Exploring the role of trust in user engagement

Supervisors: David Lamas and Sonia SousaDate: 14/10/2015

Presented by: Siddharth Nakul Gulati

Research Motivation • One main motivation is repeated trust

breaches and no noticeable change in people’s behaviour despite this. For instance:• Actions and revelations by Edward Snowden, an Ex-

CIA analyst (led to increase privacy and security concerns).

• A Facebook experiment by Kramer, Guillory & Hancock (2014) that received global criticism for manipulation of user’s news feeds.

• The disclosure of confidential information by the national health services (NHS) in the UK about their personnel's for which it received a 175,000£ fine (The Guardian 2012).

• Despite all this, very little change has been observed in people’s behaviour online: “Why is this”?

• Lack of a clear understanding of role of trust in user engagement.• Paucity of academic research from a

social perspective.

• Technology is highly beneficial yet one must ask questions.

No change in behaviour

Source: PewResearchCenter (Raine & Madden 2015)

No change in behaviour• As mentioned, despite repeated trust breaches, people still use social networking and

other computing platforms, a phenomenon called privacy paradox (Monika 2014). This can be because of

• Lack of suitable alternatives. • Tendency to use incumbent alternatives.

• In my opinion, the role of trust here should be taken into consideration despite there being no change in behaviour on the part of the user. • Important because in the long run, if this continues trust may increase or decrease. • What is the point in designing interactive systems which even though might garner some engagement

and/or interactivity but is not based on the premise of trust? • We should further research on this to ensure ethical principles are promoted in our community • The goal here is to promote responsible computing.

Research Questions

• Need further refinement, probing and discussions.• RQF1 – Why is it that people do what they do?• Why do people still engage with different technological platforms despite

repeated trust breaches?• Assuming that people commit because they trust, what are we missing?

• RQF2 – What can we do about it?• What can we as technologists do to promote responsible computing in our

domain?• What can be done to ensure responsible software design?

Theoretical Framework• I am aware of prior trust models. Most

notable are the ones proposed by Rashed et al (2012), Levien (2009), Li & Gui (2009), Salo & Karjaluoto (2007). However, these models address trust from a technical perspective. I wish to address the same from both a technical and a social perspective.

• I wish to compare the socio technical model of trust by Sousa, Lamas & Dias (2015) and try and validate this model since it incorporates wide constructs addressing trust from a socio-technical perspective.

Methodology

• Extensive literature review to further elaborate and understand the role of trust in user engagement.• Comparison of trust models in HCI which would subsequently help me

understand and refine the socio technical model of trust.• Use of Structural equation modelling techniques for validation of socio technical

model trust (Sousa, Lamas & Dias 2015) .

Expected outcomes

• A robust socio-technical model of trust enabling:• The understanding of users’ behaviour: and• The design of responsible software.

Relevance & Positioning of Research

• For the current research, it is important to understand this concept of trust through an understanding of paradigms of HCI.• This research falls within the third

wave of HCI which:• Concerns use of contemporary technology

in non work settings and understanding its impact on the world (Bowers 2012).

• Concerned with studying the effect of spread of technology to homes, everyday lives and culture (Bodker 2015).

• On a more specific note, the research will focus on the relevance of trust in the health and well being domain

• Quantified self; Personal informatics.

• Why are people willing to share so much personal information?

• Research is also in line with the ICT-35-2016 project participation call of the Horizon 2020 EU framework for research and innovation.

• Relevant on both a global and a European level.

References• Kramer, ADI, Guillory, JE & Hancock, JT 2014, 'Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional

contagion through social networks', The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).

• Levien, R 2009, 'Attack-resistant trust metrics', in Computing with social trust, human computer interaction series, Springer, London.

• Li, XY & Gui, XL 2009, 'A Comprehensive and Adaptive Trust Model for Large-Scale P2P Networks', Journal of Computer Science and Technology, vol 24, no. 5, pp. 868-882.

• Monika, T 2014, 'The 'Privacy Paradox' in the social web: The impact of Privacy concerns, Individual characteristics, and the Perceived Social Relevance on Different Forms of Self-Disclosure', Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, vol 19, no. 2, pp. 248-73.

• Rashed, KAN, Renzel, D, Klamma, R & Jarke, M 2012, 'Community and trust-aware fake media detection', Multimedia tools and applications, vol 70, pp. 1069-1098.

• Raine, L & Madden, M 2015, Americans Privacy Strategies Post-Snowden, viewed 10 October 2015, <http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/03/16/how-people-are-changing-their-own-behavior/>.

References• Salo, J & Karjaluoto, H 2007, 'A conceptual model of trust in the online

environment', Online Information Review, vol 31, no. 5, pp. 604-621.• Sousa, S, Lamas, D & Dias, P 2015, 'Fostering sharing with trust', Proccedings of

the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.• The Guardian 2012, 'NHS trust fined £175,000 for 'troubling' data security

breach', The Guardian, 6 August 2012, viewed 6 October 2015, <http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/aug/06/nhs-trust-fined-data-security>.

What is trust?• Oxford dictionary puts it as: “Having

confidence or faith in something” and/or “be confident about something”. • Is a multifaceted construct

• Definitions are based on context and situations which makes defining it difficult.

• Performs a vital role in developing and sustaining relationships (Krauter & Bitter 2015).

• Trust has been studied across many disciplines such as:

PsychologySociologyEconomics Organizational ScienceMarketing

Multiple understandings of trust• No general consensus within HCI on a clear definition of trust. (dependent on

context and rationale)• For example:

• An important understanding is that privacy plays an important role in manifesting and sustaining trust (Fildes 2006).

• From an user engagement perspective, trust is an important pre-requisite and dependent on people, technology and organizations (Khare & Rifkin 1997).

• From a website aesthetics standpoint, trust manifestation is directly proportional to the reputation of the website (Mui, Mohtashemi & Halberstadt 2002).

• Multiple definitions point to the different dimensions of the trust construct. • Important to understand the social aspect of trust along with technical aspects.• What role does it play from the user point of view in HCI?

Prior research & Motivation• From a purely technical standpoint,

• There has been a plethora of research done in this regards (Hsu, Chang & Yen 2011; Joinson et al. 2010; Shin & Shin 2011; Camp 2003).• Important questions:

• User interaction with computer• “Am I doing this right?, Am I clicking the right buttons, Is this how the task is supposed to be done” etc.?• interaction with software and hardware

• Usability and trust,• Privacy, security and trust

• From a social standpoint , • We need to question

• Manifestations of trust in different forms: • Emotions (Anger, Irritability, Sadness, Frustration, happiness etc.)• Perceived experiences (credibility, usefulness and ease of use)• Community level (which would include social interactions: crowdsourcing, social economy, social media, CSCW etc. )

Example I (Microsoft Vault)

Example II (Fitbit Surge)

Example III (Facebook Messenger)

Example IV (Smart clothing)