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Social Influence in Trustors' Neighborhoods

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  • Luigi Luini
  • Annamaria Nese
  • Patrizia Sbriglia

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to ascertain whether trust is affected by contagion and herding in small groups of trustors who can observe each other’s choices over time. We account for three important factors of trustors’preferences, namely: risk attitude, generosity and expected trustworthiness. Using our data, we test the basic hypothesis that an individual's propensity to trust recipients in the Trust Game may be affected by the observed behavior of other trustors. Our results confirm that trust is affected by contagion effects. Furthermore, we find that specific types of agents (generous or untrusting) frequently imitate the same type when placed in the same group. Finally, we find that untrusting individuals are less affected by their peers compared to generous individuals, and that they are less prone to imitation when placed in groups of agents who have the same characteristics.

Suggested Citation

  • Luigi Luini & Annamaria Nese & Patrizia Sbriglia, 2012. "Social Influence in Trustors' Neighborhoods," Labsi Experimental Economics Laboratory University of Siena 040, University of Siena.
    • Handle: RePEc:usi:labsit:040
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    Cited by:

    1. van den Akker, Olmo R. & van Assen, Marcel A.L.M. & van Vugt, Mark & Wicherts, Jelte M., 2020. "Sex differences in trust and trustworthiness: A meta-analysis of the trust game and the gift-exchange game," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    trust game; experiments; social influence; imitation.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior

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