Taking others’ perspectives to foster horizontal transport collaboration

In this seminar, Anabela Cantiani (Tilburg University), will present her work on perspective taking for horizontal collaboration in transport.

The reduction of excess CO2 emissions, particularly in the transport sector, is a pressing societal challenge. A viable approach to reduce emissions entails encouraging companies to partake in horizontal collaboration, such as sharing cargo space, and thereby reducing the number of trucks on the road. Despite its clear evident environmental benefits, horizontal collaboration remains uncommon in transport, hindered by companies’ predominant focus on self-interest. In this talk, I will present the results of three studies that examine whether perspective-taking, the ability to contemplate another person’s mental state, can counteract the focus on self-interest that prevents horizontal collaboration in transport, and whether perspective-taking leads to favorable outcomes during such negotiations.