The Effects of Computer Mediation on the Development of Trust: A Web-Based Experiment

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*** 9614443 Cohen With the recent dynamic expansion of the National and Global Information Infrastructures, the activities of larger, more diverse communities are becoming integrated. Because of this, there is great need to understand how trust develops among people acting together in computer-mediated ways. This project will empirically investigate how people generate and maintain trust in task groups working within networked, computer-mediated environments. It will compare results from face-to-face experimental conditions, with results obtained from groups working via networked computers that provide "desktop conferencing" video connections, and results on groups working via the World Wide Web without video support. Two significant products are expected. First, the research will provide valuable experimental evidence on whether and how computer mediation affects the development of trust as work groups learn task routines. Second, it will provide extensive development and demonstration of new tools and methods for the conduct of scientific experiments on the integration and impacts of information technology via the World Wide Web. These include tools and methods for recruitment of subjects, scheduling, instruction, experimental task performance, post-session questioning, and payment. This promises to help open the Web at large as an active research tool and environment. ***