When Social Constraints Increase Trust: Considering Causal Attributions as a Source of Treatment Effect Heterogeneity

The degree to which social constraints promote or undermine trust remains unknown. One classic perspective suggests that trust blossoms in the presence of social constraints, while another influential school of thought proposes that social constraints wither trust. The author integrates both traditions and proposes a model whereby social constraints increase trust, but only to the extent that individuals attribute another’s perceived trustworthiness to the situation. As individuals increasingly attribute another’s perceived trustworthiness to dispositional factors, the positive effect of social constraints on trust declines and approaches zero. The author addresses this debate and tests the model by designing two novel survey experiments of simulated car repair and group project scenarios. Findings from two large crowdsourced samples support the model. Implications for existing theory and future research are discussed.