The emergence of trust under conditions of distrust

Abstract

Abstract The genesis of trust between strangers on the Internet - without the protective and structuring framework of digital platforms - is a topic that has been little researched so far. This need for research is exploratively approached via an experimental social deduction game, which is intended to make online trust decisions visible under distrustful conditions. A total of 101 participants took part in the nine rounds of the game, whose numerous game and trust decisions were evaluated under distrust-promoting conditions of the game setting. By using this complex experimental setting, various factors influencing trust could be included and it could be shown that trust in the digital space can arise even under persistent distrust and can be observed in the context of a social deduction game.