Date of Award

3-2001

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Systems Engineering and Management

First Advisor

David P. Biros, PhD

Abstract

This research looks at how human trust in an information system is influenced by external safeguards in an Information Warfare (1W) domain. Information systems are relied upon in command and control environments to provide fast and reliable information to the decision-makers. The degree of reliance placed in these systems by the decision-makers suggests a significant level of trust. Understanding this trust relationship and what effects it is the focus of this study. A model is proposed that predicts behavior associated with human trust in information systems. It is hypothesized that a decision-maker's belief in the effectiveness of external safeguards will positively influence a decision-maker's trusting behavior. Likewise, the presence of an Information Warfare attack will have a negative effect on a decision-maker's trusting behavior. Two experiments were conducted in which the perceived effectiveness of external safeguards and the information provided by an information system were manipulated in order to test the hypotheses presented in this study. The findings from both experiments suggest that a person's trust in computers in specific situations are useful in predicting trusting behavior, external safeguards have a negative effect on trusting behavior, and that Information Warfare attacks have no effect on trusting behavior.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GIR-ENV-01M-07

DTIC Accession Number

ADA394373

Share

COinS