Job Prestige and Mobile Dating Success: A Field Experiment

Brecht Neyt, Stijn Baert and Jana Vynckier
Additional contact information
Jana Vynckier: Ghent University

No 12746, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Research exploiting data on classic (offline) couple formation has confirmed predictions from evolutionary psychology in a sense that males attach more value to attractiveness and women attach more value to earnings potential. We examine whether these human partner preferences survive in a context of fewer search and social frictions. We do this by means of a field experiment on the mobile dating app Tinder, which takes a central place in contemporary couple formation. Thirty-two fictitious Tinder profiles that randomly differ in job status and job prestige are evaluated by 4,800 other, real users. We find that both males and females do not use job status or job prestige as a determinant of whom to show initial interest in on Tinder. However, we do see evidence that, after this initial phase, males less frequently begin a conversation with females when those females are unemployed but also then do not care about the particular job prestige of employed females.

Keywords: online dating; job prestige; partner preferences; dating apps; Tinder (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 J12 J13 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2019-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-lab and nep-pay
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published - revised version published in: De Economist , 2022, 170, 435 - 458

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Related works:
Journal Article: Job Prestige and Mobile Dating Success: A Field Experiment (2022)
Working Paper: Job Prestige and Mobile Dating Success:A Field Experiment (2019)
Working Paper: Job Prestige and Mobile Dating Success: A Field Experiment (2019)
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