He Loves the One He Has Invested in: The Effects of Mating Cues on Men’s and Women’s Sunk Cost Bias
Prof. Hao SUN
Tenure-Track Associate Professor
School of Management
University of Science and Technology of China
Date: 16 January 2026 (Friday)
Time: 10:30-12:00
Venue: E22-2015
Host: Prof. Esther LIU, Assistant Professor in Marketing
Abstract
The sunk cost bias, i.e., people’s suboptimal tendency to continue to pursue previously invested options, has been found in many domains, and various mechanisms have been proposed. The current study offers a novel perspective for understanding sunk cost bias. Drawing on previous findings suggesting that sunk cost bias may be adaptive and promoted by fundamental motives, it is theorized that sunk cost bias may be a goal-oriented behavior in the mating domain and that this bias can extend to consumption domains (e.g., product/service with nonrefundable deposits, lotteries earned through prior effort, loyalty program memberships obtained through previous purchases) when mating cues are salient. One field study and seven experiments (six of which were pre-registered) demonstrated that mating cues strengthen an implemental mindset among men (vs. women). Consequently, men exhibit a stronger sunk cost bias in consumption when mating cues are salient. However, this effect was not found among women due to differences in their mating tactics. In addition, this paper distinguishes sunk cost effect from status quo bias and rules out multiple alternative explanations for the results (including affect, overconfidence, the investment-payoff link, persistence, perceived morality, shame, guilt, and disgust associated with abandoning the original option).
Speaker
Prof. Hao SUN is a Tenure-Track Associate Professor at the Faculty of Business for Science & Technology / School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). His research focuses on consumer psychology and behavior, supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and several USTC research grants. His work has been published in Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Business Ethics, Psychology & Marketing, and Journal of Consumer Affairs, and presented at major conferences including ACR, EMAC, APMA, JMS, CMAU, MSI, and CMIC.
All are welcome!
