The trust dilemma - conclusions from a popular TV show

Abstract

Trust in co-workers and business partners is an essential factor influencing the effectiveness of the production processes of goods and services and cooperation in the market. In this paper, we analyse trust using data from a natural experiment - the Polish edition of the TV game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?". We verify differences in trust between women and men, between urban and rural residents, and the case of low- and high-stake games. Trust was analysed in two ways-trust in a group of strangers and trust in a friend selected earlier. The test for two populations' proportions is conducted. Study shows that women have greater trust than men in the cases of both types of trust. This result is different from those reported in most experimental studies. Women are also more trusting than men in the case of low-stake games, while in the case of high-stake games, the gender difference is blurred. To our best knowledge, this is the first study to use data from a TV show to analyse trust so far.