In Online and Laboratory We Trust: Comparing Trust Game Behavior in Three Environments

Abstract

We compared trust game behavior in three environments: (1) The standard laboratory with physically present participants (Laboratory); (2) An online environment with an online meeting before playing the trust game (Online plus a meeting); and (3) An online environment without a meeting (Online without a meeting). In Laboratory, participants convened in a classroom and interacted via computers. In Online plus a meeting, participants could see each other in an online meeting before sessions started. In Online without a meeting, participants did not see each other during the experiment. The experimental design enables examination of the influence of the environment on choice behavior. Participants in all conditions were recruited through the same pool of subjects. We did not see a statistically significant difference between the treatment conditions regarding trust or trustworthiness. Our results suggest that online experiments will yield similar results with experiments implemented in a laboratory.