Page 255 - Trust in ICT 2017

Trust in ICT 5

Figure 3 – Indirect trust (experience and reputation)

7.2 Fundamental characteristics of trust
There are several important characteristics of trust that further enhance our understanding of trust.

– Trust is dynamic: trust applies only in a given time period and maybe change as time goes by.
NOTE – For the past one year Alice highly trusts Bob. However, today Alice found that Bob lied to
her; consequently, Alice no longer trusts Bob.

– Trust is context-dependent: trust applies only in a given context. The degree of trust on different
contexts is significantly different.
NOTE – Alice may trust Bob to provide financial advice but not for medical advice. Also, the
articulation of trust context in two entities may differ based on the opposing perspective. For
example, Alice trusts Bob in the context of “buying” book; however, the context from Bob to Alice
is “selling” book.
– Trust is not transitive in nature but maybe transitive within a given context: when entity A trusts
entity B and entity B trusts entity C, entity A may or may not trust entity C. Entity A may trust any
entity and entity B trusts entity C in a given context although this derived trust may be explicit and
hard to be quantified. Also, the time period of trusting relationship may be defined differently
between the entities.

NOTE – Alice trusts Bob for three years, however, Bob may think that the trust relationship only lasts
for one year.
– Trust is an asymmetric relationship: trust is a non-mutual reciprocal in nature. That means if entity
A trusts entity B, then the statement “entity B trusts entity A” is not always true.
– Trust is subjective: trust is influenced by or based on personal feelings. Also, the degree of
seriousness in trust relationships may differ between the entities.
NOTE – Bob gives an opinion about music. If Alice thinks that Bob’s music recommendation was
good, she will trust Bob’s review. However, John may think differently about Bob’s opinions and
may not trust his review.

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