An exploratory study into the relevance of trust in the context of information systems technology.

摘要

Trust is a metric in the life of all individuals. It is a value in relationships, a style of life, and the way we manage our lives. The level of trust we place in a person, organization or a system is determined by many complex subsets of factors including past experience, expectations, education, vulnerability, needs, personal environments, peer behavior and organizational or system performance.; Much research has been directed toward defining trust and determining its application and effects within modern society. However, as society has moved into the new high-speed technological age where nearly every aspect of our lives is touched by digital technology, little is understood about our trust in the technologies we employ in day to day life and the factors that affect this trust.; Trust in information systems technology may help explain user acceptance of IS technologies, user satisfaction in the workplace and change management issues related to IS technology. The purposes of this research were to identify the relationships between trust and IS technology and establish the factors which determine user trust in information systems technology.; Technology trust is operationalized as an individual's willingness to be vulnerable to the information systems technology based on expectations of technology predictability, technology reliability and technology utility and influenced by the individual's predilection to trust technology. Six factors (technology predictability, technology reliability, technology utility consisting of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, dependence upon technology, and predilection to trust technology) that comprise technology trust are identified from a theoretical model based on data collected from 332 individuals within eight organizations from the private, public, and non-profit sectors.; The results of the research provide initial evidence supporting a positive relationship between technology predictability and technology trust, technology reliability and technology trust, perceived usefulness and technology trust, perceived ease of use and technology trust, and predilection to trust technology and technology trust. No support was found for a relationship between dependence upon technology and technology trust. Overall, these results show that investigating trust in the context of information systems technology is both necessary and viable. The implications of this are discussed and the direction of future research considered.