TY - JOUR
T1 - Why settle when there are plenty of fish in the sea? Rusbult’s investment model applied to online dating
AU - Sharabi, Liesel L.
AU - Timmermans, Elisabeth
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank Jordan Coddington and Christiana Robey for their assistance with coding, as well as the editor and anonymous reviewers for their feedback and suggestions. The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - The current mixed-methods study reports the results of a cross-sectional survey of 205 online daters and uses the Investment Model to examine the antecedents of commitment in online dating and users’ decisions to delete their online dating account(s). We hypothesized that the quality of alternatives, investments, and satisfaction with the online dating relationship would mediate the association between online dating intensity and commitment, which, in turn, would predict the intention to terminate an account. The analyses revealed that online dating intensity was associated with greater commitment and a lower likelihood of account termination. There were also specific indirect effects on commitment through the quality of alternatives, investments, and satisfaction, and on termination through investments. Responses to an open-ended question provided more information about users’ decisions to quit online dating. These results point to ways online dating may facilitate the desire for commitment while potentially undermining the long-term stability of relationships.
AB - The current mixed-methods study reports the results of a cross-sectional survey of 205 online daters and uses the Investment Model to examine the antecedents of commitment in online dating and users’ decisions to delete their online dating account(s). We hypothesized that the quality of alternatives, investments, and satisfaction with the online dating relationship would mediate the association between online dating intensity and commitment, which, in turn, would predict the intention to terminate an account. The analyses revealed that online dating intensity was associated with greater commitment and a lower likelihood of account termination. There were also specific indirect effects on commitment through the quality of alternatives, investments, and satisfaction, and on termination through investments. Responses to an open-ended question provided more information about users’ decisions to quit online dating. These results point to ways online dating may facilitate the desire for commitment while potentially undermining the long-term stability of relationships.
KW - Account termination
KW - Rusbult’s Investment Model
KW - commitment
KW - computer-mediated relationship development
KW - online dating
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U2 - 10.1177/1461444820937660
DO - 10.1177/1461444820937660
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85087757269
SN - 1461-4448
VL - 23
SP - 2926
EP - 2946
JO - New Media and Society
JF - New Media and Society
IS - 10
ER -