Exploring K-Tinder: A Quantitative Study on Motivations and Outcomes of Tinder Usage among South Koreans

With over 100 million downloads, Tinder is the most popular dating app worldwide (Castro & Barrada, 2020, p. 1). According to Yoon (2024), Tinder surpassed all other dating apps in South Korea in 2023, signaling a dramatic shift in the nation's dating customs and highlighting the need for a thorough investigation of the interactions between Western influences and cultural norms in the context of online dating in South Korea. There is currently a research gap about the various reasons why people use dating apps in South Korean contexts because there is so little information about dating apps in the country (Kim et al., 2024, p. 2). Therefore, this study aimed to identify what are the Tinder motivations of South Koreans and how are these related to their offline outcomes. Additionally, it assesses the effectiveness of the Tinder Motive Scale (TMS) by Timmermans and De Caluwé (2017) within a South Korean sample. The study was conducted among South Korean adults older than 18 who completed the online questionnaire (n = 161). In contrast to TMS’s 13-factor structure, an exploratory factor analysis using the Uses and Gratifications Theory as a framework identified eight distinctive Tinder motives among South Koreans. The most prominent motives included enhancing social skills and networks, entertainment and time occupation, and finding love and building relationships. While South Koreans and Western users of Tinder have similar motivations, there are also some differences in the order and combination of these motivations. Tinder is not primarily used in South Korea to form long-term partnerships, as the study found that the motive of relationship-seeking did not significantly predict committed relationships or offline meetups. Rather, there was a strong correlation found between the motivation for sexual experiences and the frequency of casual sexual relationships and offline meetups, which suggests that South Korean society is shifting toward more accepting views on sexual behavior. Despite expectations, the socializing motive did not increase offline friendships or meetups. This is probably because dating apps on mobile devices are still stigmatized in South Korea and there are safety concerns. The results of this study indicate that although the TMS is good at predicting behaviors associated with sex, it is not as good at predicting relationship-seeking and socializing behaviors in the South Korean setting.