Are You an Expert or Do You Just Enjoy It? The Impact of Enjoyment on Self-Perceptions of Expertise
(A2020-64445)

AUTHORS

Jake Teeny, Ohio State University; Daniel Zane, University of Miami; Anna Paley, Tilburg University; Robert Smith, Tilburg University

KEYWORDS

Enjoyment; Self-assessment; lay theory

ABSTRACT

Enjoyment stands at the root of the consumer experience, and much research has explored factors that affect enjoyment of products and experiences (Alba & Williams, 2013; Hirschman & Holbrook, 1982). In addition to being a fundamental output of the consumer experience, might consumers’ level of enjoyment also serve as a metacognitive input for their perceptions of their personal qualities? In this research, we demonstrate that consumers’ enjoyment of a task influences their self-perceptions of expertise in the associated domain. We propose that this effect occurs because consumers hold a lay theory about the relationship between enjoyment and expertise, stemming from an implicit connection between the two constructs.