The Psychological Impact of Digital Signatures: A Multistudy Replication

Abstract

Despite increasing adoption of digital signatures, research has suggested that doing so may carry deleterious social consequences. Prior research established that documents signed electronically are deemed to convey less social presence than those signed by hand, which in turn negatively impacts social judgments. This article reports the results of two preregistered close replication studies (total N = 311) and a meta-analysis spanning the original study and these new studies. Robust support emerged for previously documented psychological consequences of digital signatures. Signers using an avatar were rated as less socially present and were perceived to be more likely to breach the signed contract than those who had hand-signed the document. Further, the indirect effect of signature type on perceived likelihood of contract breach via social presence was nonzero in all samples. These studies add to the growing literature on the psychological impact of digital signatures and carry both practical and theoretical implications.