Degrees of Humanness in Technology: What Type of Trust Matters?

Authors

John Tripp
Harrison McKnight
Nancy K. Lankton, Marshall UniversityFollow

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

8-2011

Abstract

Significant research has shown the impact of trust (i.e., trusting beliefs) in information technology (IT) settings. Most research has investigated trust between the consumer and the e-vendor. However, IT researchers have begun to investigate user trust in the technology artifact itself (trust-in-technology). This research has measured trust using both interpersonal trust variables (ability, benevolence, and integrity) and system-like trust variables (functionality, helpfulness, and reliability). Both measures seem to work. However, it is unclear when researchers should use interpersonal versus system-like trust-in-technology constructs. This study hypothesizes interpersonal trust will have a stronger influence on users’ outcomes when the technology is more human-like. By contrast, system-like trust will have a stronger influence when the technology is less human-like. We validate this concept by measuring how both interpersonal and system-like trust predict user outcomes across three technologies: Facebook (high humanness), a recommendation agent (medium humanness), and Microsoft Access (low humanness).

Comments

Copyright © 2011, Association for Information Systems.

Recommended Citation

Tripp, John; McKnight, Harrison; and Lankton, Nancy K., "Degrees of Humanness in Technology: What Type of Trust Matters?" (2011). AMCIS 2011 Proceedings - All Submissions. 149.