When sanctions that can be evaded still work: The role of trust in leaders

Previous research has shown that when leaders install a sanctioning system to promote cooperation, the sanction may backfire (i.e., promote defection) when people have behavioral options that allow them to evade those sanctions. In the current experiment we draw attention to the importance of trust and show that sanctions' behavioral effects depend on (a) the trustworthiness of the leader and (b) the general trust that people have in authorities. This study reveals that when there are options to evade the sanction, people with low rather than high general trust in authorities comply less with an untrustworthy leader than with a trustworthy leader. Implications for leadership, trust, and imperfect sanctioning systems are discussed.