We’re Not That Choosy: Emerging Evidence of a Progression Bias in Romantic Relationships

Dating is widely thought of as a test phase for romantic relationships, during which new romantic partners carefully evaluate each other for long-term fit. However, this cultural narrative assumes that people are well equipped to reject poorly suited partners. In this article, we argue that humans are biased toward pro-relationship decisions—decisions that favor the initiation, advancement, and maintenance of romantic relationships. We first review evidence for a progression bias in the context of relationship initiation, investment, and breakup decisions. We next consider possible theoretical underpinnings—both evolutionary and cultural—that may explain why getting into a relationship is often easier than getting out of one, and why being in a less desirable relationship is often preferred over being in no relationship at all. We discuss potential boundary conditions that the phenomenon may have, as well as its implications for existing theoretical models of mate selection and relationship development.

We're not that choosy: Emerging evidence of a progression bias in romantic relationships

Dating is widely thought of as a test phase for romantic relationships, during which new romantic partners carefully evaluate each other for long-term fit. However, this cultural narrative assumes that people are well-equipped to reject poorly suited partners. In this paper, we argue that humans are biased toward pro-relationship decisions: decisions that favor the initiation, advancement, and maintenance of romantic relationships. We first review evidence for a progression bias in the context of relationship initiation, investment, and breakup decisions. We next consider possible theoretical underpinnings—both evolutionary and cultural—that may explain why getting into a relationship is often easier than getting out of one, and why being in a less desirable relationship is often preferred over being in no relationship at all. We discuss potential boundary conditions that the phenomenon may have, as well as its implications for existing theoretical models of mate selection and relationship development.

Rethinking lurking: invisible leading and following in a knowledge transfer ecosystem

© 2015, Association for Information Systems. All rights reserved. The term lurker connotes a low-value role in online communities. Despite making up the majority of members, these invisible individuals are often cast as peripheral players who should be encouraged to participate more fully. We argue that the lurker concept is problematic and that online communities, and the roles associated with them, need to be reconceptualized. We report on a study of online communities in a New Zealand professional development program. We found that two knowledge broker types played key roles in transferring knowledge: connector-leaders, who had a strong online presence, and follower-feeders, who communicated largely invisibly, via side-channels. Despite their different online profiles, both brokers used “lurking” purposively to perform two sets of invisible online activities: managing the knowledge agenda, and mentoring/being mentored. These activities supported their roles as leaders and followers, and sustained a symbiotic relationship. Decisions to “lurk” arose from the need for these brokers to negotiate diverse boundaries: the boundaries of micro-culture associated with communication contexts, the theory-practice boundary, role boundaries, and the online-offline boundary. Combining the concept of polycontextuality with boundary spanning theory, we propose an alternative way of understanding both lurking and online communities: the three-tier knowledge transfer ecosystem (KTE), a system of engagement spaces comprising diverse online and offline contexts in which individuals make continual decisions to cross between less- or more-visible settings. The study illustrates how key phenomena may remain invisible without a shift in level of analysis, and how using an anachronistic concept to frame a study can unintentionally constrain its value.

Rethinking lurking: invisible leading and following in a knowledge transfer ecosystem

© 2015, Association for Information Systems. All rights reserved. The term lurker connotes a low-value role in online communities. Despite making up the majority of members, these invisible individuals are often cast as peripheral players who should be encouraged to participate more fully. We argue that the lurker concept is problematic and that online communities, and the roles associated with them, need to be reconceptualized. We report on a study of online communities in a New Zealand professional development program. We found that two knowledge broker types played key roles in transferring knowledge: connector-leaders, who had a strong online presence, and follower-feeders, who communicated largely invisibly, via side-channels. Despite their different online profiles, both brokers used “lurking” purposively to perform two sets of invisible online activities: managing the knowledge agenda, and mentoring/being mentored. These activities supported their roles as leaders and followers, and sustained a symbiotic relationship. Decisions to “lurk” arose from the need for these brokers to negotiate diverse boundaries: the boundaries of micro-culture associated with communication contexts, the theory-practice boundary, role boundaries, and the online-offline boundary. Combining the concept of polycontextuality with boundary spanning theory, we propose an alternative way of understanding both lurking and online communities: the three-tier knowledge transfer ecosystem (KTE), a system of engagement spaces comprising diverse online and offline contexts in which individuals make continual decisions to cross between less- or more-visible settings. The study illustrates how key phenomena may remain invisible without a shift in level of analysis, and how using an anachronistic concept to frame a study can unintentionally constrain its value.

Stock Price Crashes and Auditors’ Client-Retention Decisions

This study examines auditor resignations around a client firm’s stock price crash. Overall, the study suggests that a firm’s crash risk is one of the key factors influencing auditors’ client-retention decisions. A stock price crash increases the likelihood of lawsuits and financial restatements in the future. After controlling for risk factors that contribute to resignation decisions, I document a positive association between auditor resignations and stock price crashes. Further findings indicate that auditor size affects auditor–client relationship decisions before a crash occurs: Big auditors tend to resign more often from client firms with high crash risk compared with smaller auditors. However, auditor size becomes irrelevant once a crash occurs, as the client firms then become risky clients to both large and small auditors. This study therefore provides evidence that auditors of different sizes face different incentives to alter their relationship prior to a stock price crash and that these incentives change following a crash.

The impact of effectuation on small firm buying decisions

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consider the effect of effectuation logic on the buying intentions of small firm owner-managers. Design/methodology/approach Literature relating to organisational buying, marketing and personal selling and entrepreneurial decision making was synthesised. Findings This paper presents a conceptual model based on propositions relating to how effectuation logic may explain the predilection of small firm owner-managers to select trusted suppliers from within personal and business networks, and to engage on flexible terms. It suggests that supplier relationship decisions made using effectuation logic may enable wider choice of suppliers than the formal processes of large firms. Research limitations/implications The findings were developed from a narrative review of literature and are yet to be empirically tested. Originality/value By synthesising research findings on small firm buyer behaviour, the IMP interaction approach and effectuation, it has been possible to develop a predictive model representing buyer–seller relationships in the context of small firms which suggests that owner-managers select suppliers in line with the principles of effectuation means and effectuation affordable loss.

The Economics of Families and Health

An individual’s health is produced in large part by family investments that start before birth and continue to the end of life. The health of an individual is intertwined with practically every economic decision including education, marriage, fertility, labor market, and investments. These outcomes in turn affect income and wealth and hence have implications for intergenerational transfer of economic advantage or disadvantage. A rich body of theoretical and empirical work considers the role of the family in health production over the life cycle and the role of health in household economic decisions. This literature starts by considering family inputs regarding health at birth, then moves through adolescence and midlife, where relationship decisions affect health. After midlife, health, particularly the health of family members, becomes an input into retirement and investment decisions. The literature on family and health showcases economists’ skills in modeling complex family dynamics, deriving theoretical predictions, and using clever econometric strategies to identify causal effects.

Social Influence and Intentional Social Action in Dyadic Relationship Decisions under a Key Informant Methodology

Drawing upon seminal and recent foundations of joint-decision making and social influence, we develop a model of dyadic relationships and test it in a family consumption context. Three kinds of social influence – social identity, group norms, and mutual expectations—were used to explain shared intentions to eat together in a restaurant with one’s family. Shared intentions in turn, were found to significantly predict behavior a month later. One hundred and fifty husbands and their wives provided data. A multi-trait, multimethod matrix design was employed to establish construct validity of measures, and structural equation models were applied to test hypotheses, while explicitly controlling for random and systematic error. Prevention regulatory focus was found to moderate the effect of mutual expectations on shared intentions.

Intervening Earlier: An Upstream Approach to Improving Relationship Quality

Relationship quality has far-reaching consequences for health and well-being. To date, large-scale efforts to improve relationship quality have targeted established relationships. However, a novel approach would be to target relationships much earlier. Investment-based programs would intervene (on a voluntary basis) before partners become strongly tied to one another (i.e., within the first few months of “official” dating) and help people to avoid investing in relationships that they might later decide are wrong for them. Selection-based programs would intervene before an official dating relationship has formed, perhaps by helping people to identify especially compatible partners from within their network of friends and acquaintances. To develop such interventions, researchers must (a) identify when important relationship experiences (e.g., perceived responsiveness, capitalization, and sexual satisfaction) become reliably predictive of long-term outcomes and (b) identify how this information could be better incorporated into early relationship decisions. Overall, efforts to facilitate the initial formation and development of high-quality relationships may hold promising, untested potential.

“Should I stay or should I go?” Understanding the noninvolved partner’s decision-making process following infidelity

Two studies were conducted to test a conceptual model that expands upon the roles of attribution and forgiveness after a partner’s infidelity by integrating concepts from social network approval and attribution information selection (AIS) to examine how noninvolved partners in dating relationships decide to stay in or leave their relationships. Using a serial mediation model, we examined whether perceived social network approval was indirectly related to noninvolved partners’ relationship decisions sequentially through AIS, attributions, and forgiveness after a hypothetical infidelity (Study 1) and an actual infidelity (Study 2). In Study 1, 198 participants imagined their partners cheated on them and then were randomly assigned into one of two groups for a social network manipulation. In Study 2, 115 participants whose partners had recently engaged in infidelity reported on their experiences. Both studies supported the serial decision-making model, indicating that perceived social network approval, AIS, attributions, and forgiveness serially impact noninvolved partners’ relationship decisions following infidelity.