Nonverbal content and trust: An experiment on digital communication

We experimentally study the eect of the mode of digital communication on the emergence of trust in a principal-agent relationship. We consider three modes of communication that dier in the capacity to transmit nonverbal content: plain text, audio, and video. Communication is pre-play, one-way, and u...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Economic inquiry 2021-04, Vol.59 (4), p.1517-1532
Main Authors: Babutsidze, Zakaria, Hanaki, Nobuyuki, Zylbersztejn, Adam
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Humanities and Social Sciences
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:We experimentally study the eect of the mode of digital communication on the emergence of trust in a principal-agent relationship. We consider three modes of communication that dier in the capacity to transmit nonverbal content: plain text, audio, and video. Communication is pre-play, one-way, and unrestricted, but its verbal content is homogenized across treatments. Overall, both audio and video messages have a positive (and similar) eect on trust as compared to plain text; however, the magnitude of these eects depends on the verbal content of agent's message (promise to act trustworthily vs. no such promise). In all conditions, we observe a positive eect of the agent's promise on the principal's trust. We also report that trust in female principals is sensitive to the availability of nonverbal cues about their partners.
ISSN:0095-2583
1465-7295
DOI:10.1111/ecin.12998