Algorithm awareness in online dating: associations with mate-searching difficulty and future expectancies among U.S. online daters

Junwen M. Hu and Emily (Shuo) Zhan

Behaviour and Information Technology, 2024, vol. 43, issue 16, 4045-4060

Abstract: Prior research has produced contradictory findings regarding online daters’ potential to navigate the algorithmic systems to find compatible matches. Drawing upon a structuration algorithm media effects model, we examine whether online daters with a higher level of algorithm awareness experience less online mate-searching difficulty and report more optimism and hope after using online dating services. Analysing data from a national representative sample of American online daters (N = 871), we found that, in general, algorithm awareness was negatively related to mate-searching difficulty, which was negatively related to optimism but not hope. In addition, the relationship between algorithm awareness and mate-searching difficulty was stronger among female users than male users in our sample. The findings suggest a potentially positive role of algorithm awareness in promoting immediate online mate-searching experience on current dating platforms used by American online daters. We further discuss the implications on the role of algorithm awareness and positive immediate mate-searching experience in relation to more long-term outcomes, which calls for a dialectic view of algorithm awareness and immediate online success.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2023.2299297

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