Digital Communication and Swift Trust

Zakaria Babutsidze, Nobuyuki Hanaki and Adam Zylbersztejn
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Adam Zylbersztejn: Univ Lyon, Université Lyon 2, GATE UMR 5824, F-69130 Ecully, France

No 1909, Working Papers from Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon

Abstract: We experimentally study the effect of the mode of digital communication on the emergence of swift trust in a principal-agent relationship. We consider three modes of communication: plain text, audio, and video. Communication is pre-play, one-way, and unrestricted, but its content is homogenized across treatments. Overall, both audio and video messages have a positive (and similar) effect on trust compared to plain text; however, the magnitude of these effects depends on the content of agent’s message (promise to act trustworthily vs. no such promise). In all conditions, we observe a positive effect of the agent’s promise on the principal’s trust. We also find that providing visual cues about the sender promotes trust and helps overcome gender favoritism in females.

Keywords: Digital communication; Trust; Hidden action; Principal-agent relationship; Promise (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C72 D83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-ict, nep-pay and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Digital Communication and Swift Trust (2019)
Working Paper: Digital Communication and Swift Trust (2019)
Working Paper: Digital Communication and Swift Trust (2019)
Working Paper: Digital Communication and Swift Trust (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gat:wpaper:1909

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