俗话说“人无远虑必有近忧”，这反映了时间稀缺与跨期决策的关系。跨期决策是在当前和未来之间权衡利益，而时间稀缺是指感知到的时间资源不足。在决策时，需考虑长远影响与利益，而非仅眼前诱惑。时间稀缺导致关注短期目标，忽略长期规划，从而可能遇到“近忧”。以往研究发现，时间稀缺导致选择快餐、短期高回报投资等不利决策。然而对于稀缺引发后果的路径研究较少，尚不清楚认知资源占用如何引发认知变化，以及情绪如何参与其中。本次论文通过 4 项研究探索时间稀缺对跨期决策的影响及其心理机制。研究1 与研究 2 主要探讨时间稀缺感对跨期决策的影响。研究 1 采用大数据研究方法，研究真实世界中时间稀缺对跨期决策行为的影响，研究发现（1）时间稀缺性与时间折现率存在正相关关系，即在人均工作时间较长的国家或地区，人们更可能牺牲较大的延迟收益而选择较小的即时收益。研究 2 通过行为实验操纵方法研究时间稀缺感，探索其对跨期决策的影响，研究发现（2）时间稀缺的个体在跨期决策中更倾向于选择即时方案。这一结果表明，无论是处于时间稀缺状态下的区域还是个体，都会表现出更高的时间折扣率，即更加偏好近期选项。研究 3 和研究 4 则分别采用问卷调查法和行为实验法进一步探究时间稀缺感影响跨期决策的心理机制。研究发现：(3）解释水平在时间稀缺性和跨时决策之间起中介作用，即个体的时间越稀缺，解释水平越低，从而越倾向于做出短视的跨期决策。(4) 情绪和解释水平在时间稀缺性和解释水平之间起着链式中介作用，即时间稀缺性通过减少积极情绪影响解释水平，而积极情绪又会导致个体做出短视行为。理论上，本研究首次从时间稀缺感的视角研究跨期决策，拓展了跨期决策研究领域的范畴，其次，引入社会认知-情绪双加工理论，解释了时间稀缺与跨期决策的作用机制。在实践上，本研究的发现对于个体和组织在面临时间稀缺感时进行有效的跨期决策具有深远的意义。个体可以通过理解时间稀缺感对决策的影响，提高自我意识，避免过度偏向即时利益，而更加理性地考虑长远利益。对于组织而言，了解时间稀缺感如何影响员工和消费者的决策行为，有助于制定更有效的激励策略和沟通手段，优化决策结果和资源分配，从而在时间稀缺的环境中取得最大的组织效益。
As the saying goes, ’If one has no foresight, one must have immediate worries’,which reflects the relationship between time scarcity and intertemporal decision-making.intertemporal decision-making involves balancing benefits between the current and fu?ture, while time scarcity refers to the perceived lack of time resources. When making decisions, it is necessary to consider long-term impacts and benefits, rather than just im?mediate temptations. The scarcity of time leads to a focus on short-term goals and a neglect of long-term planning, which may lead to ”immediate worries”.Previous studies have found that time scarcity leads to unfavorable decisions such as choosing fast food and short-term high return investments. However, there is limited research on the pathways leading to consequences of scarcity, and it is still unclear how cognitive resource occupation triggers cognitive changes and how emotions participate in them. This paper explores the impact of time scarcity on intertemporal decision-making and its psychological mechanisms through four studies. Research 1 and Research 2 mainly explore the impact of time scarcity on intertemporal decision-making. Study 1 uses big data research methods to study the impact of time scarcity on intertemporal decision?making behavior in the real world. The study finds that (1) there is a positive correlation between time scarcity and time Discount rate, that is, in countries or regions with long working hours per capita, people are more likely to sacrifice larger delayed returns and choose smaller immediate returns. Study 2 used behavioral experimental manipulation methods to investigate the impact of time scarcity on intertemporal decision-making. The study found that (2) individuals with time scarcity were more inclined to choose imme?diate solutions in intertemporal decision-making. This result indicates that both regions and individuals in a state of time scarcity exhibit higher time discount rates, which means they prefer the recent option more.Study 3 and Study 4 respectively used questionnaire survey and behavioral exper?iment methods to further explore the psychological mechanism of the impact of time scarcity on intertemporal decision-making. The research finds that: (3) the level of inter?pretation plays a mediating role between time scarcity and intertemporal decision-making,that is, the more scarce the individual’s time is, the lower the level of interpretation is, and the more likely he is to make short-sighted intertemporal decision-making. (4) Emotionand level of interpretation play a chain mediating role between time scarcity and level ofinterpretation, that is, time scarcity affects the level of interpretation by reducing positiveemotions, while positive emotions will lead to short-sighted behavior of individuals.In theory, this study is the first to study intertemporal decision-making from the perspective of time scarcity, expanding the scope of intertemporal decision-making research.Secondly, it introduces the social cognitive emotional dual processing theory to explain the mechanism of action between time scarcity and intertemporal decision-making. In practice, the findings of this study have far-reaching implications for individuals and organizations to make effective intertemporal decisions when facing a sense of time scarcity.Individuals can improve their self-awareness by understanding the impact of time scarcityon decision-making, avoiding excessive bias towards immediate benefits, and more rationally considering long-term benefits. For organizations, understanding how time scarcity affects the decision-making behavior of employees and consumers can help develop more effective incentive strategies and communication methods, optimize decision results and resource allocation, and achieve maximum organizational benefits in a time scarce environment.
