Social Presence and Interpersonal Trust in Avatar-Based, Collaborative Net- Communications

The paper deals with social presence effects of embodiment in collaborative net-communications. Social presence was measured by an extended questionnaire including an item set on emotional closeness of the partners. Principal component analysis revealed a consistent structure with the five dimensions: copresence, closeness, comprehension, contagion and coordination. In addition a measure for interpersonal trust was applied which differentiates between cognitively and affectively based trust. Correlation analysis showed significant relations between closeness and affectively based trust. Results of a media comparison including face-to-face interactions, phone, chat and avatar-based net-communications point to distinct response patterns for the different social presence factors and interpersonal trust. Only with respect to co-presence the avatar-based interactions led to higher scores than phone or chat interactions. Data are discussed with respect to multi-dimensional conceptualisation and multi-level measurement of social presence.

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