Title: Online dating platforms - and their link to responsible leadership and uncertainty avoidance - the key impact of imagination

Authors: Ursula Schinzel

Addresses: Unicaf University, Old International Airport, 7130 Larnaca, P.O. Box 42572, 6500 Larnaca, Cyprus

Abstract: This research investigates how to make online dating platforms more responsible and acceptable as a means of not only romantic dating, but also of friending and networking. Thus, we also investigate the link between 'responsible leadership' and 'online dating platforms'. Following Hofstede's cultural dimension 'uncertainty avoidance' and Santaro's 'imagination' (Santoro et al., 2018), it shows new concepts for the future, new methods of collaboration, friending, networking, and recruiting where everybody and everything is connected and intertwined, allowing for unlimited imagination and creativity, where everything is possible, without any limitations. The author performed 235 interviews about online dating platforms from 2020 until 2022 and 15 interviews about responsible leadership in 2022. Respondents were contacted on online dating platforms first in writing, then by telephone and later in person, asking them mainly what they lie about or not. Data analyses, implications, and discussions are followed by exploring further research opportunities.

Keywords: online dating platforms; lies; imagination; responsible leadership; Hofstede's cultural dimension uncertainty avoidance; digitalisation; ICT.

DOI: 10.1504/GBER.2025.148314

Global Business and Economics Review, 2025 Vol.33 No.3/4, pp.321 - 338

Received: 08 Feb 2023
Accepted: 09 Oct 2023
Published online: 02 Sep 2025 *

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