Food sharing and trust: Exploring the possibility of a relationship of causality

Résumé du document

Imagine what it would mean for businesses if they found that the money spent on the entertainment of guests had no real affect on the trust built with the other party. Or perhaps if businesses were told the opposite, that sharing food would enhance trust between two parties, they would invest in it more liberally. It is this dilemma that makes the question of sharing food to enhance trust in negotiations so important. Our inquiry comes from the research question: "Does sharing food enhance trust in negotiations?" This question is important because its answer may dictate how firms will choose to allocate their budgets. For example, if it is found that sharing food does indeed enhance trust between parties; firms may choose to put more money toward the entertainment of clients and partners. We will take a causal research design to test if there is a cause-effect relationship between food and trust. If it is found that sharing food has no effect on negotiations, firms will do well to heed advice to reallocate some of the funds previously budgeted for entertainment.

Extraits

[...] Have a third set of people play the trust game after sharing food, in our case: chocolate cake. Two parameters were modified: the participants spent time together and shared food. All subjects were promised that they would get dessert either before of after participating in the experiment. [...]

[...] A key to boosting this relationship may very well prove to be profitable and enhance the performance of strategically allied companies. We also research whether or not the factor that enhances trust is not the food shared, but rather the time spent with the other party, be this over a meal or otherwise. In the first part of this research paper, we will take a brief look at the history and sociology of food-sharing which will give the basis for research and justification for exploring the question of its influence on trust. [...]

[...] More literature attempts to define the value of trust in the context of business relationships. Diamond Management Consulting has published a short essay on trust entitled “Trust in Relationships”, and outlines that there exist three types of it in professional relationships: calculus-based trust, knowledge-based trust and identification-based trust. Calculus-based trust is one that is built initially upon “comparing the costs and benefits of creating and sustaining a relationship” (p. 3). Knowledge-based trust is that which can only be built through time, gaining more information and understanding to eventually develop a relationship of trust. [...]

[...] Food sharing and trust: exploring the possibility of a relationship of causality Introduction Imagine what it would mean for businesses if they found that the money spent on the entertainment of guests had no real affect on the trust built with the other party. Or perhaps if businesses were told the opposite, that sharing food would enhance trust between two parties, they would invest in it more liberally. It is this dilemma that makes the question of sharing food to enhance trust in negotiations so important. [...]

[...] The best measure of trust we can find is the amount of money given by player 1 which tell us how much they are willing to give to be trusted but also how much they trust player 2 as they expect a part of their money back. It seems that this game gives an effective way of measuring trust quantitatively. When designing our own experiment, we had to make some minor adjustments. As we were not able to give each participant 10 euros as a fee, we had to choose between allocating 10 fictive euros and using something else entirely. [...]