们探索这些借口在维护人际关系方面的有效性。六项研究——包括对计划婚礼的夫妇的看法——表明以时间稀缺为借口（例如，“我没有时间”）不如以金钱稀缺为借口（例如，“我没有时间”）有效钱”）。这些影响是由这些资源的感知可控性驱动的：消费者接受金融资源的可用性可能比时间的可用性更不受个人控制。因此，以时间限制为由的借口被视为不那么值得信赖，并减少了人际交往和帮助行为的感觉。尽管效果稳健，借口提供者不会预测引用时间限制的相关劣势。强调时间相对不可控的交流会增加这些借口的有效性。这些发现促进了我们对时间和金钱在消费者行为中的作用的理解，并提供了实用的见解，以最大限度地减少拒绝社交邀请时的社会影响。