Residential Mobility and Low-Commitment Groups

Oishi, S., Talhelm, T., Lee, M., Komiya, A., & Akutsu, S. (2015). Residential mobility and low-commitment groups. Archives of Scientific Psychology, 3(1), 54–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/arc0000013

32 Pages Posted: 21 Sep 2020

See all articles by Shigehiro Oishi

Shigehiro Oishi

University of Virginia - Psychology

Thomas Talhelm

University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Minha Lee

Sungkyunkwan University

Asuka Komiya

Hiroshima University

Satoshi Akutsu

Hitotsubashi University

Date Written: 2015

Abstract

Why are megachurches (at least 2,000 attendees in weekend services) and Meetup groups (www.meetup.com) more popular in some cities or states than others? Our answer: residential mobility (when people move a lot, they like groups that are easy to join and easy to leave; they might move again soon, so they cannot commit to 1 group). As predicted, we found that there are more megachurches in residentially mobile states than in stable states. We also found that there are more Meetup groups in residentially mobile cities than stable cities (population and median income being equal). We also found that low-commitment, short-term Internet plans (low initial set-up fee, low penalty of breaking the contract, but higher monthly fee) are more popular in residentially mobile areas than in stable areas. In the final study, we also found that college students who had moved a lot joined low-commitment student clubs more than students who had not moved.

Keywords: residential mobility, commitment, social style, megachurches, groups

Suggested Citation

Oishi, Shigehiro and Talhelm, Thomas and Lee, Minha and Komiya, Asuka and Akutsu, Satoshi, Residential Mobility and Low-Commitment Groups (2015). Oishi, S., Talhelm, T., Lee, M., Komiya, A., & Akutsu, S. (2015). Residential mobility and low-commitment groups. Archives of Scientific Psychology, 3(1), 54–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/arc0000013, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3669076 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3669076

Shigehiro Oishi

University of Virginia - Psychology ( email )

United States

Thomas Talhelm (Contact Author)

University of Chicago Booth School of Business ( email )

5807 South Woodlawn Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.chicagobooth.edu/faculty/directory/t/thomas-talhelm

Minha Lee

Sungkyunkwan University ( email )

Asuka Komiya

Hiroshima University ( email )

Higashihiroshima, 739-0046
Japan

Satoshi Akutsu

Hitotsubashi University

2-1 Naka Kunitachi-shi
Tokyo 186-8601
Japan

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