Collective Trust Behavior

In English This paper investigates trust behavior in situations where decision-makers are large groups and the decision mechanism is collective. Theories from behavioral economics and psychology suggest that trust in such situations may differ from interindividual trust. The experimental
results here reveal a large difference in trust but not in trustworthiness between the individual and collective setting. Furthermore, a field experiment captures the determinants of collective
trust behavior among two Swedish cohorts. Beliefs about the other group and one’s own group are strongly associated with collective trustworthiness and trust behavior.