An experimental study on covert law-enforcement : exploring the relationship of adaptability and trustworthiness on goal achievement in undercover work

Within covert law-enforcement, there are factors that have not received much empirical attention which may be important in the success, selection, and training of undercover agents. One such factor is adaptability. This research aimed to measure adaptability during undercover missions, by using a novel experimental set-up that provides participants with an objective, an expectation, and an expectancy violation in order to facilitate adaptive behaviour. Furthermore, the influence of trust as a mediator on adaptability and success on the tasks was measured. It was expected that adaptability predicted success and trustworthiness, with trustworthiness predicting success as a mediator. As no significant results were found, exploratory analyses were done, furthermore providing no significant results. However, this research provides interesting avenues for future research. The results give rise to the concept of a negative relationship between affective/cognitive trust and success on an undercover task that requires adaptability. In future research, this concept to be explored further, this time implementing an adaptability rating done by the researcher instead of the participant to eliminate self-reporting bias. Keywords: Adaptability, trust, covert law-enforcement