Propose with a Rose? Signaling in Internet Dating Markets /
The large literature on costly signaling and the somewhat scant literature on preference signaling had varying success in showing the effectiveness of signals. We use a field experiment to show that even when everyone can send a signal, signals are free and the only costs are opportunity costs, send...
Gespeichert in:
- 1. Verfasser:
- Körperschaft:
- Weitere Verfasser:
- , ,
- Format:
- Elektronisch E-Book
- Sprache:
- Englisch
- Veröffentlicht:
-
Cambridge, Mass.
National Bureau of Economic Research
2011.
- Zusammenfassung:
-
The large literature on costly signaling and the somewhat scant literature on preference signaling had varying success in showing the effectiveness of signals. We use a field experiment to show that even when everyone can send a signal, signals are free and the only costs are opportunity costs, sending a signal increases the chances of success. In an online dating experiment, participants can attach "virtual roses" to a proposal to signal special interest in another participant. We find that attaching a rose to an offer substantially increases the chance of acceptance. This effect is driven by an increase in the acceptance rate when the offer is made to a participant who is less desirable than the proposer. Furthermore, participants endowed with more roses have more of their offers accepted than their counterparts.
- Umfang:
- 1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);
- Anmerkungen:
- August 2011.
- Schlagworte: