A granular approach to source trustworthiness for negative trust assessment

The problem of determining what information to trust is crucial in many contexts that admit uncertainty and polarization. In this paper, we propose a method to systematically reason on the trustworthiness of sources. While not aiming at establishing their veracity, the metho

The role of effective communication and trustworthiness in determining guests’ loyalty

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.This study investigates the role of trustworthiness and effective communication in the development of guests’ loyalty within the hotel sector. We propose and test a conceptual model that differentiates between two types of loyalty: attitudinal and behavioral. As hotels can control and manage how they communicate their desired characteristics to guests, we posit effective communication and a hotel’s trustworthiness as the key concepts in building loyalty. This study reports on the findings of a study based on 322 hotel guests. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results reveal that implementing effective communication methods leads to a trustworthy image, which in turn has a positive impact on attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. This research provides hotel managers with strategic directions for cultivating guest loyalty

Users' trust in information resources in the Web environment: a status report

This study has three aims; to provide an overview of the ways in which trust is either assessed or asserted in relation to the use and provision of resources in the Web environment for research and learning; to assess what solutions might be worth further investigation and whether establishing ways to assert trust in academic information resources could assist the development of information literacy; to help increase understanding of how perceptions of trust influence the behaviour of information users

D3.2 Cost Concept Model and Gateway Specification

This document introduces a Framework supporting the implementation of a cost concept model against which current and future cost models for curating digital assets can be benchmarked. The value built into this cost concept model leverages the comprehensive engagement by the 4C project with various user communities and builds upon our understanding of the requirements, drivers, obstacles and objectives that various stakeholder groups have relating to digital curation. Ultimately, this concept model should provide a critical input to the development and refinement of cost models as well as helping to ensure that the curation and preservation solutions and services that will inevitably arise from the commercial sector as ‘supply’ respond to a much better understood ‘demand’ for cost-effective and relevant tools. To meet acknowledged gaps in current provision, a nested model of curation which addresses both costs and benefits is provided. The goal of this task was not to create a single, functionally implementable cost modelling application; but rather to design a model based on common concepts and to develop a generic gateway specification that can be used by future model developers, service and solution providers, and by researchers in follow-up research and development projects.<p></p> The Framework includes:<p></p> • A Cost Concept Model—which defines the core concepts that should be included in curation costs models;<p></p> • An Implementation Guide—for the cost concept model that provides guidance and proposes questions that should be considered when developing new cost models and refining existing cost models;<p></p> • A Gateway Specification Template—which provides standard metadata for each of the core cost concepts and is intended for use by future model developers, model users, and service and solution providers to promote interoperability;<p></p> • A Nested Model for Digital Curation—that visualises the core concepts, demonstrates how they interact and places them into context visually by linking them to A Cost and Benefit Model for Curation.<p></p> This Framework provides guidance for data collection and associated calculations in an operational context but will also provide a critical foundation for more strategic thinking around curation such as the Economic Sustainability Reference Model (ESRM).<p></p> Where appropriate, definitions of terms are provided, recommendations are made, and examples from existing models are used to illustrate the principles of the framework

Congrats: a Configurable Granular Trust Scheme for Effective Seller Selection in an E-marketplace

Problem. The e-marketplace of today, with millions of buyers and sellers who never get to meet face to face, is susceptible to the presence of dishonest and fraudulent participants, prowling on unsuspecting trading partners to cheat in transactions, thereby increasing their profit to the detriment of their victims. There is also the multiplicity of goods and services with varying prices and quality, offered by a mix of honest and dishonest vendors. In order to participate in trade without incurring substantial loss, participants rely on intelligent agents using a trust evaluation scheme for partner selection. Making good deals thus depends on the ability of the intelligent agents to evaluate trading partners and picking only trustworthy ones. However, the existing trust evaluation schemes do not adequately protect buyers in the e-marketplace; hence, this study focused on designing a new trust evaluation scheme for buyer agents to use to effectively select sellers. -- Method. To increase the overall performance of intelligent agents and to limit loss for buyers in an e-marketplace, I propose CONGRATS—a configurable granular trust estimation scheme for effective seller selection. The proposed model used historical feedback ratings from multiple sources to estimate trust along multiple dimensions. I simulated a mini e-marketplace to generate the data needed for performance evaluation of the proposed model alongside two existing trust estimation schemes—FIRE and MDT. -- Results. At the peak of performance of CONGRATS, T1 sellers with the highest trust level accounted for about 45% of the total sales as against less than 10% recorded by the least trustworthy (T5) sellers. Compared to FIRE and MDT, CONGRATS had a performance gain of 15% and 30%, respectively, as well as an average earning of 0.89 (out of 1.0) per transaction in contrast to 0.70 and 0.62 per transaction respectively. Cumulative utility gain among buyer groups stood at 612.35 as contrasted to 518.96 and 421.28 for the FIRE and MDT models respectively. -- Conclusions. Modeling trust along multiple dimensions and gathering trust information from many different sources can significantly enhance the trust estimation scheme used by intelligent agents in an e-marketplace. This means that more transactions will occur between buyers and sellers that are more trustworthy. Inarguably, this will reduce loss to an infinitesimal level and consequently boost buyer confidenc

Do TripAdvisor Valences are Trustworthy on South Asian Destinations?

Travellers prefer to rely on peers’ recommendations and review websites to look for reliable and unbiased information. Trustworthy communicators are more influential than the untrustworthy one. Trustworthy content is need of the hour in specific to post COVID19 travel. This research is analysing what propels a traveller towards destinations and empirically verify the valences of trustworthiness on TripAdvisor reviews.  Content analysis of TripAdvisor reviews (153799 numbers) on South Asian destinations are captured, modelled, and analysed using Descriptive statistics, Regression Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling. Positive reviews are more trustworthy than the negative reviews and are helpful to potential tourist who seeks ‘real’ or ‘genuine’ reviews. There is no moderating effect of negative sentiments on Trustworthiness. Our research results find that valences of TripAdvisor review are useful to potential tourists for their travel planning and actions. Practitioners should listen to TripAdvisor review valences and keep up with the value chain, make the destinations more tourist friendly and evolve new themes. Tourism ecosystem should use modicum of digital opportunities emanating from sentiments and apply appropriate strategies to develop their destinations. This way, tourists will develop brand equity. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on polarity analysis in TripAdvisor reviews and investigated the relationship between positive and negative valences with trustworthiness

Data Credence in IoR: Vision and Challenges

As the Internet of Things permeates every aspect of human life, assessing the credence or integrity of the data generated by "things" becomes a central exercise for making decisions or in auditing events. In this paper, we present a vision of this exercise that includes the notion of data credence, assessing data credence in an efficient manner, and the use of technologies that are on the horizon for the very large scale Internet of Things

Data Credence in IoT: Vision and Challenges

As the Internet of Things permeates every aspect of human life, assessing the credence or integrity of the data generated by "things" becomes a central exercise for making decisions or in auditing events. In this paper, we present a vision of this exercise that includes the notion of data credence, assessing data credence in an efficient manner, and the use of technologies that are on the horizon for the very large scale Internet of Things