Nonverbal Content and Trust: An Experiment on Digital Communication

Babutsidze, Zakaria; Hanaki, Nobuyuki; Zylbersztejn, Adam

Nonverbal Content and Trust: An Experiment on Digital Communication

Babutsidze, Zakaria; Hanaki, Nobuyuki; Zylbersztejn, Adam

Institute of Social and Economic Research Discussion Papers, 2021, 1128, 1-62

Number of Access:191（2025-05-02 13:18 Counts）

Identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/11094/79418

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Title	Nonverbal Content and Trust: An Experiment on Digital Communication
Creator	CreatorName Babutsidze, Zakaria
	NRID 1000070400611 1000070400611 ORCID 0000-0003-3127-690X 0000-0003-3127-690X researchmap permalink nhanaki nhanaki Scopus Author ID 16233221700 16233221700 CreatorName Hanaki, Nobuyuki
	CreatorName Zylbersztejn, Adam
Subject	Digital communication
	Trust
	Hidden action
	Nonverbal content
	Principal-agent relationship
	Promises
Abstract	We experimentally study the effect of the mode of digital communication on the emergence of trust in a principal-agent relationship. We consider three modes of communication that differ 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) effect on trust as compared to plain text; however, the magnitude of these effects depends on the verbal 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 report that trust in female principals is sensitive to the availability of nonverbal cues about their partners.
Publisher	The Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University
Source Title	Institute of Social and Economic Research Discussion Papers
Volume (Issue)	1128
Page	1-62
Date of Issued	2021-04
Language	English
Handle URL	https://hdl.handle.net/11094/79418
PISSN	0473453X
eISSN	24350982
Relation.references	URI https://www.iser.osaka-u.ac.jp/library/dp/2021/DP1128.pdf
Access Rights	metadata only access
Category	ディスカッション／ワーキング・ペーパー DP/WP
Category	Institute of Social and Economic Research Discussion Papers

Resource Type	technical report
Local Type	DP/WP
DCMI Type	Text
DCTERMS.bibliographicCitation	Institute of Social and Economic Research Discussion Papers. 2021, 1128, p. 1-62
DC.title	Nonverbal Content and Trust: An Experiment on Digital Communication
DC.creator	Babutsidze, Zakaria
	Hanaki, Nobuyuki
	Zylbersztejn, Adam
DC.publisher	The Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University
DC.language' scheme='DCTERMS.RFC1766	English
DC.type' scheme='DCTERMS.DCMIType	Text
DCTERMS.issued' scheme='DCTERMS.W3CDTF	2021-04
DC.relation' scheme='DCTERMS.URI	https://www.iser.osaka-u.ac.jp/library/dp/2021/DP1128.pdf
DC.subject	Digital communication
	Trust
	Hidden action
	Nonverbal content
	Principal-agent relationship
	Promises
DCTERMS.abstract	We experimentally study the effect of the mode of digital communication on the emergence of trust in a principal-agent relationship. We consider three modes of communication that differ 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) effect on trust as compared to plain text; however, the magnitude of these effects depends on the verbal 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 report that trust in female principals is sensitive to the availability of nonverbal cues about their partners.
DC.format	79418
citation_title	Nonverbal Content and Trust: An Experiment on Digital Communication
citation_author	Babutsidze, Zakaria
	Hanaki, Nobuyuki
	Zylbersztejn, Adam
citation_publisher	The Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University
citation_language	English
citation_date	2021-04
citation_journal_title	Institute of Social and Economic Research Discussion Papers
citation_volume	1128
citation_firstpage	1
citation_lastpage	62
citation_public_url	https://hdl.handle.net/11094/79418
citation_abstract_html_url	https://www.iser.osaka-u.ac.jp/library/dp/2021/DP1128.pdf

Nonverbal Content and Trust: An Experiment on Digital Communication

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