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A Demonstration Of The Utility Of Formalizing Theory: Mapping, Evaluating, And Testing The Theory Of Devaluation Of Alternatives, Rebecca Koessler

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Devaluation of alternatives is often identified as a key relationship maintenance strategy that is used to combat the threat of attractive alternatives. However, since the theory was proposed by Johnson and Rusbult (1989), few efforts have been dedicated to evaluating the progression of the theory and assessing the quantity and quality of the existing evidence that claims to corroborate it. The present research fulfilled this need by formalizing the theory of devaluation of alternatives using a metatheoretical approach that involved categorization, deconstruction, reconstruction via theory mapping, and evaluation (Chapter 2). P-curve meta-analyses were used to determine whether p-hacking …