Tag Archives: Trust

Internet Exchange and Forms of Trust

This study examines how information that may reduce uncertainty affects individuals’ trust in online exchange. Within an experimental marketplace, human subjects make purchase decisions with a series of vendors. Subjects receive information about vendors in the form of ratings of transaction security that vary as to the source of reputation information (interpersonal vs. institutional sources) and the content of information (rating of reliability vs. capability for engaging in secure transactions).

Anthony, Denise, Kitts, James, Masone, Christopher, and Sean W. Smith. “Internet Exchange and Forms of Trust.” In Trust and Technology in a Ubiquitous Modern Environment. Edited by Dominika Latusek and Andrea Gerbasi. IGI Global, 2010.

Trust and Privacy in Distributed Work Groups

Trust plays an important role in both group cooperation and economic exchange. As new technologies emerge for communication and exchange, established mechanisms of trust are disrupted or distorted, which can lead to the breakdown of cooperation or to increasing fraud in exchange. This paper examines whether and how personal privacy information about members of distributed work groups influences individuals’ cooperation and privacy behavior in the group. Specifically, we examine whether people use others’ privacy settings as signals of trustworthiness that affect group cooperation. In addition, we examine how individual privacy preferences relate to trustworthy behavior. Understanding how people interact with others in online settings, in particular when they have limited information, has important implications for geographically distributed groups enabled through new information technologies. In addition, understanding how people might use information gleaned from technology usage, such as personal privacy settings, particularly in the absence of other information, has implications for understanding many potential situations that arise in pervasive computing environments.

Anthony, Denise, Kitts, James, Masone, Christopher, and Sean W. Smith. “Trust and Privacy in Distributed Work Groups.” In Social Computing and Behavioral Modeling. Edited by Dominika Latusek and Andrea Gerbasi. IGI Global, 2009.