research-article

Trust in a specific technology: An investigation of its components and measures

Authors:

D. Harrison Mcknight,

Michelle Carter,

Jason Bennett Thatcher,

Paul F. ClayAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems (TMIS), Volume 2, Issue 2

Article No.: 12, Pages 1 - 25

https://doi.org/10.1145/1985347.1985353

Published: 01 July 2011 Publication History

Abstract

Trust plays an important role in many Information Systems (IS)-enabled situations. Most IS research employs trust as a measure of interpersonal or person-to-firm relations, such as trust in a Web vendor or a virtual team member. Although trust in other people is important, this article suggests that trust in the Information Technology (IT) itself also plays a role in shaping IT-related beliefs and behavior. To advance trust and technology research, this article presents a set of trust in technology construct definitions and measures. We also empirically examine these construct measures using tests of convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity. This study contributes to the literature by providing: (a) a framework that differentiates trust in technology from trust in people, (b) a theory-based set of definitions necessary for investigating different kinds of trust in technology, and (c) validated trust in technology measures useful to research and practice.

References

[1]

Anderson, J. C. and Gerbing, D. W. 1988. Structural equation modeling in practice: A review and recommended two-step approach. Psychol. Bull. 103, 3, 411--423.

[2]

Arrow, K. J. 1974. The Limits of Organization. Norton, New York.

[3]

Balusek, S. and Sircar, S. 1998. The network computer concept. Inf. Syst. Manag. 15, 1, 48--57.

[4]

Barber, B. 1983. The Logic and Limits of Trust. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ.

[5]

Bentler, P. M. and Bonett, D. G. 1980. Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures. Psychol. Bull. 88, 3, 588--606.

[6]

Benamati J., Fuller, M. A., Serva, M. A., and Baroudi, J. 2010. Clarifying the integration of trust and TAM in e-commerce environments: Implications for systems design and management. IEEE Trans. Engin. Manag. 57, 3, 380--393.

[7]

Berscheid, E. 1993. Emotion. In Close Relationships, H. H. Kelley et al. Eds., W. H. Freeman, New York, 110--168.

[8]

Bhattacherjee, A. 2002. Individual trust in online firms: Scale development and initial test. J. Manag. Inf. Syst. 19, 1, 211--241.

[9]

Bonoma, T. V. 1976. Conflict, cooperation, and trust in three power systems. Behav. Sci. 21, 6, 499--514.

[10]

Burton-Jones, A. and Straub, D. W. 2006. Reconceptualizing system usage: An approach and empirical test. Inf. Syst. Res. 17, 3, 228--246.

Digital Library

[11]

Clarke, R. 1999. Internet privacy concerns confirm the case for intervention. Comm. ACM 42, 2, 60--67.

Digital Library

[12]

Chow, S. and Holden, R. 1997. Toward an understanding of loyalty: The moderating role of trust. J. Manag. Issues 9, 3, 275--298.

[13]

Corbitt, B. J., Thanasankit, T., and Yi, H. 2003. Trust and e-commerce: A study of consumer perceptions. Electron. Commerce Res. Appl. 2, 203--215.

[14]

Davis, F. D. 1989. Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Quart. 13, 3, 319--340.

Digital Library

[15]

Doney, P. M., Cannon, J. P., and Mullen, M. R. 1998. Understanding the influence of national culture on the development of trust. The Acad. Manag. Rev. 23, 3, 601--620.

[16]

Earley, P. C. 1986. Trust, perceived importance of praise and criticism, and work performance: An examination of feedback in the United States and England. J. Manag. 12, 457--473.

[17]

Edwards, J. R. 2001. Multidimensional constructs in organizational behavior research: An integrative analytical framework. Organiz. Res. Methods 4, 2, 144--192.

[18]

Elangovan, A. R. and Xie, J. L. 1999. Effects of perceived power of supervisor on subordinate stress and motivation: The moderating role of subordinate characteristics. J. Organiz. Behav. 20, 3, 359--373.

[19]

Fornell, C. and Larcker, D. 1981. Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. J. Market. Res. 18, 39--50.

[20]

Friedman, B., Kahn, P. H., Jr., and Howe, D. C. 2000. Trust online. Comm. ACM 43, 12, 34--40.

Digital Library

[21]

Fukuyama, F. 1995. Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity. The Free Press, New York.

[22]

Gefen, D., Straub, D. W., and Boudreau, M. 2000. Structural equation modeling and regression: Guidelines for research practice. Comm. AIS 7, 7, 1--78.

[23]

Gefen, D., Karahanna, E., and Straub, D. W. 2003. Trust and TAM in online shopping: An integrated model. MIS Quart. 27, 1, 51--90.

Digital Library

[24]

Giffin, K. 1967. The contribution of studies of source credibility to a theory of interpersonal trust in the communication process. Psychol. Bull. 68, 2, 104--120.

[25]

Golembiewski, R. T. and Mcconkie, M. 1975. The centrality of interpersonal trust in group processes. In Theories of Group Processes, G. L. Cooper, Ed. John Wiley & Sons, London, 131--185.

[26]

Hair, J. F., Jr., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L., and Black, W. C. 1998. Multivariate Data Analysis with Readings 5th Ed., Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

[27]

Hu, L. and Bentler, P. M. 1999. Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Struct. Equa. Model. 6, 1, 1--55.

[28]

Jarvenpaa, S. L. and Leidner, D. E. 1998. Communication and trust in global virtual teams. Organiz. Sci. 10, 6, 791--815.

Digital Library

[29]

Kim, D. 2008. Self-Perception based versus transference-based trust determinants in computer-mediated transactions: A cross-cultural comparison study. J. Manag. Inf. Syst. 24, 4, 13--45.

Digital Library

[30]

Kim, G., Shin, B. S., and Lee, H. G. 2009. Understanding dynamics between initial trust and usage intentions of mobile banking. Inf. Syst. J. 19, 3, 283--311.

[31]

Kim, K. K. and Prabhakar, B. 2004. Initial trust and the adoption of B2C e-commerce: The case of internet banking. The Data Base Adv. Inf. Syst. 35, 2, 50--65.

Digital Library

[32]

Komiak, S. Y. X. and Benbasat, I. 2006. The effects of personalization and familiarity on trust and adoption of recommendation agents. MIS Quart. 30, 4, 941--960.

Digital Library

[33]

Koufaris, M. and Hampton-Sosa, W. 2004. The development of initial trust in an online company by new customers. Inf. Manag. 41, 3, 377--397.

Digital Library

[34]

Law, K. S., Wong, C.-S., and Mobley, W. H. 1998. Toward a taxonomy of multidimensional constructs. Acad. Manag. Rev. 23, 4, 741--755.

[35]

Lee, M. K. O. and Turban, E. 2001. A trust model for consumer internet shopping. Int. J. Electron. Commerce 6, 1, 75--91.

Digital Library

[36]

Lewicki, R. J. and Bunker, B. B. 1996. Developing and maintaining trust in work relationships. In Trust in Organizations: Frontiers of Theory and Research, R. Kramer and T. Tyler Eds., Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA, 114--139.

[37]

Li, D., Browne, G. J., and Wetherbe, J. C. 2006. Why do internet users stick with a specific web site&quest; A relationship perspective. Int. J. Electron. Commerce 10, 4, 105--141.

Digital Library

[38]

Lim, K. H., Choon, L. S., Lee, M. K. O., and Benbasat, I. 2006. Do I trust you online, and if so, will I buy&quest; An empirical study of two trust-building strategies. J. Manag. Inf. Syst. 23, 2, 233--266.

Digital Library

[39]

Lippert, S. K. 2007. Assessing post-adoption utilisation of information technology within a supply chain management context. Int. J. Technol. Manag. 7, 1, 36--59.

Digital Library

[40]

Luhmann, N. 1979. Trust and Power. John Wiley, New York.

[41]

Mayer, R. C., Davis, J. H., and Schoorman, F. D. 1995. An integrative model of organizational trust. Acad. Manag. Rev. 20, 709--734.

[42]

Mcknight, D. H. 2005. Trust in information technology. In The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Management, Management Information Systems, G. B. Davis, Ed., Blackwell, Malden, MA, Vol. 7, 329--331.

[43]

Mcknight, D. H. and Chervany, N. L. 1996. The meanings of trust. University of Minnesota MIS Research Center Working Paper series, WP 96--04. http://misrc.umn.edu/wpaper/WorkingPapers/9604.pdf

[44]

Mcknight, D. H. and Chervany, N. L. 2001. What trust means in e-commerce customer relationships: An interdisciplinary conceptual typology. Int. J. Electron. Commerce 6, 2, 35--59.

Digital Library

[45]

Mcknight, D. H., Choudhury, V., and Kacmar, C. 2002. Developing and validating trust measures for e-commerce: An integrative typology. Inf. Syst. Res. 13, 3, 334--359.

Digital Library

[46]

Mcknight, D. H., Cummings, L. L., and Chervany, N. L. 1998. Initial trust formation in new organizational relationships. Acad. Manag. Rev. 23, 3, 473--490.

[47]

Nambisan, S., Agarwal, R., and Tanniru, M. 1999. Organizational mechanisms for enhancing user innovation in information technology. MIS Quart. 23, 3, 365--395.

Digital Library

[48]

Noar, S. 2003. The role of structural equation modeling in scale development. Struct. Equa. Model. 10, 4, 622--647.

[49]

Orlikowski, W. J. and Iacono, C. S. 2001. Desperately seeking the ‘IT’ in IT research: A call to theorizing the IT artifact. Inf. Syst. Res. 12, 2, 121--134.

Digital Library

[50]

Paul, D. L. and Mcdaniel, R. R. 2002. A field study of the effect of interpersonal trust on virtual collaborative relationship performance. MIS Quart. 28, 2, 183--227.

Digital Library

[51]

Pavlou, P. A. 2003. Consumer acceptance of electronic commerce: Integrating trust and risk with the technology acceptance model. Int. J. Electron. Commerce 7, 3, 101--134.

Digital Library

[52]

Pavlou, P. A. and Gefen, D. 2004. Building effective online marketplaces with institution-based trust. Inf. Syst. Res. 15, 1, 37--59.

Digital Library

[53]

Pennington, R., Wilcox, H. D., and Grover, V. 2003. The role of system trust in business-to-comsumer transactions. J. Manag. Inf. Syst. 20, 3, 197--226.

Digital Library

[54]

Podsakoff, P. M., Mackenzie, S. B., Lee, J. Y., and Podsakoff, N. P. 2003. Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. J. Appl. Psychol. 88, 5, 879--903.

[55]

Polites, G. L., Roberts, N., and Thatcher, J. B. Conceptualizing models using multidimensional constructs: A review and guidelines for their use. Euro. J. Inf. Syst. (To appear).

[56]

Rempel, J. K., Holmes, J. G., and Zanna, M. P. 1985. Trust in close relationships. J. Personal. Social Psychol. 49, 1, 95--112.

[57]

Riker, W. H. 1971. The nature of trust. In Perspectives on Social Power, J. T. Tedeschi, Ed., Aldine Publishing Company, Chicago, 63--81.

[58]

Rotter, J. B. 1971. Generalized expectancies for interpersonal trust. Amer. Psychol. 26, 5, 443--452.

[59]

Rousseau, D. M., Sitkin, S. B., Burt, R. S., and Camerer, C. 1998. Not so different after all: A cross-discipline view of trust. Acad. Manag. Rev. 23, 3, 393--404.

[60]

Sen, R., King, R. C., and Shaw, M. J. 2006. Buyers' choice of online search strategy and its managerial implications. J. Manag. Inf. Syst. 23, 1, 211--238.

Digital Library

[61]

Serva, M. A., Fuller, M. A., and Benamati, J. 2005. Trustworthiness in B2C e-commerce: Empirical test of alternative models. DataB. Adv. Inf. Syst. 36, 3.

Digital Library

[62]

Stewart, K. J. 2003. Trust transfer on the World Wide Web. Organiz. Sci. 14, 1, 5--17.

Digital Library

[63]

Suh, B. and Han, I. 2003. The impact of customer trust and perception of security control on the acceptance of electronic commerce. Int. J. Electron. Commerce 7, 3, 135--161.

Digital Library

[64]

Sun, H. 2010. Sellers' trust and continued use of online marketplaces. J. Assoc. Inf. Syst. 11, 4, 182--211.

[65]

Tabachnick, B. G. and Fidell, L. S. 1996. Using Multivariate Statistics 3rd Ed., Harper Collins, New York.

[66]

Thatcher, J. B. and Perrewe, P. L. 2002. An empirical examination of individual traits as antecedents to computer anxiety and computer self-efficacy. MIS Quart. 26, 4, 381--396.

Digital Library

[67]

Thatcher, J. B., Mcknight, D. H., Baker, E. W., Arsal, R., and Roberts, N. 2011. The role of trust in postadoption exploration: An empirical investigation of knowledge management systems. IEEE Trans. Engin. Manag. 58, 1, 56--70.

[68]

Thatcher, J. B., Zimmer, J. C., Gundlach, M. J., and Mcknight, D. H. 2008. Internal and external dimensions of computer self-efficacy: An empirical examination. IEEE Trans. Engin. Manag. 55, 4, 628--644.

[69]

Van Der Heijden, H., Verhagen, T., and Creemers, M. 2003. Understanding online purchase intentions: Contributions from technology and trust perspectives. Euro. J. Inf. Syst. 12, 41--48.

Digital Library

[70]

Van Slyke, C., Belanger, F., and Comunale, C. L. 2004. Factors influencing the adoption of web-based shopping: The impact of trust. DataB. Adv. Inf. Syst. 35, 2, 32--49.

Digital Library

[71]

Vance, A., Elie-Dit-Cosaque, C., and Straub, D. 2008. Examining trust in information technology artifacts: The effects of system quality and culture. J. Manag. Inf. Syst. 24, 4, 73--100.

Digital Library

[72]

Wang, W. and Benbasat, I. 2005. Trust in and adoption of online recommendation agents. J. Assoc. Inf. Syst. 6, 3, 72--101.

[73]

Williams, F. 1968. Reasoning with Statistics. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.

[74]

Williamson, O. E. 1993. Calculativeness, trust, and economic organization. J. Law Econ. 34, 453--502.

[75]

Zins, A. H. 2001. Relative attitudes and commitment in customer loyalty models. Int. J. Serv. Industry Manag. 12, 3, 269--294.

Cited By

Pan SLin YWong J(2025)The dark side of robot usage for hotel employees: An uncertainty management perspectiveTourism Management10.1016/j.tourman.2024.104994106(104994)Online publication date: Feb-2025
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2024.104994
Ryu HMin J(2025)Innovation recipes for high use on four Fintech types: A configurational perspectiveInformation & Management10.1016/j.im.2024.10405862:1(104058)Online publication date: Jan-2025
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2024.104058
Lu CYeh CLai C(2025)The role of intelligence, trust and interpersonal job characteristics in employees’ AI usage acceptanceInternational Journal of Hospitality Management10.1016/j.ijhm.2024.104032126(104032)Online publication date: Apr-2025
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2024.104032
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Trust in a specific technology: An investigation of its components and measures
1. Applied computing
  1. Computers in other domains
    1. Personal computers and PC applications

Recommendations

Trust Factors Affecting the Adoption of E-Government for Civic Engagement
Electronic Government
Abstract
This study aims to investigate trust factors affecting the use and adoption of e-government services, which lead to civic engagement. The constructs identified in this study are related to the theories of technology adoption in addition to trust ...
Modelling trust in human-like technologies
IndiaHCI '18: Proceedings of the 9th Indian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction

Trust is an important decision-making construct helping users to adopt and continually use a system. Despite its importance, past research has mainly focused on studying and researching it in technology mediated interactions. As nature of technical ...
The Role of Trust and Technology Acceptance ModelTAM on Customer Acceptance of Mobile Banking: An Integrated Model to Improve Mobile Banking in Banking Sector-A Conceptual Paper

This paper studies the need to integrate trust and Technology acceptance model TAM to understand the behaviour intention of the customer to use mobile banking. The present study focuses through literature review on trust related antecedents and ...

Comments

Please enable JavaScript to view thecomments powered by Disqus.

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems

ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems Volume 2, Issue 2

June 2011

111 pages

ISSN:2158-656X

EISSN:2158-6578

DOI:10.1145/1985347

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 2011 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 July 2011

Accepted: 01 April 2011

Revised: 01 April 2011

Received: 01 September 2010

Published in TMIS Volume 2, Issue 2

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Request Permissions

Check for updates

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Research-article
Research
Refereed

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

589
Total Citations
View Citations
9,378
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)2,056
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)328

Reflects downloads up to 16 Dec 2024

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Pan SLin YWong J(2025)The dark side of robot usage for hotel employees: An uncertainty management perspectiveTourism Management10.1016/j.tourman.2024.104994106(104994)Online publication date: Feb-2025
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2024.104994
Ryu HMin J(2025)Innovation recipes for high use on four Fintech types: A configurational perspectiveInformation & Management10.1016/j.im.2024.10405862:1(104058)Online publication date: Jan-2025
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2024.104058
Lu CYeh CLai C(2025)The role of intelligence, trust and interpersonal job characteristics in employees’ AI usage acceptanceInternational Journal of Hospitality Management10.1016/j.ijhm.2024.104032126(104032)Online publication date: Apr-2025
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2024.104032
Lin CKuo YWang T(2025)Trust and acceptance of AI caregiving robots: The role of ethics and self-efficacyComputers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans10.1016/j.chbah.2024.1001153(100115)Online publication date: Mar-2025
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbah.2024.100115
Gregory RBeck RHenfridsson OYaraghi N(2024)Cooperation Among Strangers: Algorithmic Enforcement of Reciprocal Exchange with Blockchain-Based Smart ContractsAcademy of Management Review10.5465/amr.2023.0023Online publication date: 2-Jul-2024
https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2023.0023
Vanneste BPuranam P(2024)Artificial Intelligence, Trust, and Perceptions of AgencyAcademy of Management Review10.5465/amr.2022.0041Online publication date: 25-Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2022.0041
Manzoor SMalarvizhi CHaque R(2024)Revisiting the Extended IoT Use Behavior Model Among Senior NCD Patients for Smart Healthcare in MalaysiaInternational Journal of Service Science, Management, Engineering, and Technology10.4018/IJSSMET.34991115:1(1-25)Online publication date: 7-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.4018/IJSSMET.349911
Rai SSingh JKumar KAlhamzi K(2024)An Empirical Exploration of E-Agriculture System Acceptance, Satisfaction, and UsageInternational Journal of Electronic Government Research10.4018/IJEGR.34481420:1(1-26)Online publication date: 21-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.4018/IJEGR.344814
Pan ZXie ZLiu TXia T(2024)Exploring the Key Factors Influencing College Students’ Willingness to Use AI Coding Assistant Tools: An Expanded Technology Acceptance ModelSystems10.3390/systems1205017612:5(176)Online publication date: 15-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.3390/systems12050176
Yang YWang YLiu JLee K(2024)An Empirical Study on the Structural Assurance Mechanism for Trust Building in Autonomous Vehicles Based on the Trust-in-Automation Three-Factor ModelSustainability10.3390/su1618825816:18(8258)Online publication date: 23-Sep-2024
https://doi.org/10.3390/su16188258
Show More Cited By

View Options

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Article

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

eReader

View online with eReader.

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

View Issue’s Table of Contents