Restoring trustworthiness after adverse events: The signaling effects of voluntary “Hostage Posting” on trust

The present research investigates the effects of voluntary hostage posting by organizations-with the provisions of monitoring and self-sanctions-in order to restore public trust after adverse events. The results of the first two studies demonstrate that voluntary hostage posting raised participants' perceptions of the trustworthiness of organizations that had caused incidents, whereas imposed or involuntary hostage posting did not result in more positive evaluations. The third study revealed that voluntary posting affects not only the perception of trustworthiness but also respondents' behavior when their interests are at stake. These findings are consistent with a study by Slovic (1993), which suggested that the best way to increase public trust in a nuclear power plant was to delegate authority to shut down the plant to an outside monitor. Implications of these results for a theory of trust and management policy for restoring trust are discussed.