The Effect of Future Focus on Self-Control is Moderated by Self-Efficacy

For consumers, sometimes the future may be very salient, while other times it may not be (Shipp, Edwards and Lambert 2009). Future focus is critical to self-control, as one cannot self-regulate without at least some consideration of future goals or consequences (Baumeister and Heatherton 1996). Indeed, companies that support self-control pursuits highlight this notion. For example, a Fidelity Investments advertisement featured the tagline “The Future is the Present,” while Weight Watchers highlights “My Bright Future” on its website. Not surprisingly, research has found that focusing on the future can be beneficial. For instance, future focus can lead to the choice of virtue foods (Winterich and Haws 2011), a greater likelihood of investing in retirement (Nenkov, Inman and Hulland 2008) and increased patience (Bartels and Urminsky 2011). However, other research hints at special circumstances under which focusing on the future may actually lead to indulgence. For instance, when consumers are asked to consider future progress towards goals, it may lead to indulgence in the present (Fishbach and Dhar 2005; Laran 2010; Zhang, Fishbach and Dhar 2007). Similarly, simply anticipating a future opportunity to choose a healthy option can lead to indulgence (Khan and Dhar 2007). This research suggests that future focused individuals may lose self-control in the present if they foresee themselves balancing out the negative effects of current indulgence. Thus, it is not entirely clear as to when future focus will lead to greater self-control, or what types of people will benefit from future focus. In addressing these issues, we posit that consumers’ self-efficacy (Bandura 1994; Wood and Bandura 1989) will moderate the effect of future focus on self-control. Focusing on the future will lead to higher self-control when one foresees the negative outcomes of current indulgence, but will lead to lower self-control when one foresees successful counteractions in response to negative outcomes of current indulgence. We posit that self-efficacy can determine the extent to which people will focus on negative outcomes versus successful counteractions when thinking of the future.