Can You Trust the Good Guys? Trust within and between Groups with Different Missions

Abstract

NGOs and other non-profit organizations attract workers who strongly identify themselves with their missions. We study whether these "good guys" are more trust- worthy and how such pronounced group identities affect trust and trustworthiness within the groups and toward out-groups. We find that subjects who strongly identify themselves with a non-profit mission are more trustworthy in a minimal group setting but also harshly discriminate against out-groups when subjects are grouped by the missions they identify themselves with.

Keywords: social identity theory, group identity, trust, trustworthiness, discrimination, organization

JEL Classification: C72, C92, M51