Is Trust for Sale? The Effectiveness of Financial Compensation for Repairing Competence- versus Integrity-Based Trust Violations

PLoS One. 2015 Dec 29;10(12):e0145952. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0145952. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Despite the popularity of financial compensation as a means for addressing trust violations, the question whether (more) money can indeed buy trust back remains largely unexplored. In the present research, we focus on the role of violation type and compensation size. The results of a scenario study and a laboratory experiment show that financial compensation can effectively promote the restoration of trust for transgressions that indicate a lack of competence. Conversely, for transgressions which signal a lack of integrity, financial compensation is not an effective tool to repair trust. Moreover, our findings indicate that for both violation types, overcompensation has no positive effects on top of the impact of equal compensation. These findings therefore show that when it comes to trust, money cannot buy everything.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Behavior
  • Commerce*
  • Compensation and Redress*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Morals
  • Trust*

Grants and funding

This work was funded by National Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders (FWO) Grant number: G095912N. Website: http://www.fwo.be. Role: The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.