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Communication, Expectations, and Trust: An Experiment with Three Media

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  • Anna Lou Abatayo

    (Centre for Geography, Resources, Environment, Energy and Networks, Bocconi University, 20136 Milan, Italy
    Department of Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics, Guelph University, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
    Current address: via Roentgen 1, 20136 Milan, Italy.
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • John Lynham

    (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Katerina Sherstyuk

    (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

We studied how communication media affect trust game play. Three popular media were considered: traditional face-to-face, Facebook groups, and anonymous online chat. We considered post-communication changes in players’ expectations and preferences, and further analyzed the contents of group communications to understand the channels though which communication appears to improve trust and trustworthiness. For senders, the social, emotional, and game-relevant contents of communication all matter, significantly influencing both their expectations of fair return and preferences towards receivers. Receivers increased trustworthiness is mostly explained by their adherence to the norm of sending back a fair share of the amount received. These results do not qualitatively differ among the three communication media; while face-to-face had the largest volume of messages, all three media proved equally effective in enhancing trust and trustworthiness.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Lou Abatayo & John Lynham & Katerina Sherstyuk, 2020. "Communication, Expectations, and Trust: An Experiment with Three Media," Games, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-26, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jgames:v:11:y:2020:i:4:p:48-:d:435846
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    Cited by:

    1. Caleb A. Cox & Brock Stoddard, 2021. "Experiments on Communication in Games: Introduction to the Special Issue," Games, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-2, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    communication technology; laboratory experiments; trust games; content analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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