Towards an Empirically Determined Scale of Trust in Computerized Systems: Distinguishing Concepts and Types of Trust

One component in the successful use of automated, computerized systems is how much people trust these systems to perform effectively. In order to understand the relationship between trust in computerized systems and the use of those systems, we need to be able to measure that trust. Although questionnaires regarding trust have been used in prior studies, these questionnaires were not based on empirically generated scales and did not differentiate between concepts of trust and distrust, or between three potentially different types of trust: trust as a generic concept, human-human trust, and human-machine trust. A two-phased experimental study of trust concepts was performed, in order to understand similarities and differences in the concepts of trust and distrust, and between the different types of trust. Results indicated that trust and distrust can be considered opposites, rather than being comprised of different concepts. Additionally, concepts of trust were similar across the three types of trust.