The “Mail-Order-Bride” (MOB) Phenomenon in the Cyberworld: An Interpretive Investigation

Information technology (IT) is often an enabler in bringing people together. In the context of this study, IT helps connect matchmaking service providers with those looking for love, particularly when a male seeks to meet and possibly marry a female from another country: a process which results in over 16,500 such ‘mail-order-bride’ (MOB) marriages a year in the United States alone. Past research in business disciplines has been largely silent about the way in which this process unfolds, the perspectives of the participants at different points of time, and the role of IT underlying the MOB matchmaking service. Adopting an interpretivist stance, and utilizing some of the methodological guidelines associated with the Grounded Theory Methodology (GTM), we develop a process model which highlights: a) the key states of the process through which the relationship between the MOB seeker (the man) and the MOB (the woman) unfolds, b) the transitions between states, and c) the triggering conditions for the transitions from one state to another. This study also highlights key motivations of the individuals participating in the MOB process, the effect of power and the role it plays in the dynamics of the relationships, the status of women and how their status evolves during the MOB process, and the unique affordance provided by IT as the relationships evolve.