4
The third aspect of trustworthiness, benevolence, has received less
attention in the cloud computing literature. As a perception of the extent
to which another party will act in your best interests, benevolence incorporates aspects of agency and motivation into calculations of trustworthiness. Does the other party want to act in my best interests? At the moment,
cloud services are not likely to act with either agency or motivation and
benevolence perceptions have been applied in this context as a perception
of alignment between user needs and the technology’s purpose, helpfulness and responsiveness (McKnight et al. 2011; Söllner et al. 2016).
However, while we may have some way to go before cloud services are
automated to the point of agency, for many users anthropomorphisation
of technology is common and perceptions of its motives and intentions are
likely to play a role in trust decisions (Shank and DeSanti 2018).
1.2.2
Heuristic Antecedents
The use of knowledge based cues for trust is sometimes described as trust
based on “good reasons” or rational decision making (Lewis and Weigert
1985, p. 970). However, a growing body of theoretical work and empirical evidence suggests that trust processes can be influenced by less rational
antecedents and by beliefs about other related entities. The idea that such
factors impact trust has gained traction over the last decade particularly in
relation to trust in new or unknown other parties (e.g. Baer et al. 2018;
Kramer and Lewicki 2010; McKnight et al. 1998) and trust in technology
(e.g. McKnight et al. 2011). This section will briefly discuss four antecedents that may have a heuristic influence on trust in cloud computing: situational normality, aesthetics, structural assurances, and relational context.
The concept of situational normality was originally introduced to the
trust literature by McKnight et al. (1998) who proposed that feeling like
a situation was normal, familiar or as expected could be a powerful heuristic in building trust in unknown other parties. Since then, empirical evidence has repeatedly demonstrated the utility of situational normality as
an antecedent of trust in organisations (Baer et al. 2018), e-commerce
(Gefen 2000), recommendation agents (Komiak and Benbasat 2006) and
software using speech (Lee 2010). The concept of situational normality is
also readily observable in the context of cloud computing where cloud
storage solutions integrate with other software on a user’s personal computer to make the transition from personal to cloud storage as normal and
un-noteworthy as possible.
T. LYNN ET AL.
The third aspect of trustworthiness, benevolence, has received less
attention in the cloud computing literature. As a perception of the extent
to which another party will act in your best interests, benevolence incorporates aspects of agency and motivation into calculations of trustworthiness. Does the other party want to act in my best interests? At the moment,
cloud services are not likely to act with either agency or motivation and
benevolence perceptions have been applied in this context as a perception
of alignment between user needs and the technology’s purpose, helpfulness and responsiveness (McKnight et al. 2011; Söllner et al. 2016).
However, while we may have some way to go before cloud services are
automated to the point of agency, for many users anthropomorphisation
of technology is common and perceptions of its motives and intentions are
likely to play a role in trust decisions (Shank and DeSanti 2018).
1.2.2
Heuristic Antecedents
The use of knowledge based cues for trust is sometimes described as trust
based on “good reasons” or rational decision making (Lewis and Weigert
1985, p. 970). However, a growing body of theoretical work and empirical evidence suggests that trust processes can be influenced by less rational
antecedents and by beliefs about other related entities. The idea that such
factors impact trust has gained traction over the last decade particularly in
relation to trust in new or unknown other parties (e.g. Baer et al. 2018;
Kramer and Lewicki 2010; McKnight et al. 1998) and trust in technology
(e.g. McKnight et al. 2011). This section will briefly discuss four antecedents that may have a heuristic influence on trust in cloud computing: situational normality, aesthetics, structural assurances, and relational context.
The concept of situational normality was originally introduced to the
trust literature by McKnight et al. (1998) who proposed that feeling like
a situation was normal, familiar or as expected could be a powerful heuristic in building trust in unknown other parties. Since then, empirical evidence has repeatedly demonstrated the utility of situational normality as
an antecedent of trust in organisations (Baer et al. 2018), e-commerce
(Gefen 2000), recommendation agents (Komiak and Benbasat 2006) and
software using speech (Lee 2010). The concept of situational normality is
also readily observable in the context of cloud computing where cloud
storage solutions integrate with other software on a user’s personal computer to make the transition from personal to cloud storage as normal and
un-noteworthy as possible.
T. LYNN ET AL.