The contribution of studies of source credibility to a theory of interpersonal trust in the communication process.

Abstract

Interpersonal trust in the communication process is denned as reliance upon the communication of another person in order to achieve a desired but uncertain objective in a risky situation. A theory of the dimensions of interpersonal trust in communication is presented. Experimental studies of ethos and factor-analytic studies of source credibility support the hypothesis that interpersonal trust is based upon a listener's perceptions of a speaker's expertness, reliability, intentions, activeness, personal attractiveness, and the majority opinion of the listener's associates.

Initial Trust Formation in New Organizational Relationships

“…The question that can be asked is, "wouldn't it be more accurate to call this behavior a consequent of trust, rather than trust itself?" Because the act of reliance or dependence on another seems to be the essence of trusting, some have equated trust with dependence or reliance (e.g., Giffin, 1967). The weakness of this definition is that reliance is only one of a number of behaviors that demonstrate cognitive/emotional trust.…”

“…Some researchers refer to the possibility of negative consequences as risk (Coleman, 1990;Giffin, 1967;Johnson-George & Swap, 1982;Luhmann, 1991;Riker, 1971;Scanzoni, 1979;Shapiro, 1987a;Swinth, 1967), while others describe it as uncertainty (Deutsch, 1973;Gambetta, 1988;Schlenker, Helm & Tedeschi, 1973) .…”

“…A number of researchers refer to trust as a dependence (Atwater, 1988;Dobing, 1993;Lewis & Weigert, 1985b;Scanzoni, 1979) or reliance (Giffin, 1967;Good, 1988;McGregor, 1967;Ring & Van de Ven, 1994) upon others. If one is not required to depend on the other, one does not need to trust the other.…”

“…5 For example : Barber, 1983;Blakeney, 1986;Cooprider & Victor, 1993;Johnson-George & Swap, 1982;Larzelere & Huston, 1980;Rempel, Holmes & Zanna, 1985;Ring & Van de Ven, 1994;Worchel, 1979. 6 For example : Barber, 1983;Blakeney, 1986;Dobing, 1993;Giffin, 1967; trust itself. We propose that such beliefs form the core cognitive concept that is manifest in intentions to trust, which in turn are manifest in trusting behaviors.…”

The impact of religious affiliation on trust in the context of electronic commerce

“…The initial set of items was generated from a review of the literature discussing these latent constructs. The sources consulted in the development of the webbased trust items include Pearce (1974), Rotter (1967), Michalos (1990), Wang et al (1998), Butler (1991), Deutsch (1958), Jones and George (1998) and Giffin (1967). The sources consulted in the development of the web-based attitude measure include Howard (1994), Proctor (1997) and O'Keefe et al (2000).…”