10.1184/R1/6571556.v1
Roberto A. Weber
Roberto A.
Weber
Bill McEvily
Bill
McEvily
Joseph R. Radzevick
Joseph R.
Radzevick
Who Do You Distrust and How Much Does it Cost? An Experiment on the Measurement of Trust
Carnegie Mellon University
2008
Social and Decision Sciences
2008-07-09 00:00:00
Journal contribution
https://kilthub.cmu.edu/articles/journal_contribution/Who_Do_You_Distrust_and_How_Much_Does_it_Cost_An_Experiment_on_the_Measurement_of_Trust/6571556
We address two problems with how trust is frequently measured in economics. First, we
highlight the importance of clearly identifying the target of trust, which when ignored can lead to
inconsistencies between trust measures. Second, we note the importance of distinguishing trust from
other closely related concepts. We conduct an experiment using a new behavioral measure of trust –
individuals’ willingness to pay to avoid being vulnerable to the target of trust – and vary the target
of trust. To test our behavioral measure, we also collect data on potentially confounding effects (i.e.,
altruism and risk aversion) and on attitudinal measures of trust. Subjects discriminate based on
perceived characteristics of different targets in determining whether to trust, in a manner consistent
with trust elicited using attitudinal measures and with actual trustworthiness. Risk aversion and
altruism do not correlate highly with our measure of trust.