The Effect Of The Timing Of A Breach And Apology On Trust Repair

Although the trust repair is a relatively new research field and is at the initial stage of research,researchers have achieved fruitful results in this field and reached a consensus on some issues.Timing is an important factor in trust level.The longer the relationship,the higher the level and firmness of trust.However,trust is fragile and easily damaged,that is,the probability of breaches is very high.The timing of breaches and repair strategy is an important factor affecting the effect of trust repair.Apology is one of the most commonly used and widely studied strategies.Therefore,this study placed the apology strategy in the different timing contexts of breaches,controlled the experimental background by manipulating the timing of trust violation,and used the repeated trust game paradigm to explore the influence of the condition,complexity and form of apology on trust repair under the different conditions of breaches timing.Three experiments were included in this study.In the first experiment,a between-subjects design of 3(timing of trust violation)×2(condition of apology)was used to explore the influence of apology condition on trust repair under the different conditions of trust violation timing.In experiment 2,a between-subjects design of 3(timing of trust violation)×2(complexity of apology)was used to explore the influence of the complexity of apology on trust repair under the different conditions of trust violation timing.In experiment 3,a between-subjects design of 3(timing of trust violation)×2(form of apology)was used to explore the influence of the form of apology on trust repair under the different conditions of trust violation timing.The results of this study found that: The main effect of the timing of breaches was significant.In the repeated trust game task,the average investment times of the early breach group were significantly greater than those of the immediate breach group,and the average investment times of the late breach group were significantly greater than those of the early breach group under the different apology conditions,apology complexity and apology forms.The main effect of the apology condition was significant.In the repeated trust game task,the average investment times of the apology group were significantly greater than those of the un-apology group under different timing of breaches.The main effect of apology complexity was significant.In the repeated trust game task,the average investment times of the complex apology group were significantly higher than those of the simple apology group under different timing of breaches.The main effect of the form of apology is significant.Under the condition of early and late breach,the average investment times of the indirect apology group were significantly higher than those of the direct apology group,but under the condition of immediate breach,the average investment times of the indirect apology group were not significantly different from that of the direct apology group.The timing of breaches had no significant interaction with the conditions,the complexity or the form of apology.This study draws the following conclusions:(1)the timing of breaches has a significant impact on trust repair;(2)the apology condition has a significant impact on trust repair;(3)the complexity of apology has a significant impact on trust repair;(4)the form of apology has a significant impact on trust repair.The trust level in the late breach condition was higher than that in the early breach condition,and the trust level in the early breach condition was higher than that in the immediate breach condition.Under the different conditions of breaches timing,apology can significantly repair trust.Complex apology have better effect on trust repair than simple apologies.Under the condition of early and late breach,the trust repair effect of indirect apology is better than that of direct apology,but under the condition of immediate breach,the trust repair effect of indirect apology is not significantly different from that of direct apology.Through this study,the influence of the timing of breaches on trust repair,and how apology and its complexity and form affect the effect of trust repair under the different conditions of breaches timing can be understand,and then guide people to adopt reasonable apology strategy for effective trust repair and enhance the effect of apology strategy on trust repair.First of all,in the process of communication,especially in the initial stage of communication,the breaches should be avoided as far as possible.Otherwise,the level of trust between people or organizations will be seriously damaged,and the interests of individuals or organizations may suffer great losses.Secondly,in order to repair trust,people should promptly apologize to others after the breaches.Thirdly,the content of the apology should be as rich and sincere as possible.When making an apology,people should express apologies,acknowledge responsibilities and make assurances,so as to get forgiveness from the others at the highest level.Finally,if the conditions permit,the intention and content of apology can be paraphrased by a third person,so as to repair and maintain the relationship of trust better.