The Effects of Contracts on Interpersonal Trust
通过两个实验室实验，研究约束性合同与非约束性合同对人际信任发展的不同影响，发现约束性合同会削弱信任，而非约束性合同则有助于建立信任。
This paper uses two laboratory experiments to investigate the effects of contracts on interpersonal trust. We predict that the use of binding contracts to promote or mandate cooperation will lead interacting parties to attribute others' cooperation to the constraints imposed by the contract rather than to the individuals themselves, thus reducing the likelihood of trust developing. We also predict that, although non-binding contracts may not generate as much initial cooperation as binding contracts, they will generate personal rather than situational attributions for any cooperation that results and will therefore not interfere with trust development. Two experiments investigated the effects of the use and removal of binding and non-binding contracts. When binding contracts that were previously allowed were no longer allowed or no longer chosen, trust dropped significantly. In contrast, non-binding contracts led to considerable cooperation, and their removal reduced trust less than removing binding contracts. Behavioral and perceptual data suggest that non-binding contracts lead to personal attributions for cooperation and thus may provide an optimal basis for building interpersonal trust in a variety of situations.