Effect of indirect information on system trust and control allocation

These experiments show that trust-relevant information can be processed heuristically and systematically and possibly, trust can also be based on direct information despite absence of feedback whether generated solutions are good or bad.

Abstract

In contrast with most other experimental system trust research, this paper examines indirect information as a basis for trust. In experiment 1, the overall valence of an evaluation concerning a route planner was pitted against a consensus cue, i.e. a favourable opinion about the system endorsed by a minority versus a majority. A positive evaluation caused an increase of system trust, whereas a negative evaluation led to a decrease. Control allocation, i.e. choosing manual or automatic mode, however, remained unaffected. Furthermore, no effect was found of consensus; one explanation holds that, despite the absence of outcome feedback, displaying of routes on-screen provided interfering trust-relevant information. Focusing solely on the consensus effect in the absence of route display, experiment 2 revealed consensus to affect both trust and control allocation.