Trust in Technological Artifacts: Dimensions and Roles in a Trust Network

Description

The proposed research will explore the nature of trust in technological artifacts. When consumers form trusting relationships with a technology, it is still an open question if they treat the technology as a social actor or utilize it only as a supporting tool. Accordingly, trust in technological artifacts may have the same dimensions as trust between persons, or it may possess dimensions different from interpersonal trust. The intention is to empirically identify the dimensions of trust in technological artifacts, as well as to investigate the relative roles of trust in technology within a trust network, and how the transference of trust between different referents might change with different levels of user experience regarding particular technologies. This research is the first study to examine the nature of trust in technological artifacts systematically and empirically. The results of this research will build a theory of trust in technological artifacts and provide practitioners with guidelines for designing trustworthy technologies.