Perceptions Of Trustworthiness Research Articles

Physician treatment quality, visit outcomes and physician age: What predicts older patients' willingness to cooperate?

AbstractSuccessful health outcomes require a positive alliance between health provider and patient, especially for older patients often managing chronic medical conditions. We predicted that age differences between physician and patient could serve as a social category cue that impacts older patients' cooperation. Older adults evaluated a hypothetical physician visit (Study 1, N = 308), a hypothetical physician's web page (Study 2, N = 339) or described their most recent visit to a physician (Study 3, N = 448). Physician treatment (e.g., respect) and visit outcomes (e.g., the physician's ability to recognize and address their symptoms) shaped patients' trust, compliance and willingness to disclose medically relevant information. However, when the physician was much younger than the participant, visit outcomes more strongly predicted their perceptions of physician trustworthiness (Study 1), their willingness to disclose information (Study 3) and their willingness to comply (Studies 1 and 2). When the physician was close to the participants' age, physician treatment shaped participants' willingness to disclose information more strongly (Study 3). Large age differences can prime intergroup differences that make establishing a bond between healthcare provider and patient more challenging. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Changing the Blame Game: Does the Presence of a Pay Ratio Disclosure Impact Nonprofessional Investors' Reactions to CEOs' Internal Attributions for Poor Firm Performance?

ABSTRACT We conduct two experiments to investigate how the presence of the CEO pay ratio, a recently mandated disclosure, influences nonprofessional investors' reactions to a CEO's internal attributions for poor firm performance. Results of our first experiment suggest that relative to blaming oneself, blaming other firm employees for poor firm performance more effectively absolves a CEO from responsibility for poor firm performance and damages perceptions of the CEO's trustworthiness less when a pay ratio disclosure is present versus absent. These perceptions, in turn, affect investors' support for the CEO's compensation and the company's attractiveness as an investment. Our second experiment provides evidence of the underlying process, showing the pay ratio disclosure and the CEO's attribution to other employees affects the perceived status of a CEO. Together, our findings inform managers about the impact of their attributions for poor firm performance and regulators about potential unintended consequences of pay ratio disclosures. Data Availability: Contact the authors. JEL Classifications: G40; M41; M52.

Consensus and (lack of) accuracy in perceptions of avatar trustworthiness

In some online interactions, people use avatars to represent themselves and judge whether interaction partners should be trusted. However, little is known about human accuracy in perceptions of avatar trustworthiness. We conducted a two-stage study to investigate whether people are able to accurately judge trustworthiness in avatars. In Stage 1, participants created avatars using avatarmaker.com and made decisions as trustees in an incentivized trust game (N = 360 avatars). In Stage 2, a new group of participants (N = 315 raters) were presented with avatars created in Stage 1; rated their trustworthiness; and made decisions about whether to trust them. We observed three main results: First, there was a high level of consensus in perceptions of avatar trustworthiness. Differences in trustworthiness judgments were mainly attributed to differences between avatars (rather than differences between raters). Second, raters' trust decisions were guided by their perceptions of avatar trustworthiness. Third, perceptions of avatar trustworthiness were not associated with actual trustworthiness of avatar creators. People were not, on average, able to accurately identify the actual trustworthiness of avatar creators from avatar appearance. Our results suggest that people erroneously rely on others’ avatar appearance in online interactions.

Exploring the Effects of Swarm Degradations on Trustworthiness Perceptions, Reliance Intentions, and Reliance Behaviors

Swarms comprise robotic assets operating autonomously through local control laws. Research on human-swarm interaction (HSwI) investigates how human operators collaborate with swarms to accomplish shared goals. Researchers have begun to investigate the role of trust in HSwI, specifically which aspects of robotic swarms affect human trust. Through a human factors lens, the present research builds on earlier HSwI work and investigates the effect of swarm asset degradations on trustworthiness perceptions, reliance intentions, and reliance behaviors. Results showed that trustworthiness perceptions of and intentions to rely on swarms (but not reliance behaviors) were correlated, demonstrating the relation between theoretically relevant antecedents to trust in HSwI contexts. Contrary to past work, the results showed no statistical evidence that asset degradations differentially affect trustworthiness perceptions, reliance intentions, or reliance behaviors. Limitations of the current work (e.g., heterogeneity of post-intervention foraging behavior, sample size) are discussed and followed with future research suggestions.

Examining the Relationship between Tourism Information Quality Dimensions and Recommendation Adoption

The purpose of this study is to identify the main dimensions of information quality (IQ) affecting perceived website trust toward consumer generated media (CGM) and its influence on recommendation adoption applied on the travel websites in Egypt. A qualitative exploratory study was conducted that employed in-depth interviews with users looking for online reviews on travel websites. This was followed by a quantitative study which involves a survey-based questionnaire. 253 valid questionnaires were collected through a non-probability convenience sampling technique from users looking for online reviews on online travel website in Egypt. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (Smart PLS 3.2.2) and SPSS V.27. The study results show that value added, timeliness, the accuracy of the information, and consensuses on review are having the strongest favorable impact on perceived website trust toward (CGM). Relevancy, believability and reputation of both information and the reviewer are having no significant positive effect on website trust. Moreover, Perceived website trust toward (CGM) shows a positive significant impact on recommendation adoption. Finally, completeness and objectivity of information are negatively influencing Perceived website trust toward (CGM). Thus, managers should focus their effort to understand the drivers and consequences of trust to their CGM website, in order to achieve customer satisfaction, website quality and website trustworthiness perceptions, which could boost their popularity and increase their influence in the industry.

Credible Influencers

Abstract. Influencers are semi-professional microcelebrities on social media platforms such as YouTube, often sponsored by brands to promote lifestyle products to followers. Influencers navigate opposing tensions of their authenticity and relatability with their carefully crafted personas and commercial interests. We draw from warranting theory to propose that influencer trustworthiness and expertise would be differentially affected by several key message cues: production modification, self-disclosure, and sponsorship disclosure. A 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment with original influencer videos tested effects on trustworthiness and expertise, as well as downstream effects on attitudes and intentions. Video modification had a positive effect on expertise, but no effect on trustworthiness. Self-disclosure had a surprisingly negative effect on trustworthiness. Sponsorship disclosure only had an effect on perceived sponsorship. However, modification and sponsorship disclosure interacted, so that modification boosted both expertise and trust when videos were unsponsored. Finally, expertise mediated effects of modification on attitudes, and trustworthiness mediated effects of self-disclosure. Findings illustrate distinct roles for expertise, trustworthiness, and sponsorship perceptions in the influencer context.

Group membership moderates the process of making trust judgments based on facial cues

ABSTRACT Trust is a foundation of interpersonal communication. Faces have a significant impact on trust judgments, and separate research demonstrates that group membership also influences trust judgments. However, it remains unclear whether and how group membership moderates the effect of face trustworthiness on trust judgments and investment decisions. In the present research, two experiments were conducted to explore the moderating effect of group membership (i.e., in-group vs. out-group) on perceptions of facial trustworthiness and trust judgments. Results showed that participants invested significantly more money on trials with trustworthy faces than trials with untrustworthy faces. Additionally, there was a significant interaction between group membership and facial trustworthiness; the investment difference between trustworthy faces and untrustworthy faces was greater for trials with in-group member faces than out-group member faces. These findings indicate that top-down and bottom-up cues jointly influence behavioral decisions.

Contrasting Public Perceptions of Government versus Certified Public Accounting Firm Oversight of Relief Packages

ABSTRACTThis study examines public perceptions of potential overseers charged with ensuring that relief packages are distributed to the intended audience. In an experiment, we assess perceptions of trustworthiness and fraud reduction ability between government and public accounting firm employees in the context of relief package oversight. While actual ability is important, public perceptions of overseer ability is also essential for relief packages to be fully effective. We find that people, regardless of their political party affiliation, rate public accounting firm employees as more trustworthy and better able to reduce fraud than government employees. For government oversight, participant political party affiliation influences perceptions of employee ability and is mediated by general trust in government. These findings suggest public accounting firms are a viable alternative to increase public perceptions that relief packages are distributed effectively. Initial evidence suggests educating the public on the role of career government employees may raise public opinion.Data Availability: Data are available from the authors upon request.JEL Classifications: H12, H84, M41, M48.

Police perceptions of body-worn cameras (BWCs) by type of police agency

ABSTRACT This study compared police perceptions of BWCs in terms of officers’ perceptions of BWCs acceptance (police support for BWCs, citizen support of BWCs, and comfort with the use of BWCs), the effect of BWCs on police (transparency, accountability, respectful treatment, use of force, and officer safety), the effect of BWCs on citizens (general perceptions of police, perceptions of police trustworthiness, respect toward police, satisfaction with police, and citizen safety), officer activity (response to calls for service and enforcement of the law), and complaints (internal and citizen complaints) among different types of police agencies. The data were collected from a survey administered to 131 police officers from the State Police (SP), City Police (CP), and University Police (UP). The results of bivariate and multivariate analysis showed that CP officers have the most positive views of BWCs, followed by UP officers, and SP officers. The multivariate analyses also showed that a significant difference was found between CP and SP officers for BWCs acceptance, effect of BWCs on police and citizens, and complaints, between CP and UP officers for effect of BWCs on citizens, while no significant difference was found between SP and UP officers. The results and policy implications are discussed.

Voice Pitch and Leadership: Moderating Effects of CEO Accentedness and Follower Native Status

We investigate whether vocal pitch of CEOs affects followers’ perception of leader trustworthiness and whether the foreign accentedness of the CEOs and the national origin of the followers moderate the relationship through an experimental study. While the negative relationship between vocal pitch and leadership qualities have been established in previous studies, most of the results were about native-born leaders and native-born followers. We explore whether what holds true for the traditionally typical native-born leadership and followership would also pattern with foreign-born leadership and followership. We conducted a forced-choice speech perception experiment with 12 native and foreign CEOs in US and native and foreign listeners in US. Importantly, the CEOs’ speech samples were acoustically altered so that there were three vocal pitch levels, LOW, MID, and HIGH. Overall, participants selected speech samples with lower voice pitch as more trustworthy-sounding leaders, replicating the findings in the previous studies. However, this tendency was moderated by the foreign accentedness of CEOs and the native status of listeners. That is, the negative relationship between voice pitch and leader trustworthiness was 1) weaker when the CEO was foreign-accented and 2) stronger when the listener was foreign-born. These findings expand our understanding on voice pitch perception and leadership trustworthiness in the context of leader-follower communication in the globalization era.

Getting worse or getting better? Understanding the antecedents and consequences of emotion profile transitions during COVID-19-induced organizational crisis.

While some organizations are thriving during the COVID-19 pandemic, many are experiencing a crisis-a threat to organizational longevity, time pressure, and inadequate resources. Building on prior work examining emotions during times of crisis and changes that people undergo during major life transitions, as well as media accounts suggesting that employees have had positive and negative emotions tied to aspects of working during COVID-19, we adopt a person-centric view to examine profiles of monthly emotions regarding organizational reopening. Additionally, we consider how employees transition from one profile of emotions to another across months. In so doing, we consider whether feelings of hope, gratitude, fear, and resentment co-occur for employees; how employees transition across profiles from one month to the next as a function of perceptions of organizational leaders' trustworthiness and their handling of the COVID-19 crisis; and how changes in profile membership relate to employee well-being, work outcomes, and prevention behaviors to avoid contracting COVID-19. Using 1,422 total measurements from August 2020 to November 2020 from employees at a single university during two monthly transitions with significant crisis-related events (i.e., return to in-person teaching, students living on campus, announcement of pay cuts and furloughs, and the subsequent announcement that some of those conditions would change), we identified four profiles of monthly emotions, with perceived leader trustworthiness and handling of the pandemic being critical features of why employees belonged to different profiles between August-September and October-November. Further, we found implications of monthly transitions for work and COVID-related outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The impression management-emergent leadership relationship: The mediating role of trustworthiness

Recent research has greatly expanded our understanding of the element of emergent leadership (i.e., being perceived as “leaderlike”, despite a lack of formal status or authority), exploring a number of individual behaviors thought to impact team members’ perceptions of others as leaderlike. While growing attention to how individuals’ natural behaviors influence these emergent leadership perceptions has seen success, questions regarding the impact of strategically used behaviors remain. To better our understanding of how conscious attempts to influence others’ perceptions lead to informal leader emergence, I examine how different impression management tactics spark varying effects on these resulting perceptions. Further, I examine perceptions of trustworthiness as a mediating mechanism of this relationship and how an individual’s trait authenticity moderates subsequent leadership emergence. In doing so, I look to provide a link between signaling and social categorization theories to help show how calculated behaviors act as signals of attributes associated with perceived leaders.

Age differences in facial trustworthiness perception are diminished by affective processing.

While perceptions of facial trustworthiness usually serve as our first references for social interactions, these impressions may ultimately turn out to be inaccurate or unreliable. Compared with younger adults, older adults generally face a higher risk of fraudulent exploitation; the characteristics of older adults' facial trustworthiness perception may play an important role in revealing the underlying mechanism of their being cheated. Previous studies have demonstrated that, in comparison with their younger counterparts, older adults tend to overestimate strangers' facial trustworthiness. In the present study, two experiments were conducted, aiming at testing (1) the age-related differences in facial trustworthiness perceptions (Experiment 1) and (2) whether any interventions (e.g., encouraging more deliberative processing or more affective processing) could be applied to help older adults reduce their tendency to overestimate trustworthiness, thus reducing their facial trustworthiness ratings to a lower level (Experiment 2). The results indicated that (1) consistent with previous studies, older adults provided higher trustworthiness ratings for unfamiliar faces than did younger adults (Experiment 1) and (2) more importantly, affective processing instead of deliberative processing could benefit older adults in their assessments of facial trustworthiness, leading them toward demonstrating similar-not significantly higher-levels of trust toward strange faces as younger adults (Experiment 2). A possible mechanism was offered, suggesting that affective processing might help older adults to detect negative cues in unfamiliar faces.

Shared Identity, Trustworthiness, and Social Distance in Online Training

This research examines shared identity in the context of online training. Specifically, we examine the impact of perceived shared identity on social distance, operationalized as one's willingness to work with another person and their willingness to recommend that person for a job. We conduct two studies of simulated online training and find that increased shared identity plays an important role in the online training process and that perceptions of trustworthiness mediate the relationship between shared identity and social distance. This research explores the impact social exchange has in online training when specifically examining social exchange between the trainer and trainee.

Indian study shows that encouraging knowledge sharing at work can help spark innovative behavior

PurposeThe authors wanted to find out the most important mechanisms for encouraging innovative behavior in the Indian manufacturing sector.Design/methodology/approachThe researchers collected data from Indian manufacturing organizations. They distributed questionnaires and received 288 complete ones. Items measured critical concepts. For OJ one example was “I have been fairly rewarded for the effort I put forth”. For KS, one sample was, “When I have learned something new, I tell my colleagues about it” and, “When they have learned something new, my colleagues tell me about it”. Meanwhile, IB was measured using items such as “I generate original solutions for problems”.FindingsIt highlighted the pivotal role of OJ in bolstering employees’ IB. When companies treat employees fairly, it encourages positive social interactions that lead to perceptions of supportiveness and trustworthiness. Employees reciprocate these sentiments with positive behavior. The study also showed the positive predictive influence of KS on IB. Finally, the results showed that the relationship between OJ and IB is complex, but KS is a pivotal mediator. Promotion of OJ, KS and IM is “vital” to spark innovation.Originality/valueThe authors felt their most important finding was to highlight the critical role of the underlying mechanism of KS, which is where individuals exchange implicit and explicit knowledge to create new knowledge. In addition, previous researchers have looked at the role of organizational justice in encouraging innovative behavior, but evidence from non-Western countries is scarce.

First Impression Formation Based on Valenced Self-Disclosure in Social Media Profiles.

This study aims to understand how the valence of self-disclosure (operationalized as the dominantly positive vs. balanced vs. dominantly negative social media posts of a future collaborator) influences first impression formation on social media. We also focus on trustworthiness as a mediator and perceived homophily as a moderator to specify the underlying mechanisms through which self-disclosure valence affects first impression formation. The results from an online experiment (N = 204) suggest that self-disclosure valence has a significant effect on perceived trustworthiness and likability when individuals evaluate an unknown future collaborator using the social media profile. Trustworthiness mediates the effect of self-disclosure valence on likability when the individuals feel that they are dissimilar or even slightly similar to strangers. At that time, individuals tend to seek cues from both self-disclosure valence and perceived homophily to form the trustworthiness perception, and the influence of self-disclosure depends on the level of perceived homophily.

Viewing time and facial trustworthiness perception: Giving it a second thought may not work for older adults.

Older adults tend to rate unfamiliar faces higher on trustworthiness than do their younger counterparts. Although the saying goes "look before you leap", it is still unknown whether such a strategy could also apply to facial trustworthiness perception, and our understanding of the time course in facial trustworthiness perception also remains unclear. Here, we have argued that a cognitive controlled process suggested by "socioemotional selectivity theory" could potentially lead to such biased trustworthiness perception. Two experiments were conducted to test the association between viewing time and trustworthiness perception. The first study used hierarchical linear modeling in a sample of younger (N=30, Mage =20.53, SD=1.61, 50% female) and older (N=30, Mage =63.27, SD=3.14, 43% female) adults, and found that viewing time and trustworthiness evaluation were positively associated. Using the same stimuli, our second study further manipulated viewing time by two levels (500 ms vs. 3000 ms) and compared younger (N=28, Mage =23.93, SD=2.68, 50% female) and older (N=30, Mage =64.47, SD=4.32, 50% female) adults' facial trustworthiness evaluation. As expected, a significant three-way interaction revealed that viewing time only impacted older adults' facial trustworthiness evaluation, and only when given shorter viewing time did older adults show similar facial trustworthiness ratings as younger adults. The present study is the first to directly investigate the relationship between older adults' viewing time on unfamiliar faces and their perception of facial trustworthiness. Findings suggested that a second thought in facial perception may not benefit older adults' trustworthiness evaluation.

Maximising Soft Power: the Role of Digital Diplomacy in Building Trust with Nation-Branding

Perceptions of attractiveness and trustworthiness impact the prosperity and influence of countries. A country's soft power is not guaranteed. Countries have their brands, an image shaped by the behaviour of governments, by what they do and say, whom they associate with, and how they conduct themselves on the global stage. Increasingly, digital diplomacy plays a crucial role in the creation and application of soft power. This paper argues that digital diplomacy is increasingly vital in the articulation of soft power. Digital diplomacy is a new way of conducting public diplomacy, offering new and unparalleled ways of building trust with previously disengaged audiences. Soft power is now the driving force behind reputation and influence on the global stage, where increasingly digital diplomacy plays an essential role.

Communicating Uncertainties About the Effects of Medical Interventions Using Different Display Formats.

Communicating uncertainties in scientific evidence is important to accurately reflect scientific knowledge , increase public understanding of uncertainty, and to signal transparency and honesty in reporting. While techniques have been developed to facilitate the communication of uncertainty, many have not been empirically tested, compared for communicating different types of uncertainty, or their effects on different cognitive, trust, and behavioral outcomes have not been evaluated. The present study examined how a point estimate, imprecise estimate, conflicting estimates, or a statement about the lack of evidence about treatment effects, influenced participant's responses to communications about medical evidence. For each type of uncertainty, we adapted three display formats to communicate the information: tables, bar graphs, and icon arrays. We compared participant's best estimates of treatment effects, as well as effects on recall, subjective evaluations (understandability and usefuleness), certainty perceptions, perceptions of trustworthiness of the information, and behavioral intentions. We did not find any detrimental effects from communicating imprecision or conflicting estimates relative to a point estimate across any outcome. Furthermore, there were more favorable responses to communicating imprecision or conflicting estimates relative to lack of evidence, where participants estimated the treatment would improve outcomes by 30-50% relative to a placebo. There were no differences across display formats, suggesting that, if well-designed, it may not matter which format is used. Future research on specific display formats or uncertainty types and with larger sample sizes would be needed to detect small effects. Implications for the communication of uncertainty arediscussed.

How much is too much? Effects of core concerns accommodativeness on emotion, credibility and integrative intention in supervisor-subordinate conflict negotiation

PurposeThis study drew on the core concerns framework (CCF) and communication accommodation theory (CAT) to examine the direct and indirect effects of manager core concerns accommodativeness on employee integrative (i.e. cooperative) intention through the mediating role of positive emotional change and manager credibility (i.e. competence, trustworthiness and goodwill). Core concerns accommodativeness refers to the degree to which one responds to another’s socio-psychological needs.Design/methodology/approachA quasi-experimental design was used. A total of 339 working adults from various industries in the USA took an online questionnaire composed of manipulations, closed-ended and open-ended questions. Quantitative data was analyzed using a series of mediation analyses and triangulated with qualitative data.FindingsThe results showed that both accommodating and overaccommodating manager messages significantly improved employees’ emotional state, perception of manager credibility and integrative intention more than the underaccommodating message. Importantly, the manager communication accommodativeness increases employees’ positive emotional change which heightened the employees’ perception of manager trustworthiness which then stimulated employees’ integrative intention. Qualitative data surprisingly revealed that the overaccommodating message was regarded predominantly positively.Originality/valueThe mixed-methods approach of this study added deeper insight into the role of communication accommodation and emotion in supervisor-subordinate conflict negotiation, extending both the CCF and CAT literature. The findings also inform managers about how to effectively use the core concerns.