The effects of information accuracy on user trust and compliance

Designers and manufacturers of new technology must understand the factors that influence consumers’ decisions to purchase new high-tech products. One important factor in the decision is how much users trust the technology. Muir [5, 61 developed a theory of how people develop trust in automated systems. Several studies have supported her model. This proposed study will provide additional data to test this theory. The application to be studied is an Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS), which provides route navigation information to automobile drivers. The study will evaluate how inaccurate congestion information affects the users’ trust in and compliance with the system’s advice. These results will be important to ATIS developers, who need to know how accurate the systems must be to facilitate user acceptance.