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26-11-2021

Chooser or suitor? The effects of mating cues on men’s versus women’s reactions to commercial rejection

Authors: Rui Chen, Hao Shen, Chun-Ming Yang

Published in: Marketing Letters | Issue 4/2022

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Abstract

Men are more likely than women to pursue a romantic relationship; thus, men might also be more prepared than women to face rejection. In this research, we suggest that a mating goal might induce a low treatment expectation in men when they seek a romantic relationship and that this motivation can be generalized as a commercial treatment expectation in a marketing context to alleviate men’s negative response to commercial rejection. However, this effect might not occur for women, who have relatively high status when seeking a romantic relationship. Three studies examined these possibilities and showed that activating a mating goal may cause men to respond to commercial rejection less negatively but may not influence women’s response to commercial rejection and that commercial treatment expectation mediates these effects.

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Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Chooser or suitor? The effects of mating cues on men’s versus women’s reactions to commercial rejection
Authors
Rui Chen
Hao Shen
Chun-Ming Yang
Publication date
26-11-2021
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Marketing Letters / Issue 4/2022
Print ISSN: 0923-0645
Electronic ISSN: 1573-059X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-021-09594-4