The efficiency paradox

A temporal lens into online dating among Chinese immigrants in Canada

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2929967
AutoresManlin Cai (0000-0002-9683-0441, University of British Columbia), Y Qian (0000-0003-2120-5403, University of British Columbia, autor correspondente), Yang Hu (0000-0003-2027-8491, University College London, UK)
Ano2025
Volume42
Fascículo8
Páginas2167-2187
Data de publicação2025-08-01
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Social and Personal Relationships (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0265-4075 • E-ISSN: 1460-3608
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/02654075251339257
PMID40538890
OpenAlexW4409898489
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas41

Online dating is widely assumed to enhance the overall efficiency of relationship formation through expanding the pool of potential partners. Yet little is known about how this presumed efficiency plays out beyond the initial search stage. Although temporal compression (i.e., saving time) is considered central to the notion of efficiency, individuals' lived realities of time and efficiency in online dating remain understudied. Adopting a grounded theory approach to analyzing 31 in-depth interviews with heterosexual Chinese immigrant online daters in Canada, we reveal how time-related expectations and experiences shaped their perceptions of (in)efficiency throughout different stages of online dating. Specifically, our participants started with an efficiency expectation of temporal compression, expecting online dating to save time. As the dating process unfolded, however, they experienced inefficiency through diverse temporalities, including temporal suspension and simultaneity in mediated communication and temporal reconfiguration during modality switching. These experiences contradicted our participants' initial efficiency expectation, prompting some to reevaluate their expectation and develop a preference for temporal slowdown in dating. Our findings highlight an "efficiency paradox" whereby the promise of efficiency not only runs counter to online daters' lived realities but also amplifies perceptions of inefficiency. Foregrounding the voices of racial minority immigrants, our study challenges the commonly envisioned efficiency of online dating and provides new insights into how digital technologies mediate intimate lives through shaping individuals' temporal experiences

Economics · Foregrounding · Immigration · Inefficiency · Perception · Political science · Simultaneity · Temporalities · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · History · Marriage and Sexual Relationships · Psychology · Social Psychology