Trust and cooperation in text-based computer-mediated communication

This study examines how different behaviours can affect trust in the text-chat environment. We designed two automated chat systems: one behaves cooperatively and the other behaves competitively. Thirty subjects participated in this study and the results revealed that the trust of subjects who chatted with a cooperative partner was significantly higher than the trust of subjects who chatted with a competitive partner. This study also examines the chat contents and the results show that subjects behave differently when they trust their partner, using more assent and positive emotion words.