Influences of hostage posting on estimation of trustworthiness: The effects of voluntary posting and reliable results

Abstract

This research examined the effects of providing a monitoring and self-sanctioning system, called "hostage posting" in economics, on the improvement of trustworthiness. We conducted two questionnaire-type experiments to compare the trust-improving effects among the three conditions, (a) a voluntary provision of a monitoring and self-sanction system by the manager, (b) an imposed provision, and (c) an achievement of satisfactory management without any types of provisions. Total of 561 undergraduate students participated in the experiments. Results revealed that perceived integrity and competence were improved to almost the same level in both conditions (a) and (c), whereas these were not improved in condition (b). Consistent with our previous research, these results showed that the voluntary hostage posting improved trustworthiness level as well as a good performance did. The estimation of necessity of the system, however, was not different across these conditions. The implications for management practice and directions for future research were discussed.