ABSTRACT
Trust exerts an impact on essentially all forms of social relationships. It affects individuals in deciding whether and how they will or will not interact with other people. Equally, trust also influences the stance of entire nations in their mutual dealings. In consequence, understanding the factors that influence the decision to trust, or not to trust, is crucial to the full spectrum of social dealings. Here, we report the most comprehensive extant meta-analysis of experimental findings relating to such human-to-human trust. Our analysis provides a quantitative evaluation of the factors that influence interpersonal trust, the initial propensity to trust, as well as an assessment of the general trusting of others. Over 2,000 relevant studies were initially identified for potential inclusion in the meta-analysis. Of these, (n = 338) passed all screening criteria and provided therefrom a total of (n = 2,185) effect sizes for analysis. The identified dependent variables were trustworthiness, propensity to trust, general trust, and the trust that supervisors and subordinates express in each other. Correlational results demonstrated that a large range of trustor, trustee, and shared, contextual factors impact each of trustworthiness, the propensity to trust, and trust within working relationships. The emphasis in the present work on contextual factors being one of several trust dimensions herein originated. Experimental results established that the reputation of the trustee and the shared closeness of trustor and trustee were the most predictive factors of trustworthiness outcome. From these collective findings, we propose an elaborated, overarching descriptive theory of trust in which special note is taken of the theory's application to the growing human need to trust in non-human entities. The latter include diverse forms of automation, robots, artificially intelligent entities, as well as specific implementations such as driverless vehicles to name but a few. Future directions as to the momentary dynamics of trust development, its sustenance and its dissipation are also evaluated.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: We evaluate and quantify the effects of human, robot, and environmental factors on perceived trust in human-robot interaction (HRI). BACKGROUND: To date, reviews of trust in HRI have been qualitative or descriptive. Our quantitative review provides a fundamental empirical foundation to advance both theory and practice. METHOD: Meta-analytic methods were applied to the available literature on trust and HRI. A total of 29 empirical studies were collected, of which 10 met the selection criteria for correlational analysis and 11 for experimental analysis. These studies provided 69 correlational and 47 experimental effect sizes. RESULTS: The overall correlational effect size for trust was r = +0.26,with an experimental effect size of d = +0.71. The effects of human, robot, and environmental characteristics were examined with an especial evaluation of the robot dimensions of performance and attribute-based factors. The robot performance and attributes were the largest contributors to the development of trust in HRI. Environmental factors played only a moderate role. CONCLUSION: Factors related to the robot itself, specifically, its performance, had the greatest current association with trust, and environmental factors were moderately associated. There was little evidence for effects of human-related factors. APPLICATION: The findings provide quantitative estimates of human, robot, and environmental factors influencing HRI trust. Specifically, the current summary provides effect size estimates that are useful in establishing design and training guidelines with reference to robot-related factors of HRI trust. Furthermore, results indicate that improper trust calibration may be mitigated by the manipulation of robot design. However, many future research needs are identified.
