{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.024108003857280617, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 5.696774193548387, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
The Jilting Effect: Antecedents, Mechanisms, and Consequences for Preference

This research explores how the experience of a jilt—the anticipation and subsequent inaccessibility of a highly desirable, aspirant option—influences preference for incumbent and non-incumbent options. The authors conceptualize jilting as a multi-stage process, which consists of a pre-jilt anticipatory phase that is initiated on the introduction of an aspirant option and a post-jilt phase that is initiated when the aspirant option becomes inaccessible. They show that during the anticipatory phase, a process of denigration specific to the incumbent option is engendered. The subsequent jilt elicits a negative emotional response. During the affectively charged post-jilt phase, preference shifts away from the now-denigrated incumbent option, yielding a jilting effect. In four field and laboratory studies, the authors establish this jilting effect, rule out alternative accounts, and discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of the findings.