1. Rai University
* Corresponding author.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22073624
Received: 13 Aug. 2026 / Revised: 15 Aug. 2026 / Accepted: 18 Aug. 2026 / Published: 23 Aug. 2026
Attention Economy; Attention Scarcity; Digital Platforms; Attention Monetisation; Consumer Engagement; Conceptual Framework
Digital technologies have expanded the supply of information well beyond what individuals can process. Human attention, constrained by finite time and cognitive limits, has therefore become a contested resource that platforms, advertisers, creators and firms compete to obtain. Research on attention is well developed within economics, cognitive psychology, marketing, information systems and media studies, yet it remains dispersed. What is underdeveloped is an integrative account of how attention moves from a scarce human capacity to an observable behavioural resource, becomes convertible into different forms of economic value and simultaneously generates social externalities. This conceptual paper develops such an account. It first specifies five properties that qualify attention as an economic resource and then sets out a seven-stage framework tracing information abundance through attention scarcity, capture, allocation, engagement, behavioural signals, conversion and value creation. The framework is cyclical rather than linear: behavioural data generated at Stage 5 feeds back into capture at Stage 2. A parallel pathway records externalities that remain unpriced in the private return. The paper addresses recent cognitive-science objections to treating attention as a unified allocable resource and defines the framework at the level of observable behaviour accordingly. Five propositions are advanced for empirical testing. The framework proposes that economic value is likely to depend more strongly on attention quality and convertibility than on attention volume alone.
Keywords: attention economy; attention scarcity; digital platforms; attention monetisation; consumer engagement; conceptual framework
Anand, A. (2026). Attention as an Economic Resource: An Integrative Conceptual Framework. TRB Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (TRBJMR), 1(1), 58–73. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22073624