Measures Of Trust Research Articles

An effective communication and computation model based on a hybridgraph-deeplearning approach for SIoT

Social Edge Service (SES) is an emerging mechanism in the Social Internet of Things (SIoT) orchestration for effective user-centric reliable communication and computation. The services are affected by active and/or passive attacks such as replay attacks, message tampering because of sharing the same spectrum, as well as inadequate trust measurement methods among intelligent devices (roadside units, mobile edge devices, servers) during computing and content-sharing. These issues lead to computation and communication overhead of servers and computation nodes. To address this issue, we propose the HybridgrAph-Deep-learning (HAD) approach in two stages for secure communication and computation. First, the Adaptive Trust Weight (ATW) model with relation-based feedback fusion analysis to estimate the fitness-priority of every node based on directed graph theory to detect malicious nodes and reduce computation and communication overhead. Second, a Quotient User-centric Coeval-Learning (QUCL) mechanism to formulate secure channel selection, and Nash equilibrium method for optimizing the communication to share data over edge devices. The simulation results confirm that our proposed approach has achieved effective communication and computation performance, and enhanced Social Edge Services (SES) reliability than state-of-the-art approaches.

INDICATORS OF HUMAN SOCIALITY IN SLOVENIA AND THE NETHERLANDS: EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIMENTS WITH STUDENTS

In the article we report a series of experiments with volunteers designed to detect differences in behavioural characteristics among Slovenian, Dutch and international students. Using eight standard tasks from experimental economics, we investigate the differences using experimental measures of solidarity, trust, cooperation, positive and negative reciprocity, competition, honesty, and risk attitudes. No significant cohort effects in any of the eight decisions are found when we compare the Slovenian and international cohorts. Still, when comparing the Dutch and Slovenian cohorts, Dutch students are found to exhibit lower levels of solidarity, generosity and honesty. This points to differences in sociality between institutionally similar yet ideologically distant countries like Slovenia and the Netherlands. Keywords: cross-national study, experimental economics, game theory, sociality

Trust and cross-border mergers and acquisitions

A number of studies suggest that social trust matters for investment. Using different measures of trust from World Values Survey, we show that countries where people display higher levels of trust engage in more cross-border M&A activities. When they do, these acquirers pay lower premiums. To the extent that these acquirers also tend to engage in larger acquisitions as well, our findings suggest that a larger selection pool of potential targets and higher value targets enable these acquirers to negotiate for lower premiums. We do not find evidence of the significant effect for target country trust levels. Hence, trust may benefit those acquiring firms in cross-border transactions.

Contracts versus relationship intention as indicator of customer trust in and commitment to cell phone service providers

Social exchange theory postulates long-term customer-company relationships are built on trust and commitment. Cell phone service providers seek to secure the trust and commitment of their customers through service contracts. Relationship intention (RI) is a more precise measure of customer trust and commitment. This paper compares the trust of cell phone service customers and their commitment to cell phone service providers based on customers’ contract status and RI classification. Data from 1,473 cell phone customers from South Africa (n = 589) and the Philippines (n = 884) were analyzed. The study shows for both the South African and Philippine samples that there is no relationship between respondents’ contract status and their trust in or commitment to cell phone service providers and that trust in or commitment to cell phone service providers is significantly higher among high relationship intention (HRI) customers than among low relationship intention (LRI) customers. RI is a stronger indicator of customers’ trust in and commitment to cell phone service providers than contracts in both countries. This makes HRI customers more receptive to relationship marketing strategies than customers with contracts or LRI customers, as HRI customers trust and commit to cell phone service providers significantly more.

Why do Big Science projects exist? The role of social preferences

Abstract Recent work has excluded sociocultural factors among the determinants of Big Science projects. This paper empirically tests the role of four different measures of social preferences, namely altruism, trust, negative reciprocity, and positive reciprocity, in increasing the likelihood of sustaining international cooperation in Big Science projects. Using a novel database of cross-sectional observations from seventy-six countries, this study finds evidence of a positive and statistically significant relationship between negative reciprocity and both time and risk preferences, namely patience and risk-taking. The science policy implication of this study is that a broader theory of clubs can guide meta-organizations in establishing, maintaining, or denying membership in Big Science projects based on the long-term orientation and reputation as a committed cooperator of a country.

Experimental support for a trust heuristic

Scholars have argued that trust acts as a decision-making heuristic, aiding people in assessing the risks of various technologies. This may be especially likely for social trust, or integrity (vs. calculative trust, or competence), and among people with limited experience with a given technology. The goal of this research is to provide an experimental test of the trust heuristic. In three experiments, which were identical except for the technology of focus (Study 1: autonomous vehicles, N = 1691; Study 2: nuclear power, N = 844; Study 3: airplane travel, N = 853), participants recruited from an online platform completed measures of trust, and then were randomly assigned to respond to measures of perceived risk in either a treatment (time pressure) or control condition. Competence and integrity were significantly negatively associated with risk perceptions. In Studies 1–2, the relationship between integrity (not competence) and risk was significantly stronger in the timed vs. untimed condition. However, Study 3, which focused on a context characterized by greater experience, did not find this effect. Results support the role of integrity, but not competence, as a decision-making heuristic, and suggest that greater levels of experience weaken the influence of integrity on risk.

Public trust in citizens’ juries when the people decide on policies: evidence from Switzerland

ABSTRACT Facilitative political trust is the reduction in cognitive demand citizens experience when forming their opinions about political issues. This type of trust is important for generating legitimate democratic institutions in the eyes of politically uninvolved citizens. The article develops and validates an original direct measure of facilitative political trust among voters receiving a voting aid compiled by a Swiss municipal-level deliberative minipublic convening twenty citizens ahead of a federal popular initiative vote on expanding affordable housing policies. Based on perceiving the randomly selected group as competent and aligned with voters’ interests, we find a reliable and valid latent trust measure using confirmatory factor analyses among the same sample of voters within the municipality at two points during the campaign, ahead (N = 1159), and again around the time of the ballot (N = 472). In subsequent multiple regressions, increases in facilitative trust sores are the main driver of readers’ ratings of both the voting aid’s usefulness for deciding how to vote and of how important they judge its information for their peers’ vote decisions.

"I Don't Trust It": Use of a Routine OSCE to Identify Core Communication Skills Required for Counseling a Vaccine-Hesitant Patient.

BackgroundVaccine hesitancy is challenging for clinicians and of increasing concern since COVID-19 vaccination rollout began. Standardized patients (SPs) provide an ideal method for assessing resident physicians’ current skills, providing opportunity to practice and gain immediate feedback, while also informing evaluation of curriculum and training. As such, we designed and implemented an OSCE station where residents were tasked with engaging and educating a vaccine-hesitant patient.AimDescribe residents’ vaccine counseling practices, core communication and interpersonal skills, and effectiveness in meeting the objectives of the case. Explore how effectiveness in overcoming vaccine hesitancy may be associated with communication and interpersonal skills in order to inform educational efforts.SettingAnnual OSCE at a simulation center.Participants106 internal medicine residents (51% PGY1, 49% PGY2).Program DescriptionResidents participated in an annual residency-wide, multi-station OSCE, one of which included a Black, middle-aged, vaccine-hesitant male presenting for a routine video visit. Residents had 10 min to complete the encounter, during which they sought to educate, explore concerns, and make a recommendation. After each encounter, faculty gave residents feedback on their counseling skills and reviewed best practices for effective communication on the topic. SPs completed a behaviorally anchored checklist (30 items across 7 clinical skill domains and 2 measures of trust in the vaccine’s safety and resident) which will inform future curriculum.Program EvaluationFifty-five percent (SD: 43%) of the residents performed well on the vaccine-specific education domain. PGY2 residents scored significantly higher on two of the seven domains compared to PGY1s (patient education/counseling—PGY1: 35% (SD: 36%) vs. PGY2: 52% (SD: 41%), p = 0.044 and activation—PGY1: 37% (SD: 45%) vs. PGY2: 59% (SD: 46%), p = 0.016). In regression analyses, education/counseling and vaccine-specific communication skills were strongly, positively associated with trust in the resident and in the vaccine’s safety. A review of qualitative data from the SPs’ perspective suggested that low performers did not use patient-centered communication skills.DiscussionThis needs assessment suggests that many residents needed in-the-moment feedback, additional education, and vaccine-specific communication practice. Our program plans to reinforce evidence-based practices physicians can implement for vaccine hesitancy through ongoing curriculum, practice, and feedback. This type of needs assessment is replicable at other institutions and can be used, as we have, to ultimately shed light on next steps for programmatic improvement.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11606-022-07495-4.

The use of the Dark Web as a COVID-19 information source: A three-country study

The Dark Web (i.e., the anonymous web or Darknet) contains potentially harmful COVID-19-related information and content such as conspiracy theories and forged certificates. The Dark Web may particularly attract individuals who are suspicious about the pandemic, but there is no research concerning the use of the Dark Web as a COVID-19 information source. In this study, we investigated the role of COVID-19 skepticism, online activities, and loneliness in the use of the Dark Web platforms as a COVID-19 information source.The data (N = 3000) were gathered in April 2021 from 18 to 75-year-old respondents from Finland (n = 1000), Sweden (n = 1000) and the United Kingdom (n = 1000). The respondents were asked how often they had utilized Dark Web platforms (for example via TOR-network) as a COVID-19 information source during the pandemic. Self-reported measures of institutional trust, anti-vaccine stances, restriction obedience, online activities, and loneliness were used as predictors in the logistic regression model. Age, gender, and education were also included in the model.The Dark Web use was more prevalent in the UK and Sweden. There was an association between anti-vaccine stances and active Dark Web use in the UK and Sweden, while low institutional trust predicted use among Finnish respondents. In all countries, restriction disobedience was related to Dark Web use as a COVID-19 information source. Frequent online gambling, increased social media use, and loneliness predicted Dark Web use, and these associations were even stronger among frequent Dark Web users than occasional users. Younger age and male gender were also associated with Dark Web use.The unregulated nature of the Dark Web makes it a risky alternative to COVID-19 information, attracting individuals who are suspicious about the pandemic and overall active online users. Misleading information and availability of forged certificates on the Dark Web challenge official health policies, posing significant risks for both individual and public health.

Advancing our understanding of immigrants’ trust in police: the role of ethnicity, immigrant generational status and measurement

ABSTRACT Studies of immigrant populations point to numerous immigrant-specific factors that may explain their level of trust in police. Yet research on immigrants’ trust in police remains sparse, and available studies present contradictory findings. Some studies find that immigrants are more trusting of police than non-immigrants, while other studies find immigrants are less trusting of police. We argue that these contradictions can be explained by three factors: (1) how trust is measured; (2) immigrants’ ethnic group (e.g. minority vs non-minority); and (3) immigrants’ generational status (i.e. 1st vs. 2nd generation immigrant). To address these contradictions, we draw on survey data from 903 immigrants living in Sydney, Australia. We examine the relationship between ethnicity, immigrant generational status and various measures of trust in police. We find when trust is measured as an overarching orientation, minority immigrants tend to distrust police more than non-minority immigrants, and that 2nd generation immigrants are more distrusting than 1st generation immigrants. However, these findings vary when measuring trust multi-dimensionally and when accounting for the interaction between ethnicity and generational status. Implications for immigrant research and police practice are discussed.

Retraction Note to: Cloud service recommendation system based on clustering trust measures in multi-cloud environment

Retraction Note to: Cloud service recommendation system based on clustering trust measures in multi-cloud environment

Predictors of confidence and trust in government and institutions during the COVID-19 response in Australia

Predictors of confidence and trust in government and institutions during the COVID-19 response in Australia

Trust in Institutions, Not in Political Leaders, Determines Compliance in COVID-19 Prevention Measures within Societies across the Globe.

A core assumption often heard in public health discourse is that increasing trust in national political leaders is essential for securing public health compliance during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic (2019–ongoing). However, studies of national government trust are typically too coarse-grained to differentiate between trust in institutions versus more interpersonal trust in political leaders. Here, we present multiscale trust measurements for twelve countries and territories across the West, Oceania and East Asia. These trust results were used to identify which specific domains of government and social trust were most crucial for securing public health compliance (frequency of mask wearing and social distancing) and understanding the reasons for following health measures (belief in effectiveness of public health measures). Through the use of linear regression and structural equation modeling, our cross-cultural survey-based analysis (N = 3369 subjects) revealed that higher trust in national and local public health institutions was a universally consistent predictor of public health compliance, while trust in national political leaders was not predictive of compliance across cultures and geographical regions. Institutional trust was mediated by multiple types of transparency, including providing rationale, securing public feedback, and honestly expressing uncertainty. These results highlight the importance of distinguishing between components of government trust, to better understand which entities the public gives the most attention to during crises.

To trust or not to trust? An assessment of trust in AI-based systems: Concerns, ethics and contexts

Artificial intelligence (AI) characterizes a new generation of technologies capable of interacting with the environment and aiming to simulate human intelligence. The success of integrating AI into organizations critically depends on workers' trust in AI technology. Trust is a central component of the interaction between people and AI, as incorrect levels of trust may cause misuse, abuse or disuse of the technology. The European Commission's High-level Expert Group on AI (HLEG) have adopted the position that we should establish a relationship of trust with AI and should cultivate trustworthy AI. This article investigates the links between trust in AI, concerns related to AI use, and the ethics related to such use. We used data collected in 2019 from more than 30,000 individuals across the EU28. The data focuses on living conditions, trust, and AI uses and concerns. An econometric model is used. The endogenous variable is an ordered measure of trust in AI. We use an ordered logit model to highlight the factors associated with an increased level of trust in AI in Europe. The results show that many concerns related to AI use are linked to AI trust, and the ability to try out AI applications will also have an impact on initial trust. To enhance trust, practitioners can try to maximize the technological features in AI systems. The representation of the AI as a humanoid or a loyal pet (e.g., a dog) will facilitate initial trust formation. Moreover, findings reveal an unequal degree of trust in AI across countries.

Language skills and interpersonal trust in adolescents with and without mental illness

Purpose The primary aim was to compare adolescents with mental illness and non-clinical adolescents on vocabulary, social problem-solving, trust in parents, attachment and mentalisation. A secondary aim was to investigate whether adolescents’ language skills were associated with trust in parents. Method Seventy-eight adolescents (16–18 years) participated in this cross-sectional quantitative study: a clinical sample (n = 28, M = 16.7 years, 19F) recruited from a mental health service and a non-clinical sample (n = 50, M = 17.0 years, 28F). Standardised language measures and self-report measures of trust in parents; communication quality; attachment; and mentalisation were used. Primary and secondary aims were addressed through independent samples t-tests and Pearson’s correlation analyses, respectively. Result Adolescents experiencing mental illness reported significantly poorer vocabulary, less trust in mother/father, greater attachment anxiety/avoidance, and poorer reflective functioning, than non-clinical adolescents. Expressive vocabulary of clinical (but not non-clinical) adolescents significantly negatively correlated with trust in mother (but not father). Conclusion Results highlight a role for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in supporting communication needs of adolescents with mental illness. SLPs should consider trust by: i) understanding adolescents with mental illness may have difficulty trusting them potentially impacting therapeutic engagement; and ii) delivering services in ways that might build trust, such as involving adolescents in treatment planning.

Measuring Political Trust: Recognising the Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions

Citizens’ trust is fundamental to the proper functioning of public institutions. This paper exploreshow the construct of ‘political trust’ can be measured to reflect the underlying theoretical factors driving trustlevels. It proposes a quantitative methodology to develop a scale that measures trust in public regulatoryinstitutions. Some measurements of trust are dependent on a scale for questions such as ‘What is your level oftrust in…?’ Alternatively, composite indicators are used, based on, for example, trust levels in a set of publicinstitutions. Such measures do not recognise what influences a citizen’s trust. The methodology presentedhere is also a composite measure but incorporates nine drivers and their extent of influence on a citizen’strust. These drivers, identified through a literature review on political trust, include consistency, transparency,outcomes, competence, integrity, openness and inclusiveness, fairness, reliability and responsiveness. Theproposed methodology follows four steps: (i) It determines drivers that citizens recognise as influential ontheir trust in a regulatory institution; (ii) it establishes the extent to which the drivers are influential; (iii) theinstitution is rated on a scale for each factor; and (iv) each factor rating is weighted on the extent of itsinfluence and a weighted average is computed to determine the level of trust. This methodology was appliedto measure trust in Malta’s environmental authorities following a demerger. A survey was conducted with thequestionnaire’s design reflecting this methodology. The empirical findings confirmed that all these factors leadto trust, but variations in the extent to which each driver influences a citizen’s trust exist. Responsiveness,outcomes, integrity and openness emerged as slightly less influential on citizens’ trust, whereas fairness,consistency, reliability, transparency and competence were the most influential factors. Significant differencesare recorded when comparing methods of measuring trust for the two institutions. This composite measurerecognises the multidimensional nature of trust, is grounded in the construct’s theoretical foundations andprovides reasons for variations in trust levels. Institutions can adopt this approach as a tool to regularlymonitor citizens’ trust and identify areas requiring attention.

Public trust, policing, and the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from an electoral authoritarian regime

We examine how trust shapes compliance with public health restrictions during the COVID- 19 pandemic in Uganda. We use an endorsement experiment embedded in a mobile phone survey to show that messages from government officials generate more support for public health restrictions than messages from religious authorities, traditional leaders, or international NGOs. We further show that compliance with these restrictions is strongly positively correlated with trust in government, but only weakly correlated with trust in local authorities or other citizens. We use measures of trust from both before and during the pandemic to rule out the possibility that trust is a function of the pandemic itself. The relationship between trust and compliance is especially strong for the Ministry of Health and—more surprisingly—the police. We conclude that trust is crucial for encouraging compliance but note that it may be difficult to sustain, particularly in settings where governments and police forces have reputations for repression.

Simultaneously measured direct and indirect thrust of a FEEP thruster using novel thrust balance and beam diagnostics

For the characterisation of an electric propulsion system, the determination of the thrust has a crucial role. The thrust of an Indium FEEP Multiemitter (IFM) Nano Thruster laboratory model is measured directly with a thrust balance and indirectly via beam diagnostics. Both measurements are carried out simultaneously to enable mutual verification with high accuracy. The novel mN-torsion thrust balance by FOTEC resolves six different thrust magnitudes, ranging from 10μN to 1N. It is based on the so-called force-feedback method using a voice coil actuator to determine the thrust, which leads to an accuracy of better than 2%. The indirect thrust measurements were performed with a high-precision beam diagnostics system by FOTEC. A semi-circular diagnostics arm equipped with 23 digital Faraday cups is used to measure the ion current density distribution of the entire beam. The thrust results of both systems show an agreement with a deviation less than 5% for thruster operation points ranging from 50 to 450μN. This proves that the performance of a FEEP thruster can be characterised very precisely by indirect trust measurements.

Does process matter more for predicting trust in government? Participation, performance, and process, in local government in Japan

Trust in government and its antecedents and development remain leading policy and research concerns. Drawing on a broadly representative online survey of 3100 respondents in Japan, we examine measures of trust in three local government actors. We find political participation is not associated with trust in local government, contrary to our expectations. Civic participation is associated with trust in the mayor, but not councillors or administrators. Satisfaction with services provided by local government, and positive perceptions of policy process, are associated with trust, with interactions suggesting process is the stronger antecedent. To develop greater trust in local government, it is important that public sector actors exhibit respect for rights and follow procedure, laws, and regulations, as well as deliver positive outcomes. Points for practitioners Building trust in government remains a key concern for policy makers, as it is related to successful adoption of policies. Trust in local government in Japan is related to perceived performance and citizen satisfaction. Civic participation is also related to some forms of trust in government. However, possibly more important are citizen perceptions that policy processes respect rights, procedures, and laws. To increase trust in government, practitioners need to practice, and show that they practice, good processes in developing and delivering policy, and show that policy leads to better perceived outcomes.

Information management for trust computation on resource-constrained IoT devices

Resource-constrained Internet of Things (IoT) devices are executing increasingly sophisticated applications that may require computational or memory intensive tasks to be executed. Due to their resource constraints, IoT devices may be unable to compute these tasks and will offload them to more powerful resource-rich edge nodes. However, as edge nodes may not necessarily behave as expected, an IoT device needs to be able to select which edge node should execute its tasks. This selection problem can be addressed by using a measure of behavioural trust of the edge nodes delivering a correct response, based on historical information about past interactions with edge nodes that are stored in memory. However, due to their constrained memory capacity, IoT devices will only be able to store a limited amount of trust information, thereby requiring an eviction strategy when its memory is full of which there has been limited investigation in the literature. To address this, we develop the concept of the memory profile of an agent and that profile’s utility. We formalise the profile eviction problem in a unified profile memory model and show it is NP-complete. To circumvent the inherent complexity, we study the performance of eviction algorithms in a partitioned profile memory model using our utility metric. Our results show that localised eviction strategies which only consider one specific type of information do not perform well. Thus we propose a novel eviction strategy that globally considers all types of trust information stored and we show that it outperforms local eviction strategies for the majority of memory sizes and agent behaviours. In this paper, we develop a concept of information utility to a trust model and formalise the problem of information eviction, which we prove to be NP-complete. We then investigate the usefulness of different eviction strategies to maximise the utility of information stored to enable trust-based task offloading.