User Trust Dynamics: An Investigation Driven by Differences in System Performance

Trust is a key factor affecting the way people rely on automated systems. On the other hand, system performance has comprehensive implications on a user's trust variations. This paper examines systems of varied levels of accuracy, in order to reveal the relationship between system performance, a user's trust and reliance on the system. In particular, it is identified that system failures have a stronger effect on trust than system successes. We also describe how patterns of trust change according to a number of consecutive system failures or successes. Importantly, we show that increasing user familiarity with the system decreases the rate of trust change, which provides new insights on the development of user trust. Finally, our analysis established a correlation between a user's reliance on a system and their trust level. Combining all these findings can have important implications in general system design and implementation, by predicting how trust builds and when it stabilizes, as well as allowing for indirectly reading a user's trust in real time based on system reliance.