What Do You Do Outside of Work? When and Why Disclosing Eudaimonic Leisure Activities Increases Competence Perceptions and Consumer Choice

Abstract

Consumers have increasing access to more holistic information about the providers they consider working with and hiring (e.g., realtors, designers), including how they spend their free time. This research examines how a professional’s disclosure of their leisure activities impacts consumer choice. While the way people spend their leisure time should be unrelated to their professional aptitude, across an online field study and four lab studies, the authors demonstrate that disclosing leisure activities associated with eudaimonic well-being (i.e., meaning, fulfillment), such as hiking or cooking, can positively impact consumer choice. Such disclosures, relative to either not disclosing leisure or disclosing less eudaimonic activities such as relaxing or watching television, increase perceptions of competence, and in turn, interest in choosing, hiring, and supporting these individuals. Notably, the effects of eudaimonic leisure on competence and hiring intentions are attenuated if other diagnostic competence cues are present, such as a job-related award, and among those who value productivity less (i.e., have a low productivity orientation). Thus, the authors show how seemingly irrelevant personal information about professionals can inform consumer choice. Moreover, by manipulating eudaimonic well-being via leisure disclosures, they demonstrate how such cues impact person perception, integrating research on well-being, self-disclosure, and social perceptions.