Risk and trust in social exchange: An experimental test of a classical proposition

The classical exchange theorists proposed that trust is more likely to deve lop between partners when exchange occurs without explicit negotiations or binding agreements. Under these conditions, the risk and uncertainty of exc hange provide the opportunity for partners to demonstrate their trustworthi ness. This study develops the theoretical implications of this proposition and conducts an experimental test that compares levels of both trust and co mmitment in two forms of direct exchange, negotiated and reciprocal. The re sults support the classical proposition, showing that reciprocal exchange p roduces stronger trust and affective commitment, than negotiated exchange, and that behaviors signaling the partner's trustworthiness have greater imp act on trust in reciprocal exchange.