Antecedents of Information Technology Trust and the Effect of Trust on Perceived Performance Improvement

Trust is a broad and multidimensional concept that has been widely studied in many disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, and management. In addition to interpersonal relations trust also plays a significant role when technology acceptance is concerned. Information technology (IT) is not an exception but there is a growing interest for understanding the mechanisms of trust formation as well as the impacts of technology trust in IT field, too. This research investigates the impact of social, institutional, and technological antecedents on the formation of technology trust as well as the effect of the trust on the perceived performance. The authors specially study the behavior of technologists, people who have technological education and experience and who are currently working in a high-tech organization. Drawing on the existing theoretical literature a conceptual research model with hypotheses is deduced. Data for the study were collected through a survey among IT technologists working in a high-tech organization. The survey data were analyzed using structural equation modeling technique. The findings show that the perception of a user’s skills, power relations, and appropriately utilized organizational structure aid in increasing an individual’s level of technology trust. Moreover, it was found that technology trust plays an important role in increasing an individual’s perception of the performance increase.