The Determinants of Trusting and Reciprocal Behaviour: Evidence from an Intercultural Experiment (original) (raw)
Trust and Reciprocity: An International Experiment
2001
This paper identifies contexts in which trust and reciprocation are likely to arise. Using an experimental trust game we examine the influence of country, social distance and communication on trust and reciprocation in China, Japan, Korea, and the United States. We find mixed support for the commonly-accepted negative relationship between trust and social distance across the four countries. While social distance has the expected effect in the US, its effects internationally are more complex. We also show that even irrelevant communication influences game behavior, but that it is personal discussion rather than impersonal, that produces significantly higher levels of trust.
American Journal of Sociology, 2002
In four countries, levels of trust and reciprocity in direct-reciprocal exchange are compared with those in network-generalized exchanges among experimentally manipulated groups' members (neighbors) or random experimental participants (strangers). Results show that cooperation decreases as social distance increases; and, that identical network-generalized exchanges generate different amounts of trusting behavior due solely to manipulated social identity between the actors. This study demonstrates the interaction of culture and social identity on the propensity to trust and reciprocate and also reveals differing relationships between trust and reciprocation in each of the four countries, bringing into question the theoretical relationship between these cooperative behaviors.
Norms of Reciprocation Exhibited by Polish Students in the Trust Game: Experimental Results
ACTA UNIVERSITATIS LODZIENSIS. FOLIA OECONOMICA, 2016
Norms of reciprocity and the level of generalised trust are components of the social capital of a society, which is argued to be associated with economic growth. This article presents results from a large scale study of Polish students based on the Trust Game, in which an initiator and respondent can obtain mutual benefits when the initiator exhibits trust in the respondent, who then expresses positive reciprocity. Based on these results, we investigate norms of positive reciprocation within the Polish student community. Analysis indicates that a large proportion of students seem to use one of four simple norms of reciprocation. In statistical terms, the level of reciprocation is rather well reflected in the expectations of the initiators.
Trust, trustworthiness, relational goods and social capital: a cross-country economic analysis
2011
For a sample of 34 countries, this paper examines the impact that relational goods have on trust and, more specifically, trustworthiness; that is the degree of trust placed in others. Relational goods emanate from social interactions, which can be viewed as underpinning the development of social capital in the sense of helping to form trust in society. The relational goods examined comprise both informal activities such as meeting with family and friends, as well as more formal but voluntary association connected with participation in cultural, political, civic, sport and religious organisations. As the measure of trust comprises an ordered variable, a variety of ordered estimators are applied to the data, including attempts to account for the countryspecific grouping of observation and, as a consequence, unobserved heterogeneity. The results suggest that whilst informal relational activities tend to generate trustworthiness, consistent with the concept of 'thick' trust, along with cultural and civic association and frequent political association, there is less evidence that sports does. In addition, the results suggest that religious association can actually reduce trustworthiness along with less frequent political association. Therefore, the results suggest, that it is the type and frequency of associational activity that contributes to the development of trustworthiness, rather than its existence per se. JEL Classification Codes: D60, I31, C25
Journal of Economic Psychology, 2003
We compare the results of a one-shot investment game, studied earlier by Berg & al (1995), for France and Germany. In this game, player A is the trustor and player B the trustee. The average level of investment is significantly larger in Germany, but the level of reciprocity is not significantly different between the two countries. This implies that German B-players earned significantly more than French B-players. Furthermore, in both countries B-players earned significantly more than A-players. Our results support Fukuyama's conjecture that the level of trust is higher in Germany than in France, a situation which can explain a higher rate of investment and a higher level of performance. However, our results also show that the increased revenue which is attributable to the higher level of trust, is not shared in a more equitable way, but essentially increases B-players' payoffs. Finally, based on an intercultural trust experiment, we show that French A subjects did not find German B subjects less trustworthy and German A subjects did not find French B subjects less trustworthy.
The Economic Impacts of Altruism, Trust and Reciprocity: An Experimental Approach to Social Capital
Research Papers in Economics, 2002
This paper experimentally measures the ‘social capital’ of altruism, trust and reciprocity and empirically explores the impact of these norms on economic well-being. Using an experimental economic design that distinguishes trust and reciprocity from altruism, data were collected from individuals in a random sample of South African communities. Analyzed at the community level, these data suggest that while related, trust and reci
Assessing Trust Through Social Capital? A Possible Experimental Answer
American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 2012
Trust is an important variable in economics, as several transactions are based on it; unfortunately it is difficult to measure. The recent economic literature on social capital shows a positive association between this concept and trust. As social capital is easier to measure than trust is, this paper analyzes the possibility of assessing trust measuring social capital using experimental economics. A basic trust game is played in three Western European countries with undergraduate students; a questionnaire measures their level of social capital, as time spent within social networks. This measure is stronger and more precise than the ones generally used. In particular this paper firstly measures social capital as the intensity of a membership to a voluntary organization, while the extant literature generally considers only the membership per se. Secondly the use of an experiment instead of a questionnaire allows for constructiong a measure of trust which is in principle continuous. Thirdly to play an experiment allows for observing the behaviour of the participants better than by the means of a survey. The results are supportive of the fact that trust can be assessed through social capital, although the presence of a strong geographical effect has to be accounted for.
MEASURES OF SOCIAL CAPITAL AND TRUST ξ
2007
Trust and trustworthiness are important components of social capital and much attention has been devoted to the problems of their correct evaluation. Attitudinal survey questions as reported in the EVS -European Value Survey -are often regarded as inefficient indicators of trust, since they lack of behavioural underpinnings (Putnam, 1995) which one might desire when measuring trust.
What is Social Capital? The Determinants of Trust and Trustworthiness
1999
Using a sample of Harvard undergraduates, we analyze trust and social capital in two experiments. Trusting behavior and trustworthiness rise with social connection; differences in race and nationality reduce the level of trustworthiness. Certain individuals appear to be persistently more trusting, but these people do not say they are more trusting in surveys. Survey questions about trust predict trustworthiness not trust. Only children are less trustworthy. People behave in a more trustworthy manner towards higher status individuals, and therefore status increases earnings in the experiment. As such, high status persons can be said to have more social capital.