Reputation signals trust but experience substitutes for it

Evidence

The third point under consideration is the role of reputation in assuring compliance with the terms of the ‘moral contract’. To put this question in another way: do firms rely on reputation alone in determining whether to trust each other? The evidence suggests that reputation is important but no substitute for experience. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 2606

Categorization

• XREF: Mirrors the Law Merchant finding that reputation alone cannot sustain trust without direct knowledge or registration systems. — connects to: Reputation messaging fails where preemptive mental defences are absent. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 695