Trust, ICT and income: their relationships and implications
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-06-2016-0158 |
| Published date | 09 April 2018 |
| Pages | 268-281 |
| Date | 09 April 2018 |
| Author | Eun G. Park,Wankeun Oh |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Bibliometrics,Databases,Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet,Records management & preservation,Document management |
Trust, ICT and income: their
relationships and implications
Eun G. Park
School of Information Studies, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, and
Wankeun Oh
Department of Economics, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies,
Seoul, South Korea
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship and interactions among trust,
information and communication technologies (ICT) and country income levels.
Design/methodology/approach –This study adopts the standardization method by Osberg and Sharpe
(2005) and analyzes the changes in global trends, coefficient of variations, and correlations. The statistical
data consist of panel data for 28 countries from 2007 to 2014.
Findings –Trust in people (TP) and institutional confidence (IC) have different shapes of movement over the
period and the change speed of IC has decreased much faster than that of TP. While TP in high income
countries is positioned in relatively high ranks, IC of middle income countries tends to be ranked in higher
ranks. While the telecommunication infrastructure index (TII) has continuously increased in all countries for
the entire period, open service index (OSI) has not increased at the same rate since improving OSI is not easier
than TII. As OSI increases, IC may affect an increase to a certain point and then decrease in an inverted
U-shape. The result of this relationship emphasizes on the importance of OSI along with TII in building trust,
particularly with institutions.
Research limitations/implications –The examination of the relationship of trust, ICT and income in
quantifiable values can contribute to understanding the direction of movement and change speed toward
trust building with people and institutions.
Practical implications –To promote levels of trust, countries should consider different strategies for
growing TP and institutions and concentrate on improving ICT-mediated services more than installing ICT
facilities.
Originality/value –Quantifying the interactions of a qualitative concept of trust with ICT facilities, online
services, and income levels presents an in-depth analysis of TP and with institutions.
Keywords Trust, Income, Open service index, Information and communication technologies,
Institutional confidence, Trust in people
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The information era, a time in which information and communication technologies (ICT)
have become a normal part of daily life for individuals and institutions, has led to a rise of
issues in many countries concerning trust and its interaction between individuals,
institutions, and technical capabilities. Interestingly, an understanding of, and response to,
trust does not seem to be the same in different countries. Trust refers to “the attributes of
reliability, dependability, honesty, truthfulness, security, competence, and timeliness”
(Grandison and Sloman, 2000, p. 3). Trust is a subjective concept because it tends to rely on
its context, depending on a degree of prior knowledge or experience (Zou and Park, 2014).
In particular, several studies address that trust in information is associated with technology
related factors, such as technological capability, the information literacy skills of
participants, individuals’experiences with technology, and the ICT levels in a country,
among other factors (Zou and Park, 2014; Hsu et al., 2012; Grandison and Sloman, 2000;
Elia, 2009; Kelton et al., 2008). Trust is also a social construct among people, which consists
Online Information Review
Vol. 42 No. 2, 2018
pp. 268-281
© Emerald PublishingLimited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/OIR-06-2016-0158
Received 22 July 2016
Revised 25 August 2017
Accepted 29 August 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm
Wankeun Oh is grateful for the financial support from the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
Research Fund 2018.
268
OIR
42,2
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