How Online Dating Motivations and Social Networks Affect Warranting Value and Interpersonal Impressions

Abstract: Popular online dating platforms feature self-authored profiles in which users can indicate their relational goals and interests. The ability to easily modify self-generated information raises questions about whether online daters are who they say they are offline. Informed by warranting theory, this experiment examined how online daters’ relational motivations and connections to social networks affect viewers’ authenticity judgments and interpersonal impressions. Results revealed that romantic relationship motives heightened viewers’ anticipated future interaction beliefs, which in turn, bolstered online daters’ perceived authenticity, trustworthiness, and goodwill. Results also demonstrated that connections to online daters’ broader social networks reduced relational uncertainty. Implications for warranting theory and online daters’ profile construction are discussed.