A Bifactor Model of Trait Trust, Distrust, and Suspicion

We explored competing models using bifactor item response theory (IRT) analyses to determine the relationship between trait measures of trust, distrust, and suspicion. The model with a general factor for all three scales fits the data best. We explored the relationship of the emergent general factor by correlating it with two latent traits: Agreeableness and the Trust facet of Agreeableness. The exploratory findings showed evidence that the general factor from the best-fitting model was practically identical to the Trust facet of Agreeableness. We concluded that trait trust, distrust, and suspicion reside on a continuum represented by the general factor, which is dispositional trust.

In Your Face(t)—Personality Traits Interact With Prototypical Personality Faces in Economic Decision Making

In everyday life, assumptions about our peers' as well as our own personality shape social interactions. We investigated whether self-rated personality and inferences drawn from partners' faces influence economic decisions. Participants (N = 285) played the trust game in the role of the trustor as well as the ultimatum game in the role of the proposer and interacted with trustees and receivers represented by prototypical personality faces. Participants also evaluated both their own traits and the personality of the faces. In the trust game, trustees represented by faces rated higher on agreeableness yielded higher transferred amounts. This effect was more pronounced for trustors low on dispositional trust, whereas trustors high on dispositional trust did not relate their decisions to the faces. Trustees represented by faces rated higher on conscientiousness yielded higher transferred amounts only for trustors high on dispositional anxiety. In the ultimatum game, receivers represented by faces rated higher on conscientiousness yielded lower offers only for proposers high on dispositional assertiveness. These results extend previous findings on the inferences drawn from facial features and the influence of personality on decision making. They highlight the importance of considering the personality of both interaction partner, as well as potential interactions of players' traits.

The Relationship between Social Anxiety, Smartphone Use, Dispositional Trust, and Problematic Smartphone Use: A Moderated Mediation Model

Background: The pervasiveness of smartphones has raised concerns about an increase in the prevalence of problematic smartphone use (PSU), which depends on a set of psychological and behavioral risk factors. Previous research has yielded mixed results on factors predicting PSU, including social anxiety and trust. In particular, the role of trust remained largely unexplored. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between social anxiety and PSU, via the mediating role of time spent on the phone, and to explore the moderating role of dispositional trust toward others, by using a moderated mediation model with PSU as the outcome. Methods: A total of 240 young adults (Mage = 23.33, SD = 3.90, 50% male) answered an online questionnaire, which included the 12-item Social Anxiety Scale, a question on the daily duration of smartphone use, a single-item measure of dispositional trust, and the 10-item Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version. Gender and occupational status were included as covariates. Results: Social anxiety was significantly and positively related to PSU; however, smartphone use did not mediate this relationship. Although the relationship between smartphone use and PSU was significant and positive, the link between social anxiety and smartphone use was not. Dispositional trust moderated and strengthened the direct relationships between social anxiety and PSU as well as smartphone use and PSU. Conclusions. Heavy smartphone users as well as socially anxious individuals, with the tendency of trusting others, are more at risk of PSU, which can be explained by their preference and search for online connections.

eWOM, what are we suspecting? Motivation, truthfulness or identity

Purpose As fake information has become the norm on the internet, it is important to investigate how skepticism impacts an individual’s attitude toward word-of-mouth (eWOM). This study examines eWOM skepticism via three dimensions: suspicion of motivation, suspicion of truthfulness and suspicion of identity. It investigates not only which of the three dimensions is more influential in eWOM situations but also the variations and relationships among these three. Furthermore, this study evaluates how an individual’s dispositional trust and perceptions regarding structural assurance can impact each dimension, which in turn affects the assessment of the eWOM messages’ credibility. Design/methodology/approach Using an online scenario-based survey, data were collected via Amazon Mechanical Turk from 195 participants in the U.S. PLS and cluster analysis were used to analyze the data. Findings The results reveal that the suspicion of identity play a major role in message credibility assessment and that people who are naturally less likely to trust others also hold higher suspicion of motivation and truthfulness. Further, structural assurance has significant negative effects on all three dimensions. Practical implications The findings highlight the importance of enhancing the protective measures on eWOM platforms and call for stricter regulations to prevent organizations from adopting deceptive eWOM propagandas. Originality/value This research contributes to the literature by exploring the impact of skepticism on eWOM message credibility assessment and helping to validate this newly created construct by considering eWOM skepticism as a formative construct.

From Online Community to Offline Travel Companions: Technology-Mediated Trust Building and Ad Hoc Travel Group Decision Making

This article explores how cycling tourists build trust in the process of transition from online community to offline travel companions. It uses data collected from participant observation and interviews of a cycling tourist group in China. The findings indicate that after building a social circle in an online community, the members of the “community” build trust by: identifying travel companions’ attitudes, values, knowledge, and experiences to build dispositional trust; identifying companions’ preferences, activities, or the patterns of cycling behavior to build institutional trust; identifying companions’ cycling experiences, occupations, and hobbies to build interpersonal trust. After the identification of travel companions and trust has developed, online community members make the decision to travel together as companions and their online social circle becomes a regulated group without hierarchy. A “triple-jump” explanatory model to explain the trust-building process and practical recommendations from these insights were outlined.

The mediating effect of service provider expertise on the relationship between institutional trust, dispositional trust and trust in takaful services

Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationship between institutional trust, dispositional trust and trust in takaful products with the mediating effect of service-provider expertise. Design/methodology/approach The data for this study were collected from 385 takaful policyholders from Lahore and Islamabad, Pakistan. The relationship is estimated with PLS-SEM using the bias-corrected bootstrapping method. Findings For paths 1 and 2, the results suggest a significant positive relationship between institutional trust, dispositional trust, service provider expertise and trust in takaful products. Results for the bias-corrected bootstrapping model revealed that service provider expertise mediates the relationship between intuitional trust, dispositional trust and trust in takaful products. Research limitations/implications Data were collected from provincial and federal capital cities of Pakistan where institutional setting is much much as compared to other cities Practical implications From the managerial perspective, the dispositional trust would help them in choosing appropriate marketing strategy, segmentation, new product development, targeting and positioning to increase penetration. At the same time, takaful companies need to improve their expertise, knowledge and information-sharing mechanism for fostering overall consumer perception of trust in takaful products. Social implications Insurance, conventional or Islamic, is meant to transfer risk to the third party. Regulators need to improve overall institutional factors because improvement will strengthen the trust level of the general public. Stringent institutional settings act as a sense of strong structural assurance and situational normality. A rise in trust level would induce people to purchase more policies and carry on risky investments that would ultimately result in higher economic growth. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no empirical study has been conducted to examine the impact of institutional and dispositional trust on trust in takaful products with the mediating effect of service provider expertise