Perceptions Of Trustworthiness Research Articles

“I'll buy what she's #wearing”: The roles of envy toward and parasocial interaction with influencers in Instagram celebrity-based brand endorsement and social commerce

Companies increasingly leverage Instagram as a channel for brand management, consumer services, and social commerce. This study addresses the dynamics of interaction among brand-related user-generated contents (UGC) posted on Instagram, social media-based brand communication with Instagram celebrities (parasocial interaction [PSI] and envy), and consumers' characteristics (social comparison tendency, compulsive buying tendency, and materialistic envy). Three between-subjects experiments (Experiment 1: N = 121; Experiment 2: N = 106; Experiment 3: N = 377) were conducted to test the effects of Instagram influencers and their branded-UGC on consumer behavior outcomes. Experiment 1 employed a 3 (branded content type [Instagram influencer's photo type]: selfies vs. photos taken by others vs. group photos) x 2 (gender: female vs. male) factorial design. Experiment 2 employed a 2 (content generator type: Instagram celebrity vs. mainstream celebrity) x 2 (gender: female vs. male) factorial design. Experiment 3 deployed a 2 (branded content type: photos listing products vs. photos showing models) x 2 (content generator type: commercial brand [corporate] vs. Instagram celebrity [human]) factorial design. Experiment 1 indicates Instagram influencers' photo types and gender moderate the effects of envy toward and PSI with them on consumers' intention to buy the products Instagram influencers are wearing. Experiment 2 shows content generator types and gender moderate the effects of envy and PSI on source trustworthiness perception. Experiment 3 demonstrates branded content types and content generator types moderate the effects of consumers' physical appearance social comparison tendency, compulsive buying tendency, and materialistic envy on brand trust. This study makes theoretical contributions to the literature on retailing and consumer services as well as provides managerial implications for Instafamous-based influencer marketing and social commerce in Web 2.0 environments.

Introduction to Special Issue: Trust in Doubt: Consuming in a Post-Truth World

Introduction to Special Issue: Trust in Doubt: Consuming in a Post-Truth World

Living in a Disadvantaged Neighborhood Affects Neural Processing of Facial Trustworthiness.

Neighborhood disorder (i.e., physical or social decay) is associated with decreased trust, which reinforces criminal behavior among some individuals in these communities. However, past research largely is descriptive and has not measured processes underlying trust. Using behavioral and neural indices [the late positive potential (LPP), a marker of salience elaboration] in a sample of adults (N = 55), we examined the association between perceived neighborhood disorder and facial trustworthiness perception as well as the potential moderating role of trustworthiness perception on the association between PND and criminal behavior. Individuals with higher perceived neighborhood disorder displayed less LPP differentiation between untrustworthy and trustworthy faces. Moreover, individuals with higher perceived neighborhood disorder and less LPP differentiation were less likely to commit a variety of crimes, whereas those with higher perceptions of neighborhood disorder and high LPP differentiation were more likely to commit a variety of crimes. Combined, these findings suggest that similarly processing trustworthy and untrustworthy faces, as indexed by less LPP differentiation, may reflect an adaptation among those with higher perceived neighborhood disorder that mitigates against deviant behavior and contacts with the law. Understanding the intersection between neighborhood characteristics and individual-level cognitive-affective processing may provide insight into what shapes beliefs and behaviors about important social information.

Recessionary actions and absence: A workplace‐level study

AbstractActions such as work restructuring and wage and employment freezes taken by organizations in response to recessions are widely assumed to decrease employees' job security and detrimentally affect perceptions of management's trustworthiness. We assess whether these effects occur and if, in turn, they affect workplace absenteeism. Using data from Britain's Workplace Employee Relations Survey 2011, we show that the effects on stress‐based absence are limited and not as predicted, but the effects on withdrawal‐based absence are strong and as predicted. Reductions in well‐being or job security's effect on well‐being did not affect absence, and while the reduction of trust perceptions' effect was to increase anxiety, anxiety did not increase but reduced absenteeism. The effects on withdrawal absence differ: those of recessionary action through job security reduce absenteeism, while those through trust perceptions increase it, both as predicted. The two effects involving trust perceptions are less pronounced when recessionary actions are accompanied by voluntary layoffs, but not by compulsory layoffs. The implications for management are that they should be more conscious of the effects on absence when planning recessionary actions, and more generally their effects on presenteeism.

APPsolutely trustworthy? Perceptions of trust and bias in mobile apps

ABSTRACTAlmost all news media, political organizations and candidates now have a dedicated app that provides superior visibility and readability on a mobile device than a website. Mobile apps figure predominately in news consumers’ lives, making it crucial to understand if users view app information as trustworthy and biased. With the proliferation of apps on tablets and smartphones, perceptions of app trustworthiness and bias are important to study, especially in times of flagging media trust and use. Comparisons of perceptions of trustworthiness show that apps are significantly more trusted than social media (political blogs, Facebook, Twitter, video sites, and social news sites), but significantly below broadcast and cable television news (Fox News, CNN, MSNBC), print media (newspapers, news magazines), and talk and news radio. Trust in apps is also significantly predicted by reliance on apps. Mobile apps are also deemed significantly less biased than social media, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and talk radio. Further, perceptual bias of political blogs and talk radio negatively predict trust in apps, but bias in CNN, newspapers, news magazines, and news radio is associated with high trust in apps.

National images, trust and international friendship: Evidence from Chinese students

This article uses a new dataset of Chinese student attitudes to foreign affairs to analyse how perceptions of the United States, Russia, Japan and North and South Korea affect respondent perceptions of international friendship with these states. Employing a mediation analysis we find that perceptions of national trustworthiness above all other images is the crucial factor in explaining cross-national friendship. These findings suggest that trust-building measures would be a fruitful avenue for both reducing the likelihood of conflict in the region and fostering cooperative international interactions.

Trusting Autonomous Security Robots: The Role of Reliability and Stated Social Intent.

This research examined the effects of reliability and stated social intent on trust, trustworthiness, and one's willingness to endorse use of an autonomous security robot (ASR). Human-robot interactions in the domain of security is plausible, yet we know very little about what drives acceptance of ASRs. Past research has used static images and game-based simulations to depict the robots versus actual humans interacting with actual robots. A video depicted an ASR interacting with a human. The ASR reviewed access credentials and allowed entrance once verified. If the ASR could not verify one's credentials it instructed the visitor to return to the security checkpoint. The ASR was equipped with a nonlethal device and the robot used this device on one of the three visitors (a research confederate). Manipulations of reliability and stated social intent of the ASR were used in a 2 × 4 between subjects design (N = 320). Reliability influenced trust and trustworthiness. Stated social intent influenced trustworthiness. Participants reported being more favorable toward use of the ASR in military contexts versus public contexts. The study demonstrated that reliability of the ASR and statements regarding the ASR's stated social intent are important considerations influencing the trust process (inclusive of intentions to be vulnerable and trustworthiness perceptions). If robotic systems are authorized to use force against a human, public acceptance may be increased with availability of the intent-based programming of the robot and whether or not the robot's decision was reliable.

Evidence Head Tilt Has Dissociable Effects on Dominance and Trustworthiness Judgments, But Does Not Have Category-Contingent Effects on Hypothetical Leadership Judgments.

Previous research has found that physical characteristics in faces that influence perceptions of trustworthiness and dominance have context-contingent effects on leadership perceptions. People whose faces are perceived to be trustworthy are judged to be better leaders in peacetime contexts than wartime contexts. By contrast, people whose faces are perceived to be dominant are judged to be better leaders in wartime contexts than peacetime contexts. Here, we tested for judgment-contingent (dominance vs. trustworthiness) effects of head tilt (i.e., head pitch rotation) on person perception and context-contingent (peacetime vs. wartime) effects of head tilt on leadership judgments. Although we found that head tilt influenced judgments of trustworthiness and dominance (Study 1), head tilt did not influence leadership judgments (Study 2). Together, these results suggest that the context-contingent effects of physical characteristics on leadership judgments reported in previous work do not necessarily extend to head tilt, even though head tilt influences perceptions of trustworthiness and dominance.

Makeup or mask: makeup’s effect on salesperson trustworthiness

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate how the use of varying amounts of makeup by sales personnel influences perceived salesperson trustworthiness and downstream purchase intentions/sales effectiveness.Design/methodology/approachTwo studies were run with female and male makeup usage examined separately. In each study, a between-subjects, scenario-based experiment was run on Qualtrics in which participants were randomly assigned to conditions representing a salesperson with varying levels of makeup usage (none to glamorous/extreme).FindingsUsing ANOVA, the authors find that the glamorous/extreme makeup condition led to significantly lower perceptions of trustworthiness. Furthermore, mediation models for both studies found that increased salesperson makeup predicted lower perceived trustworthiness, resulting in lower purchase intentions and sales effectiveness.Practical implicationsManagers and salespersons can benefit from these findings through increased awareness of the “masking” effect of wearing too much makeup and the insight that more is not always better when it comes to the use of makeup to increase salesperson attractiveness and effectiveness.Originality/valueMuch work has been done in the past on attractiveness of salespersons in general and the “beauty premium.” The present work expands on this literature by examining a specific strategy, yet to be rigorously examined, that sales personnel may use to increase their attractiveness – makeup, and by identifying an “optimal” level of makeup usage.

A 2020 perspective on “The building of online trust in e-business relationships”

Abstract This research commentary discusses the perspectives offered in the article “The building of trust in online relationships.” The update argues that the creation of online trust is essential to support effective e-commerce transactions and interorganizational relationships. This goes beyond the advantages that buyers and sellers perceive to have become available through the digitalization of transaction-making. For this reason, we call for new kinds of research that goes beyond what the literature has presented before, to include new kinds of data, such as the digital traces of speech and communication. We also advocate more experimental research on consumer perceptions of organizational trustworthiness, including the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) of the brain to gain a more complete understanding of consumer information and perception processing, and their effects on their decision-making.

Traženje informacija o karijeri kod studenata psihologije u Republici Hrvatskoj: preliminarni podaci

Adaptation to job market requirements can be easier if one possesses adequate skills and uses reliable career information sources. Psychology students have a broad spectrum of skills; however, little is known about their career information seeking behavior. The main goal of the study was to identify sources of career-related information that Croatian psychology students use and to determine their level of satisfaction with the sources, perception of trustworthiness of and accessibility to those sources. These characteristics are important determinants of sources prolonged use. A pencil-paper study was conducted on a sample of 337 psychology students. The main findings are: 1) students on average use 6 career information sources, with friends and immediate family members being dominant; 2) students are the most satisfied with practitioners, who are also trusted the most; 3) Students do not perceive any information source as highly available to them. The present study gives a first insight into career information seeking behavior of Croatian psychology students. Hopefully, more studies and practical implications will follow. Keywords: career development, information seeking behavior, psychology students, sources of career-related information

Age preferences for advertisement models differ by their gender / Las preferencias de edad de los modelos publicitarios varían en función del sexo del modelo

Based on evolutionary psychology, this paper investigates whether age preferences for ad models differ according to the model’s gender. The study is the first to experimentally document the double standard of ageing in consumer appraisals of advertisements. Fictitious advertisements were created for mineral water, chewing gum and energy bars, manipulating the ages of the models. Each participant was randomly placed in one of four conditions using a 2 (Model Age) × 2 (Model Gender) between-subjects experimental design and asked to rate the ads. As hypothesized, mature male models elicited a more favourable response than did young ones, whereas mature female models elicited a less favourable response than did young ones. The link between the model’s age and the attitude towards the ad was mediated by the model’s attractiveness. These preliminary results suggest that in choosing ad models, advertisers should take into consideration that mature male models and young female models are rated as attractive, eliciting favourable responses from potential consumers. Nonetheless, mature age can elicit the perception of trustworthiness of the model.

Can processing of face trustworthiness bypass early visual cortex? A transcranial magnetic stimulation masking study

As a highly social species, we constantly evaluate human faces to decide whether we can trust someone. Previous studies suggest that face trustworthiness can be processed unconsciously, but the underlying neural pathways remain unclear. Specifically, the question remains whether processing of face trustworthiness relies on early visual cortex (EVC), required for conscious perception. If processing of trustworthiness can bypass EVC, then disrupting EVC should impair subjective (conscious) trustworthiness perception while leaving objective (forced-choice) trustworthiness judgment intact. We applied double-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to right EVC, at different stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) from presentation of a face in either the left or right hemifield. Faces were slightly rotated clockwise or counterclockwise, and were either trustworthy or untrustworthy. On each trial, participants discriminated 1) trustworthiness, 2) stimulus rotation, and 3) reported subjective visibility of trustworthiness. At early SOAs and specifically in the left hemifield, performance on the rotation task was impaired by TMS. Crucially, though TMS also impaired subjective visibility of trustworthiness, no effects on trustworthiness discrimination were obtained. Thus, conscious perception of face trustworthiness (captured by subjective visibility ratings) relies on intact EVC, while objective forced-choice trustworthiness judgments may not. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that objective trustworthiness processing can bypass EVC. For basic visual features, extrastriate pathways are well-established; but face trustworthiness depends on a complex configuration of features. Its potential processing without EVC is therefore of particular interest, further highlighting its ecological relevance.

Does procedural fairness matter for drug abusers to stop illicit drug use? Testing the applicability of the process-based model in a Chinese context

ABSTRACTThis study examined the influences of procedural fairness on Chinese drug users’ efforts to stop substance abuse, with a primary goal to test the applicability of the process-based model in the Chinese context. According to Tyler (1990, Why people obey the law. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press), the core theoretical argument underpinning the process-based model is that if citizens consider the police to be fair in using their powers, they will view the police as legitimate and accordingly cooperate with the police and comply with the law. Using data from a sample of 202 Chinese drug users, this study found that procedural fairness has an indirect effect on drug users’ efforts to stop illicit drug use. Specifically, procedural fairness used by the police increased Chinese drug users’ efforts to stop substance abuse through its prior effects on drug users’ perceptions of police trustworthiness. These findings provide some support for the key arguments of the process-based model of regulation, and have important implications for the direction of efforts to encourage desistance-related behavior among substance abusers.

Legitimizing policing practices: a study of stakeholder perceptions of police trustworthiness, effectiveness and relationship with the community

ABSTRACT In an attempt to better meet the needs of the communities, the Tuvalu Police Service (TPS) commissioned a survey to investigate stakeholder perceptions of police service provision across its nine islands. This paper presents the findings of the survey and examines the responses of community residents (N = 1896) to determine public perceptions of police trustworthiness, police effectiveness and the relationship between the TPS and the community. The results suggest community residents have positive views of the TPS as service providers. However, there are mixed views about police trustworthiness and the ability of TPS officers to respond to crime. We examine how community policing in Tuvalu shapes public perceptions of police, thus building on a small body of scholarship examining perceptions of police in the developing world. As such, this study contributes new knowledge regarding public perceptions of the TPS and police fairness in Tuvalu, an area hitherto under researched in the policing literature examining policing in the South Pacific. It also informs police practice regarding improving policing in communities where justice systems are dominated by cultural practices involving community elders and chiefly councils.

Youths’ Facial Appearance Distinguishes Leaders From Followers in Group-Perpetrated Criminal Offenses and Is Associated With Sentencing Outcomes

Group-perpetrated crime often involves leaders and followers, but it is not currently understood how peer groups form around leaders during a criminal incident. Impression formation research has shown that specific facial cues are associated with leadership and perceptions of leadership. We extend this research to leadership among group-perpetrated youth crime and examine its role in downstream sentencing outcomes. Study 1 revealed that leaders of groups may be perceived as more dominant than their followers. In Study 2, participants were tasked with selecting the leaders from their groups and were more likely to (correctly) select targets perceived as more dominant but also (incorrectly) select targets perceived as more Trustworthy. In Study 3, we examined whether facial impressions were associated with downstream sentencing outcomes. Perceptions of Trustworthiness were associated with reduced sentencing, but dominance was unrelated. The results underscore the role that facial appearance plays in group formation and sentencing among youth.

Are Investors Warned by Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest? The Moderating Effect of Investment Horizon

ABSTRACTFinancial analysts are required to disclose conflicts of interest (COI) in their research reports, but there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of COI disclosures. We investigate whether the influence of disclosing COI in analyst reports on investors' decision making depends on investment horizon. Experimental results show that short-term investors who view a COI disclosure are significantly less willing to invest in the recommended stock compared to short-term investors who do not view such a disclosure, while the presence of a COI disclosure does not significantly affect long-term investors' willingness to invest. Results further demonstrate that the COI disclosure decreases short-term investors' willingness to invest by reducing their perception of analysts' trustworthiness and expertness. This study provides evidence on when and how the COI disclosure can influence investors' behavior and enhances our understanding of investors' reactions to cautionary disclaimers.Data Availability: Contact the authors.

Facial Trustworthiness and Criminal Sentencing: A Comment on Wilson and Rule (2015).

Our first impressions of others, whether accurate or unfounded, have real-world consequences in terms of how we judge and treat those people. Previous research has suggested that criminal sentencing is influenced by the perceived facial trustworthiness of defendants in murder trials. In real cases, those who appeared less trustworthy were more likely to receive death rather than life sentences. Here, we carried out several attempts to replicate this finding, utilizing the original set of stimuli (Study 1), multiple images of each identity (Study 2), and a larger sample of identities (Study 3). In all cases, we found little support for the association between facial trustworthiness and sentencing. Furthermore, there was clear evidence that the specific image chosen to depict each identity had a significant influence on subsequent judgments. Taken together, our findings suggest that perceptions of facial trustworthiness have no real-world influence on sentencing outcomes in serious criminal cases.

SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT IN OLD AGE: IMPACTS OF AGING UNDER INTERPERSONAL, MORAL, AND POLITICAL CONTEXTS

To promote successful aging, social engagement has been encouraged among older adults. Yet, thus far, research on older adults’ social engagement have been preoccupied with the close and intimate relationships between older adults and their families, friends, or caretakers. Little attention is being paid to how older adults may engage in peripheral social networks, civic activities, or public affairs. This symposium features four presentations that investigate older adults’ social engagement in these contexts. First, with the focus on interpersonal interaction with strangers, Yi Lu and colleagues examine the age differences in trustworthiness perception of unfamiliar faces. The second and third presentations focus on moral and political contexts. Minjie Lu will present the divergent impacts of age on the cognitive evaluations and emotional responses towards moral issues. Wong and Fung analyze older adults’ engagements in political discussions and actions and the factors that may promote these engagements. Last but not least, Nicole Fung and colleagues will present findings that generativity among older adults can promote sense of meanings and death acceptance, demonstrating the beneficial effects of social engagement in old age. Finally, Zhang will provide closing discussions about the implications and future directions of these presentations.

VIEWING TIME AND FACIAL TRUSTWORTHINESS PERCEPTIONS: GIVE IT A SECOND THINK MAY NOT WORK FOR OLDER ADULTS

Older adults tend to rate higher on trustworthiness of unfamiliar faces than younger adults. Contrary to the notion that it would be beneficial for them to have enough time to process, cognitive control theory suggests that older adults’ facial trustworthiness evaluation increases over time, making them more vulnerable to fraud. The present study aimed at exploring age differences in trustworthiness perception of unfamiliar faces, and how viewing time could impact. A 2 (age: old vs. young) ×2 (viewing time: 500 ms vs. 3000 ms) ×2 (facial trustworthiness: control vs. low trustworthiness) factorial design was conducted. As expected a significant three-way interaction revealed that viewing time only influenced older adults’ facial trustworthiness evaluation, and only when given shorter viewing time did older adults exhibit accurate facial trustworthiness ratings as younger adults. These findings suggest that a second think in facial perception may not work for older adults.