Abstract
Mutual trust – stemming from shared objectives, empathy, enduring relationships, or common priors – serves as the lubricant that enables organizations and societies to function effectively. This research develops a framework wherein team members are more inclined to exert effort if their teammates do (strategic complementarity) and if mutual trust exists (congruence). Members predict task-related congruence through experiments, such as sharing various traits “unrelated” to the task. The study derives optimal communication protocols for agents and organizations and examines the robustness of these protocols against misrepresentations and additional exchanges of information.
